TUSSOCK AND FURROW.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14406, 13 July 1912, Page 14

TUSSOCK AND FURROW.

("Weekly press and Referee.") Wβ have had another very mixed 6ample of weather during the past ten days or so, and most of it has been had. Frosts,- and hard ones, too, have been frequent, while heavy rain, sleet and cold winds have all combined to get the ground into a very sloppy, sticky condition. Owners of stock will find that good food and plenty of shelter, where possible, will be paying propositions. An anima! does not need the- sann; quantity of food to keep it going if it is kept reasonably warm, as it does if it is half-perished with the cold. Dairymen are strongly advised to procure efficient covers for their cows; a fifteen-shilling cover should last two or three winters, and 1 think they will find them, good investments.

I have to correct a paragraph that

appeared in this column a fortnight ago regarding ono of Mr A, J. Keith's fat cattle exhibits at the Ash burton "Winter Show. The. note read \va?. some dispute about Mr Keith 1 * three-year-old bullock: it was said to bo over aye, and the Show Committee liad got their heads together over-the protest, but 1 don't think anything was done in the matter." 1 now learn that the animal (a heifer) was not H r Keith's at all, but belonged to another exhibitor, who satisfied the committee that the age was right. My valued friend from North Canterbury, who is a perfect encyclopaedia of information regarding the early days in Canterbury, sends mc the following note: —"There has passed away recently at Rangiora, in the person ol Mr Titos. Atkinson, a native of Yorkshire, a veteran ploughing-match competitor. At the- 1563 match at Mr Hill's, Avonhead. when forty-five teams were out, he was ono who held the. stilts of a Hornsby plough, and although not on that occasion a winner, lie tnado vory good work, and -was in later matches a prize-taker. A mnto of Mr Atkinson's, namely Mr \V. Mussen, from the same- Rangiora district, on that occasion tied with Mr T. Tobin for second to the champion, tho coveted higher position having been taken by Mr Andrew ftennie, with a Barrowmau plough. The champion's prize was taken out of a sweepstake of £1 each (eight competing), with £iO added, and there was some pretty solid going. The three judges, Messrs K. Rickmau, P. C. W. Gillespie, and ■\V. Graham, were not ablo to decide, and had to call to their aid Messrs James Guild and H. D. Gardiner. Long after following up the matches as a ■"competitor, Mr Thos. Atkinson was ono of those whose advocacy for matches in both North and South Canterbury proved of service in urging young men to train themselves in tho work of ploughing, and treating tho work as someitliing more than a puro manual- or mechanical operation for Iho proper cultivation of the soil." Tho same correspondent continues: — "Tho plouglu'ng matches aro with us again, and attention should lie called to tho kind of work which it is tho most desirable, to encoujrage. Tho practical man wants his two blades of grass or two ears of corn to grow, aud he needs efficient tillage, but also cheap and practical tillage, not the kind of ploughing that is chiefly attractive to judges. Attention is being given to this subject in Great Britain, and I notice the following paragraph iv a Scottish paper :--'Moro than onco exception has been takon here to fancy ploughing at ploughing competition , ?, and 'a call made for prizes being given for work such as a 7>raetical farmer wants on his own farm. Tho great i champion ploughing match to be held at Dumfries next week has offered a lead on this iine. Sir M. G. Wallace has offered (substantial prizes to bo competed for under special rules for this purpose. The ploughing must be at the rate of one acre per twelve and no hand-work on the furrows will bo allowed. This is an effort which deserves to succeed, and if it makes a good start, more interest may be taken in competitions by the ordinary reotpaying farmer who has to make a living by arable farming. These, farmers hesitated to countenance fancy ploughing as subversive to speedy and effective plough-work. Yet many of them felt that they wished to encourage really good ploughing on commercial lines. Perhaps in these latter days there is not the same intense interest : taken in his work by tho average | ploughman as was once common, but j these fancy ploughing matches and their alienation of farmers' interest, may ho responsible for much of this.' A renewed personal interest in, and appreciation of, good work will ten , ! to help the pleasant community rtt feeling between masters and men.' " It is a coincidence that 1 wrote on this very Gubject last week, . . ..< I have had the pleasure of spending tho past week at Palmerston North attending the ninth National Ifcviry Show, this being the second ono I have seen. Mγ impression was that it was not quite so big as last-year's exhibition, but I think it was fully as interesting. The total entries in the two catalogues, namely 1311, 1310, and for 1912, 1833, would apparently provo that I was wrong, but the largest in- j creasb this year was in the big poultry j exhibit. Tho figures for this wero 291 in 1911 and 708 in 1912, which makes a good bit of difference. In the more important classes the figures were as follows, last year's being given Hiparentheses:—Dairy factory butter (153) 140; dairy factory cheese (82) 92; judging competition (20) 12; fruit, vegetables, roots, seeds; school competitions, and home industries, etc. (699) 806; milk testing (11) 1; hunters and ponies (54) CB. It will he seen, therefore, that there has been a falling off in the butter exhibits, but the.popularity of cheesemaking shows itself in an increased entry in this commodity. Compared with these dairy products tho entries for thelast Otago Winter Show are interesting. The total number of cheese entries was 145 and for factory butter 38 there. At the, Palmerston Show there was a total of 232 entries from dairy factories, as compared with 183 at the southern fixture, and for the whole show Palmerston has 1833 entries, as compared with Thinedin's 1333. So, altogether, there is not bo very much between them. However, entries in catalogues are very misleading and really nothing much can bo deduced from them. A lot of Canterbury men went up north, and among others. I noticed Messrs J. C. N. Grigg. W. O. Rutherford. J. Parlane, D. W. Mefjcan, J. l>. Hall and Mrs Hall, H. V., Fulton (secretary to tho Otago A. and P, Society), Messrs Middleton and Smith, of tho Addington Dairy Factory, and Mr Jakins, who has butter factories in Christchurch and Timaru. .

