The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, MAY 27, 1898. FARMING NOTES.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2963, 27 May 1898, Page 2

The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, MAY 27, 1898. FARMING NOTES.

[By Rusxious ] The Ota go A. and P. Society have again reason to complain of the lack of support they receive in their prize farm competitions. They must find the paucity of entries positively disheartening. In this respect they seem to be receiving less encourage ment each successive year. In 1894, the first year in which the competitions were held, there were nine entries \ in 1895 thia number was increased in a most gratifying manner, and in a way which seemed to promise that the contests were likely to prove increasingly popular, no less than seventeen entries being received ; but, alas for false hopes, the next year showed a sudden drop to eight ; last year saw the same number entered ; while this year the number is down to a pitiable five, two in the section for large farms and three in the small farm class. "We may well ask, why is this thus ? It cannot be that out of the hundreds of farms throughout Otago and Southland only five are in good enough order to justify their owners in entering them. The judge for this year, Mr Elliot, of Middlemarch, says "no" most emphatically to such an explanation. He affirms, and no one has a better opportunity of judging, that no person can travel through Otago and Southland without seeing large numbers of creditable and well- managed farms, and no doubt any of these might have been entered with reasonable expectations gi winning the coveted honor,

The case of the prize winner this year in the small farm class is a kind of proof that there are latent possibilities of success in farms which have not yet been eutered for competition. Last year Mr Blackie, i of Kyal Bush, was third, following | somewhat closely on the heels of his j Taieri namesake and Mr Ghiroy. The j last two gentlemen are now debarred ftom competing and had last year's list contained all that were fit for competition, Mr Blackie should have had no difficulty this year in being first. But last year's list had not contained all tbat were good enough for competition, for this year a rank outsider in the person of Mr Hunter, of Harringtons, who so far as I know had never competed before, stepped in and seemed a rather easy first, Mr Blackie having to be content with second place. And what was trud of iaac year's list is no doubt true of the present year's. There are just as good fish in the sea as ever were caught. Why then this disinclination on the part of the owners of these creditably managed farms to enter. I give it up, Mr Elliot in bis report refers to the very common laxity on the part of those farmers entering in the matter of book-keeping The same complaint was made by the judges last year. A.nd what is common to the few is certainly juat as common to the general run of farmers. Bookkeeping on any recognised plan is an almost neglected part of their business. How many farmers I wonder make out a yearly balance-sheet to find out exactly how they stand ? Very few I am afraid. And yet what would we think of the man of business who went on year in, year out, in such a haphazard way. No doubt it will be contended that the drawing out of the most elaborate balance-sheet will not make a farmer one whit the richer. Quite bo. Neither will the taking of the bearings by a ship's captain bring him one inch nearer land ; but it will at least let him know exactly where he ie, and that is a point of primary importance. I do not think farmers are altogether to blame in this respect. To keep farm accounts in the perfectly exact manner laid down by some people requires an elaborate seb of books, and I do not wonder that so few attempt it But it should not be difficult to devise a system good enough and simple enough for practical purposes. It always seems to me that farm book-keeping does not occupy a sufficiently important place in the curriculum of country schools. In many of these schools book-beeping of a kind suitable lor commercial purposes is taught, but in a very perfunctory manner. Whether it is of any use to those who afterwards go into business for themselves I do not know — most probably it is not ; but it certainly is of very little use to those who follow after agricultural pursuits as a means of livelihood. Manuals of farm bookkeeping have been published, and considering the importance of the matter I think that these ought to be introduced into all country schools, and taught in such a manner as would be of some use to the pupils in after life, The most destructive enemy to the turnip crop as it approaches maturity is the so-called blight aphis. Strictly speaking, however, this is not a form of blight at all. The damage is due to the attacks of the turnip aphis or tureen fly, a branch of the great aphides or plant-lice family, an exceedingly injurious family of small winged insects. While one species of aphides attacks turnips, another is the enemy of the hop plant, another of rose, another of the bean, another of the cabbage and so on. To the general student there is much that is interesting about the aphide.s They are usually furnished with a pair of short tubes close to the extremity of the abdomen from which a clear sweet secretion exudes. Ants have a great liking for this secretion, and ant colonies take care to have a number of aphides near by to have a supply of the delicacy handy. The methods by which aphides are reproduced are also remarkable, and I would refer anyone interested in these matters to the excellent article on " Aphides " and l( Ants " recently contributed by Grant Allen to the ' Strand Magazine.' I am afraid that none of these interesting features of the insects' life will reconcile farmers to the presence of the aphides on his turnip crop. They multiply with amazing rapidity under favorable conditions, and with their sharp probosc : s pierce the cuticle of the leaves and suck the juice, causing a reduced state of vitality, and partial failure of the crop. Very little can be done to counteract the effects of the pest. I might say, however, that the pretty little beetles known as the ladybirds are the natural enemy of the aphides, and are worthy of all protection. The majority of the ladybirds are undoubtedly the friends of the farmer, and their presence on all cultivated plants is most beneficial. They lay their eggs in small patches in the midst of the aphides which are destined to furnish nourishment to the larvre. Infusions of ammonia, tobacco, &c, may be used to kill the 3phides in a garden where only a few plants are affected ; but on a large scale this is impracticable. Eating the crop off with sheep has been recommended as helping to prevent the reappearance of the pest the following year, /

