FARMING NOTES

Wairarapa Age, 31 March 1920, Page 7

FARMING NOTES

The Masterton Dairy Co. has ail exhibit of butter at the Royal Sydney I Show. A very promising second oorp of red clover may be seen on the property of Mr Thomas, Dixon, Worksop road, Masterton. The annual balance-sheet of. the Pahiatua A. and P. Association shows a credit balance of £BB, with the assets and liabilities about equal. The supply at the Masterton dairy factories has been falling off very considerably during the last week or so. In the majority of cases the farmers are only milking once a day. Thirty-two acres of land in the Tauranga district, on which 500 lemon trees are growing, recently changed hands at £lB7 10s per acre, a price which is believed to be a record for the Bay of Plenty. The Oamaru Mail states that a Pukeuri farmer has threshed a small paddock of Garton oats which yielded 85 bushels to the acre, A next-door neighbour took 1795 bushels off a patch of 13 acres, which worked out at the excellent yield of 115 bushels to the acre. They were also Gartons. The cocksfoot harvest i& about over in the Little River district, Canterbury. The yields have been disappointing in every case. A good deal of second threshing'is being done. One man obtained 16 bags of cjean seed at the second threshing where only 42 were obtained at the first threshing. This, at la per lb, will net a fair cheque. ! The settlers on the Avonhead soldiers' settlement appear to hate encountered a difficulty not usually met with by tillers of the soil, says the Press. 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 their farms. Sometimes as much as an hour has to be wasted before an argent can be got'rid of, and then the chances are that he may return in a few days in anticipation of a change lof heart on the part of the settler. Two members of the Wellington j; Land Board, accompanied by two offil cers of the Department, have com- ' pleted inspection of soldier settleI ments between Raetihi and Taumaru- ; nui and Wanganui river. They state that the majority of the farms are in bush country, and the men are battling gamely to bring tiieir holdings to profit. Several of the farms, which average 150 to 250 acres, are not burnt off yet, but others are in good ?rass and carrying excellent stock. Some of the men had not taken kindly to work after the war, but the Commissioner gave every mar} a fighting chance, and if a man gave hp it generally was his own fault? Ninety per jent of those who took up farms here iave made good. BRINE FOE BiJCON. A familiar brine recipe is good' salt, lib brown sugar, 3 gallons water, to which some add 2oz saltpetre. Sugar improves the flavour, j jives firmness and colour. Neither a absolutely necessary. The brine should first be heated gradually to soiling, and any scum skimmed off. vVhen the brine is cool, the pieces are packed in, a clean cask, and covered .vith liquid, using a false lid and a .veight to keep the meat submerged. Occasionally the brine should Die run ;ff and boiled, and blood and juices skimmed off. It will require from four to six weeks to cure, according to the size of the pieces. Smoking can be carried out in makeshift smoke /louses, such as a large packing-case, -i barrel," or disused iron tank, etc. Neither flames nor heat must reach uhe meat. Tiles or iron, chimney pipes can be used to convey the smoke to the smoke-house from' the stove or fire. Sawdust from hardwood or teajfee and wattle make good fuel} Some smoke steadily every day for ten days : others smoke a little each. day for tour or five weeks. THE CODLIN MOTH, The . codlin moth is a small shy creature, rarely ever seen, flying only m the dusk of the evening, and then with a rapid zig-zag motion which* is hard to follow; In colur it resembles the bark of the twigs with white stripes, imitating the "bloom" that is always found on growing shoots. The eggs, tiny white specks, are laid on the upper surface of the leaves, and in the calyx end of the fruit. The calyx is an excellent breeding nest for the earliest moths. The calyx may only be slightly eaten by the young worm as it works its way to a softer place on the fruity where it eventually enters. Some experts have estimated that from 75 to 85 per cent of the larvae entering .the , apples in spring gain entrance at the calyx end. „