FARMING NOTES

Wairarapa Age, 25 March 1920, Page 7

FARMING NOTES

There ia an exceptionally keen demand in the Carterton district for dairy farms. The agentß state that the demand exceeds the number placed on the market.

Twelve crossbred sheep were lost in the hills on a New South Wales station, and when found the fleeces weighed up to 741b, and, strange to say, the dressed carcases weighed up to the same amount.

The milk received at the various cheese factories in the Carterton district is keeping up remarkably well, while the average test is satisfactory. What gave promise at the early part of the year of proving an indifferent season has turned out to be the most profitable experienced for years.

Mr C. P. Newton, an English breeder, who has a herd of making Red Poll cattle, has finished the. milkrecording year with an average yield of 86231b for both cows and heifers. Tho best yielder of all was a typical cow, Flaxmoor Ruby. She is now 16 years old, but gave just on 1100 gallons in 344 days, the exact yield being 10,9381b5\

A settlers of this district recently wrote the Department of Agriculture for samples of wheat for growing purposes. He expected to receive some acknowledgment, and wrote again, but with the same result. A third letter was written, but still no satisfaction was received. He now wonders what the Department of Agriculture ia lor.

A well known Wairarapa settler states that he. will lire to see the day when the waters of the Wairarapa Lake will be controlled by dykes, the same as those existing in Holland. He cannot understand why thousands of acres of the best land in New Zealand is allowed to remain unproductive, because of the want of a little enterprise.

As a result of representations made by the Department of Agriculture to the Shipping Controller in London, it has been arranged to charge a stated rate per forty cubic feet measurement on fruit shipped to the United Kingdom instead of a flat rate per case. It is expected that this will 'result in a saving of Is per case, and possibly more, as at least 20 to 22 cases with full allowance for dunnage, should be equivalent to forty cubic feet of space, whereas the original quotation was evidently based on 18 cases to the same measurement.

The settlers on the Avonhead soldiers' settlement appear to hare encountered a difficulty not usually met with by tillers of the soil. This is, according to one of the settlers, the almost daily task of convincing several persistent land agents that they do not desire to sell £heir farms. Sometimes as much as an hour has to be wasted before an agent can be got rid of, and then the chances are that he may return in a few days in anticipation of a change of heart on the part of the settler. According to our informant (says the Christchurch Press), the agents are becoming such a pest that, if there is not an immediate abatement, all refusals to sell may be accompanied by physical manifestations of displeasure

Messrs R G. Robertson, superintendent, Selwyn Plantation Board, and H. Millar, Government entomologist, are jointly preparing a pamphlet, to be issued in two parts, dealing with insect pests on tree life. Discussing the question of pests at the meeting of the Plantation Board, Mr Robertson said that he and Mr Millar had travelled over a good deal of country and they had come across several different insects, some of which were hitherto unheard of in New Zealand. It was found that the scale insect was not doing much damage, and the most injurious was the gall insect. There were in all eight different kinds of insects attacking bluegums, and he would recommend that until some remedial measures could be introduced.no more bluegums should be planted. The scale insects did not offer much trouble, thanks to the activity of their enemy, the "ladybirds.". The Board authorised Mr Robertson to make further investigations.

The new /disease which has made its appearance this season in pear and apple orchards of the Auckland province has been identified as the much-dreaded fire-blight (states an exchange), one of the most troublesome and destructive bacterial diseases known to horticulturists. Present information indicates that the first outbreak occurred in the vicinity of Tauranga, and during its period of activity the disease spread rapidly until it reached the outskirts of Auckland city. The need for vigorous measures to bo undertaken to control and, if possible, eradicate the sources of infection is recognised by | orchardists, and vigilance committees have been appointed at Henderson, Huapai, and other places, to co-operate with the officers of the Horticulture Division. ' The first full description of the new disease and the latest methods of treatment, to be published in New Zealand appears in the current issue of the New Zealand Fruitgrower.