Daring the month of April, 1593 parsons left the ooloay and 1176 arrived. Farmers in the Tokotnairiro district are now pitting their abeep on to the turnips. It 18 reported that a boot factory will shortly be started in Milton. We give tbo rumor for what; it ia worth. Daring the last two days the weather has been extremely wiatry, caused by enow falling on the highlands. This week a farmer in the Clutha district had etavon oowa condemned by the Stock Inspector, owing to their suffering from tuberculosis. The passenger traffic on the local lines on the Q jeea'a Birthday was not np to expectations, tho number of excursionists being smaller than usual. In our report of t b e Farmers' Harvest Homo social last Friday, we omitted to mention that MePtra Graham and Kennard granted the committee the use 0* the rink gratis. We understand a petition ia in courso of circulation to the Postal Department, asking that a delivery of malls may take placo over" tha counter at the Milton Post Office in the evenings, between Beven end eight o'clock. What do the passengers by the Lawrence liae s&ya to this : " If an express train moving at the rate of 45 mUog an hoar were to atop au idenly it would give the pisaengera a shook equal to that of falling from a height of 54ft ! In the Mataura bye election yesterday, Mr R. M'Nab defeated the Opposition candidate Mr Ward by over 250 votes. When we went to press all the retnrnß were not in, but they would only increase the majority for Mr M'Nab. Shareholders in the Bruce Woollen Manufacturing Company, Ltd, are reminded that, in order to make themselves eligible to vote at the forthcoming meeting of shareholders, it ia necessary that all calls should be paid np before the date of meeting. The Bailwsy Department, in connection with the closing of the Otago Industrial Exhibition and the Danedin Winter Show, notify that a train will leave Dunedin for Clinton and intermediate stations at 11.20 p.m. on Saturday, Jane 4. Attention is again called to the B^le of work and produce in connection with the Wesleyan Church on Saturday (tomorrow), and Monday next. Among the features worthy of attention are a S'hriatmaa tree, ethibition of curioß, art-gallery, &o. There will also be refreshment and other stalls. A Frenchman says he can lay continuous concrete pipes for a shilling a yard. He diga his trench, puts in a layer of concrete on that lays an inflated rubber tube ct the diameter of the pipe required/ pours concrete over thai and the pipe/is made He lets the air out of the tubejand draws it along for another section. has made such pipes up to six inches diameter. The award of the jurors of the Jubilee Exhibition on H. E. Shaoklock'tf ranges is: The "Orion" ranges are sub" stantially constructed. The workmanßbipi good, and several new devices have been introduced, which add to the convenience and effectiveness of these stoves. The goods on view fully maintain the reputation of the firm. A gold medal was awarded. A special meeting of the Milton Rorough Council, in accordance with Beofiion 171, of the Corporation Aot, 1886, was held in the Counoil Chambers on Tuesday evening, when the annual balance-sheet for the year ended 31 at Maroh, 1898, waß passed. Subsequently the Sanitary and Governor's Reception Committees met, bat their business was transacted in committee. There was great excitement in the Mataura electorate over the bye-eleotion. All the Conservative papers were quite sure that Mr Ward would win, and the Lib eral papers were all equally oertain he would not, One Liberal paper issued pieces of the M'Nab tartan to its subscribers, pinned in the middle of the following advertisment : " Timor omnis aresto. The Right Colob, Vote for M'Nab ! Sheas ri Mo an Aba J" The Latin seems questionable ; we cannot! say we know anything about Yo Gaelio 1 A sarcastic correspondent in the •Evening Post,' replying to another correspondent who had complained of the Bank increasing the overdraft rate to local bodies, says : Those of us who have been in business in Scotland or in tha North of Ireland will ever remember their method of doing bußiness. If he wants to understand banking up-to-date he should study banking as it has been done in some of the younger banks of the colonies, or Btndy banking in tha "Far Eiat"— say Ceylon or China. We want no humdrum, aautioas, timid, banking hero. We must be np-to-date. Aad what is all his pother about ? Beoause the Bank of New Zealand gives a private company an overdraft at 5J per cent.— one of the directors of the bank being a direotor of the company — and charges a local body Qh per cent., he calls the conduct of the Preaident and directors •' ridiculous !" Thifl shows the old Scotch "cautionary bond" spirit in which he has been trained.