JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12933, 12 October 1907, Page 10

JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS.

the Blenheim correspondent of the "Ne«- Zealand Timer' telegraph*:— Dalgety and Company, Ltd., report tho sale, on account of Mr C. *c V. Teschemaker Shuie, of the Glenlee station, Awatere Valley, Marlborough, comprising 13,600 acres freehold and 15,500 acrea leasehold/ with 8500 sheep, ac a going oonoern, for delivery after shearing, to Mr William Shipley, of Greendale, Canterbury, at a satisfactory figure. Uur Dunedin (correspondent telegraphs:—'The brilliant sunshine and warm breezes of the early part of last month have worked wonders in every department of farming. The lamb.ng promised well everywhere. During the past two weeKs the outlook has quite chinge<l. Southland in particular has felt the harsh winds and low temperature, and lambs have died at an alarming rate. Up north things havo not iK-en so serious. Mr Moritzson, who has just returned from a trip through South Canterbury, states that he found far less ground under strawberry cultivation than in former years. One of the principal reasons is the comparative scarcity of boy and girl labour. At one time—and not bo very far back either— growers had) not the least difficulty in obtaining all the child labour they wanted. Small boys and small girls were only too pleased to throw themselves heartily aito the work, and at Chris.mas their earnings were of great help to their parents in providing them with new boots, and clothes ; but now prosperity runs so' high that the parents do not care to send their little ones into the strawberry fields, and the children themselves show less disposition to earn money with tJieir own hands. As a result of his trip to the W&imate district, Mr Moritzson speaks very hopefully of the prospects of next eeason both in regard to grain and fruit. Our Tai Tapu correspondent Trrites: —TTie present season is a very backward one, the cold wet weather preventing any very great growth of herbage. Feed is scarce jor this time of the year. However, if warm weather sets in now. tJiere will soon be plenty of grass, and the anxiety of the farmers in this respect will be allayed. A New Zealander, who visited Kent (England) recently, says:—"Everywhere about on© noticed Californian thistle, just as we see the ordinary Scotch thistle in the pastures on the rich land of New Zealand. Farmers hci# do net take rnutih notice.of it, simply chopping it once or twice a year. It is said that mowing a hay paddock consecutively for several years will kill it right out in Kent. 1 noticed in come of the ehcep camps under the trees it was growing in great profusion, just as it does in the good busih land of New Zealand."