It may interest students of the Canterbury Agricultural College to learn that their late lecturer on surveying and kindred subjects, Mr Bartrutn, was seen in "Wellington looking very fit. Ho says that he likes the work on the geological-survey though there is plenty of "roughing it" to be done. At present tho members of the survey are in winter quarters in Wellington, and Mr Bartrum sent Ins "salaams" to all old friends at th« College. There was ono stall or section.of the Agricultural Department's display at the National Dairy Show that was presided over by Mr W. S. Hill, a 1910 gold medallist of Canterbury Agricultural College. Mr Hill ha? been appointed plant breeder at- the Moumahnki State Farm, and has been fibout a month in his present position. Ho says ho likes tho work very much and is very keen on his particular subject. Of course, he has only just, got tho bearings of his new job at present, but he is confident that in timo hef will be able to do some useful and. ho trusts, valuables w.ork.

It was not long ago—at the opening of tho Ruakura Farm of Instruction, to bo precise—that tho Minister or Agriculture was bewailing tho alleged fact that there was no place whore the youth cf New Zealand could Ret an agricultural education, and yet ho must have known at tho time that it •was a Canterbury Agricultural College student that bad been appointed to a responsible position on a Government institution. Mr W. S. Hill is having a battle with the silver beet at present. Ho had a representative collection of all sorts of type* of the plant on his stand at tho show., and ho explained to mc thatjdie was going to try and isolate and fix the various types of beet, and then conduct experiments with regard to their feeding value, disease resisting properties, cropping yields. et<\, so as to find out the best sort to use. The ordinary seed supplied by merchants at present grows all sorts of varieties of beet. There ia a thick-stemmed, pale-green sort with

smooth leaves, a thick-stemmed, Wk'l green sort with smooth leaves afiotWt 'S variety of a very squat habit of growtk' H and small ribs to tho loaves- and \"*% kind with very crinkled leave* l£-" l frobu.st frrowth, with the Krowinatrnwi owell sheltered. At present Mr Hirt '"'' seems to fancy the lattor kiud as more senerolly useful, but [ think ".any Wight wero to attack it, tbwennkhness of the leaves would be ! fino shelter against &pray fluids, 7 -, 1 * .— ■■ " i i 'f