The Bruce Herald TOKOMAIRIRO, APRIL 29, 1898.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2956, 29 April 1898, Page 2

The Bruce Herald TOKOMAIRIRO, APRIL 29, 1898.

FARMING NOTES. [By Rustious ] It ie scarcely necessary, I suppose, to remind my readers of the forthcoming winter show, and the need there is at this particular time of keeping a bag or two of any grain fit for exhibition. The Club has succeeded in placing before us a very presentable prize-list; but a good prize-liat is only of use in so far as it is a means of attracting a greater number of eotries. The season, unfortunately, has turned out to be an unsuitable one for wheat, but that should be all the more inducement for those who have good Bamples to exhibit ; while in other kinds of farm produce there is no reason why the standard of the exhibits at last year's very successful show should not be maintained. It only requires every one to do his best to make it a success, and to encourage the Club to continue in the new line which it laid out for itself last year. The potato crop may now be harvested whenever it shows signs of being ripe. When the tops are completely withered and the tubers drop readily from the roots on being turned up may generally be taken as a sufficient indication tbat this stage is reached. Potato digging machines of various kinds have been placed on the market, many of them doing their work in a satisfactory manner ; but their price renders them available only where potatoes form one of the staple crops ; but in a district like tbis where even on the larger farms an acre or two is all that is devoted to them, we must be content to stick to the more primitive methods. In some cases the potatoes may be ploughed up ; but even when this is done the ground requires to be gone over with the fork to do the work properly, and there is little saving of time Previous to digging with the fork, however, the drill grubber may with advantage be run between the rows, taking care that auy potatoes turned up by it are not left overnight exposed to the frost. The small, useless tubers should be picked out from tbe saleable ones before gathering. It may be a hindrance at the time, but: it has to be dove sooner or later, and it is easier done when they are spread on the ground than at the pit in the springtime, besides which the small potatoes are available for pig food during the winter. Potatoes are best preserved in tbe ordinary manner in pits covered with straw and earth. Straw alone, if put on somewhat thickly, will be found sufficient protection in ordinary seasons, but six inches of earth on top of it as an additional precaution ia safer. Even when the potatoes are gathered dry it is wise to leave the top of the pit uncovered for several days to let as much of the natural moisture out as possible, covering the exposed parts at night with bunches of straw to keep out the frost. By following this method there will be much less likelihood of the potatoes getting heated and fermenting and putrefying in the pit. Whatever may be thought of the policy of the present Government in other directions, there can be no doubt that it has done a great deal towards furthering the agricultural interests of the colony — more, I think I may say without fear of contradictiop, than was ever done by any party previously in power. To it is due the credit of establishing the Department of Agriculture on its present basis, a department, which u&der the ciarge of ft thoroughly

competent and practical man has been able to do an amount of good work that cannot be gainsaid while the appointment of duly qualified experts to look after the veterinary, biological and other important branches of work, shows how alive it is to the interests it was appointed to serve. The Department exists now, of course, apart from all considerations of party politics, and were another Government to be in power to-morrow would no doubt be carried on as efficiency as it has been under the regime of the present one ; but to the latter the inauguration of the good work is due, and to it, therefore, belongs the chief honor. But good though the work it haa already done haa been, it seema to me that opportunities of greatly extending its usefulness have sometimes been neglected — one way in particular to which I would like to refer to now, viz , the establishment of an agricultural experimental station for the South Island. It is now too late in the day to question the utility of such stations. It ia recognised in all the leading countries of the world wherever the importance of agricultural interests warrants their establishment. The experiments carried on by Sir J. B. Lawes and Dr Gilbert at Bothamstead, in England, have earned for those two gentlemen a world-wide reputation. At Woburn also, similar work is carried on. In Canada several experimental stations are to found, while in the United States every separate State has at least one, and in some cases more than one, under its control. Even in New Zealand their value has been admitted, and already there is one in the North Island at Momohaki in working order, a suitable site is being looked for near Auckland for another, while in other places in the North Island special experiments are made under the control of the Department. It is thus passing strange that the South Island should have been so long neglected. For as far as agriculture in the old accepted sense of the word ia concerned, Otago and Canterbury are far and away more important than all the other parts of the colony put tog- ther, and the results of the experiments made at stations in the North Island are, in consequence of climate and other d fferences of localities, useless so far as farmers in tho southern portions of this island are concerned Experiments to a certain extent are, I believe, carried on at Lincoln Agricultural College ; but that institution is not under the control of the Agricultural Department, and no effort is made to make the results of those experiments available for those interested. There are a thousand and one ways in which an experimental station in the South Island might do good work — in testing new varieties of grain, grasses, turnips, potatoes, &c. ; in determining the practical value of different manures ; in reporting on different, or it may be new methods of cultivation ; in introducing new breeds of cattle or sheep likely to prove suitable for local requirements ; in making ex peri ments as to the best methods of feeding and fattening stock ; and in numerous other ways that will suggest themselves to anyone. Of course all this means a certain amount of expense. Experiments can seldom be carried on at a profit. But it could be commenced on a small scale, and considering the amount of money frittered away for much less useful purposes, a little expense in thia direction can scarcely be grudged. This seems to me to be a matter which Farmers' Clubs and A. and P. Societies might suitably take up, for if they do not take the initiative, the Government will rest secure in the thought that what is not worth the asking is not worth the giving.