HOSPITAL BOARD FARMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1919, Page 7

HOSPITAL BOARD FARMS.

SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE. It may come as something of a surprise to the average ratepayer in the Taranaki hospital district to learn th&t the controlling board of the institution possesses one of the best little farms an the outskirts of the town of New Plymouts, which is being worked on intensive and profitable linen aud in such a way as to be of great benefit to the Board and a credit to the manager (Mr. W. C. Noble). The Board has in its manager a man not only thoroughly practical in all his methods but one who is an enthusiast in his work. Mr. Noble gives the same attention to the Board's work as if the farm were his own and the results that are being attained fully justify the Bpard's confidence in Mr. Noble's policy, with which the Farm Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. John Andrews, i» in complete accord. * With the special purpose in view of letting the general public know of what is being done, press representati\. were conducted over the farm by Board members on Wednesday afternoon. The Board's own farm, adjoinging the Rangiatea Home consists of twenty-six acres of ground, exclusive of -the six acres occupied by the Home buildings and vegetable gardens. In addition to the foregoing the Board has also leased, for grazing purposes, a nice little farm property of about twenty-five acres on the opposite side of the road a little further into Westown. Sufficient milk is produced from, the dairy herd (which, by the way, includes a number of pedigree Jerseys) to supply the requirements of the Hospital and the Home, and since there has been a surplus supply a separator has been installed and the over-supply of cream is now being satisfactorily disposed of. The 26-acre homestead farm is sub-divided into ten paddocks, which are well watered. About eleven acres are under cultivation for winter feeding purposes, and the manager stated he ha& absolutely no anxiety as regards this winter's or spring feed. The equipment of the farm is very satisfactory, there being all the essential buildings. An eight-bail cowshed, which thoroughly conforms with modern requirements, provides the milking accommodation, a little detached from which is the separator house and the milk cooler. Appliances for cleaning cans and ,the separator parts have, of course, been installed, the Borough water supply and the gas service to a large copper boiler providing requisites in this connection. In connection with the winter feed store a silo has been erected for the purpose of making ensilage. This has, up to the present, been filled up to the top about five times with green stuff, which now has compacted down to about half the full capacity of the silo. While the farms are showing excellent root crops, the outstanding crop is that of an acre of Japanese millet which has been grown on the Board's leased farm, the sowing being 161b of seed with 3cwt. of mixed manure. The crop is thick and beautifully even, and the Board members were enthusiastic in praise of this as of the rest of the work being done by Mr. Noble. In addition to the dairying, pigs and poultry are now being kept as side lines and the farm is well stocked in both these directions. Mr. Noble has secured four good breeding sows, and now considers the days of buying pigs for fattening have passed so far as the Board's farm is concerned. A big double boiler in concrete has been set up, in which all the pig feed is boiled before being rationed out. All the animals looked in firstrate condition. The refuse from the styes is trapped in a big concrete tank at one end of the buildings and from that is taken manure for the farm purposes. The present stock of fowls totals about two hundred, and, whilst they have provided quite a number of eggs for the Board's institutions, they are primarily for fattening purposes. Altogether the Board is entitled to the congratulations of the ratepayers upon its enterprise and success, not a little of the latter being due to the excellent work of the farm manager. The properties afford a lesson in self-support which might well be copied by kindred institutions.