AGRICULTURAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXII, Issue 8246, 11 December 1911, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL.

ITEMS FOR FARMERS

Several farmers informed one of our reporters on Saturday that brown beetles were responsible for inflicting considerable damage to mangold crops ■by devouring the leaves, thereby cheeking the growth- of the plants. The present .season has been very favourable to the vigorous growth of all classes of vegetation, and as a result of thb an unusually large quantity of hay will he reaped. Several farmers in. the districts near the" town have already commenced to reap, and liay making will be in full swing in the course of a wt;ek. There are some particularly fine cereal crops to be seen from the roads, in the Laghmor district. Mr James Smith has a paddock of oats that should yield fully 75 bushels..per acre. A number, of wheat crops in the same locality promise to give returns well up to fifty bushels per acre. Blackbirds and thrushes are already proving destructive to early varieties ■of fruit. In cases where the trees are not covered with netting, the birds are devouring the fruit as quickly as it ripens. | All through the county this season the grass grub beetle is late in making its flight, and in numbers, as compared with last year, seems to have considerably diminished. These facts are attributed by farmers to the continuous rainfall, which, it would appear, has not been relished by the pest, and agriculturists generally are hopeful that the ■ depredations of the grub next season will not be nearly so great as during the season just past. Speaking to one of our reporters on Saturday, a Sea view farmer said the cereal crops were showing promise of •yielding heavily.' Rust was beginning to make its appearance in the crops about ten days ago. but the drying r.orth-west winds had saved the situation. A number of early-sown wheat crops were now fully out in ear, and •were from 4ft. 6in. to sft. in height. He also remarked that Mr Thomas. iWilson had a particularly fine paddock of Tuscan wheat in ear, which gave promise of yielding over 50 bushels per acre.. There were many other -exceptionally good wheat crops in the district, and in Wakanui and Elgin, which, should weather conditions prove favourable, give returns well up to 50 bushels per acre. The present season, with its almost daily shower of heavy rain, seems to fc-:> an exceptionally favourable one for Peninsula, farmers and graziers. Everywhere there is a wealth of grass, and factories report good supplies of milk. In the cocksfoot paddocks, though late, the outlook is promising. In paddocks which have not been, eaten too severely seed is Very.even and thick, with prospects of well-filled heads. Some few parts show ■ the ' effect; of the past two dry seasons, and have a patchy appearance. Good warm dry weather is now ireeded tr> keep- the softer grasses in check. The continuous wet weather (says thd "Mataura Ensign") is hindering the farmer in getting his turnips sown. The land is partially cultivated, but owning to the rain of the last month .no seed can be sown and the weeds are making headway. Another trouble is the delay in sheep-shearing operations. (.usually farmers are busy in.November with shearing, but the wet weather has retarded the work and the cold is somewhat severe on newly-shown sheep. On one station in the Masterton dis- . trict the shearers have already been employed for over a month in shearing 13,000 sheep. The weather has been so broken that shearing has been possible en only one or two- days in the week. Other stations are similarly affected. The "Manawatu says : A local resident has put up something of a record -in the way of growing potatoes. During the past five yearf, lie has succeeded in growing two crops ■each year. This. season he commenced to dig his first crop on. the first day of the show, and immediately planted the sceond crop in the place of the tubers unearthed. Crop number two Is already showing above the ground, and ho anticipates being able to di/ it about Christmas time. A novel suggestion came before the ■Dannevirfce County Council, when ? ratepayer urged that cows be licensed and bo marie to wear collars so that -^lir-y < might graze on tho county

roads, at any rate in the summer, months. The chairman and Council thought the result of the suggestion was too problematical to act upon. The matter of the establishment of a potato experiment farm in one <i New South Wales potato districts, mainly for the improvement and growing of seed, has been under the consideration of the Minister for Agriculture for some time (says the " Sydney Telegraph"). Reports have been received from the various leading potato districts regarding the sites available on Crown lands, and the number of these has been narrowed down to thrcto. The- final selection, the superintendent of agriculture states, has yet to be made. 8 Sheep-breeding is on the down grade in Germany. Less than thirty years ago there were seventy-five million sheep in the country, whereas now there are less than seven milions. This and other similar factorsr probably account for the phenomenal flowing; of the pop illation to the towns, the abandonment of rural avocations, and the exodus from the country now in evidence. A British Consular report states that Siberia's butter exports amount to £4,000,000 annually. Of the total output, which is obtained from 2000 to 3000 farms, representing a capital of only £1,600,000 in value, European Iliissia, Germany, England and Denmark take between them 50,000 tons. At present the area of production of butter is a strip of country of about 20 or 250 miles along the railway from the Urals to the Obi, and thence to the Altai Mountains,-surrounding which are tracts of vast stretches of country which a railway would immediately add to the comparatively insignificant arta now devoted to dairying. Exports of other cattle products are placed,at £2,000,000 annually, and attempts have lately been made to introduce' Siberian meat into England and Germany. More recently a shipping trade in game and poultry has been set going, and the eggs supplied to other countries are increasing very rapidly in number. Owing to the. cane-crushing season in the Mackay (Queensland) district being shorter than usual this year the output of. sugar will be considerably less than last year. Since the beginning of the season £65,532 has been paid away in bounty on 187,240 tons of cane.