FARM and STATION

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19691, 7 August 1929, Page 13

FARM and STATION

By "Straggler."

CURRENT TOPICS.

WHEAT INVESTIGATION. Having turned a too considerate ear to the North Island imitators in re K"f*l to the wheat duties the most <•ant. rl.ury growers hoped for was that th*> Svlet t Committee the Government mm decided to appoint to investigate matters would be «ensibl v constituted. The names have been published, and 11 ' an *aui that t lie vi lieat-grower^ have n.» reason to complain of the • > a utii.ii <>t tilt- Committee a.s a " °» l»arty lines it comprises three Ket'onn supporter*. two Labour itcM, two I'nileds (exclusive of the two Ministers concerned), ;ind one Independent, it total of ten. The three Reform members— Messrs 1). Jones, J. Kitchener, and F. Waite ,-ire countrv rej>reseiilut ives, two of them in close lot., h with the industry, and Mr Waite may be expected to discuss the matter mole from a farming viewpoint than a political. Two of the United nieinl'«'s the Hon. Mr Forbes and Mr •J. A. Macpherson—are both practical farijii is with a personal knowledge of the subject. The two Labour mem tiers —Messrs J. McContbs and 0. Oarr represent eonstit ueneies which, although they produce practically no wheat, are vefy much dependent on the w beat-y;row inn industry, and in spite of their strong Lubotir leanings and the desire to placate that section of voters, they may learn that there is it good deal of shallowness in the -rv about the "dear lout." The chief agi tator against the duties, Mr V. A. Wil | kirison, the Independent, may have phases of the mutter placed before him thnt were previously undreamt of in his philosophy. The other United member, Mr Jenkins, is an Aucklauder, and doubtless his opinions j are coloured with the Auckland tar brush, but the Hon. Mr Cobbe is not *a parochial politician. It would be wrong to suggest that any of the above gentlemen will decline to be guided by I lie information laid before them by the evidence, and it is satisfactory to know that practically all of them have given the subject a good deal of study from different angles naturally. The committee has not been appointed hapazardly. This being so the case for the wheat-growers can stand trial without any great amount of fear. There are two clauses in the order of reference that may not progress so well under the searchlight -i.e., whether protection, if any, is required for the flourniilling industry, and whether the costs of baking and distributing bread to consumers are reasonable or otherwise. EAB THING-UP OF POTATOES. A Home writer states that there are times when one wonders whether the i j time-honoured practice of earthing-up j potatoes ia really worth while, and whether the crop would not often do just UN well without this operation. Karthing up probably has more than one object in view; in tho first place the ideu is that, owing to the plant's hub It of producing its tubers near the surface, all tho tubers should be covered aud so prevented from being discoloured by exposure; second, the ridges have the effect of throwing off superfluous moisture in a wet season. Potatoes growing in what is little better than clods of baked earth, similar to brickbats, can do but little good, especially in a very dry season. As to the " greening" of exposed tubers, it is doubtful whether there would be any appreciable quantity of these in a properly planted crop even if no earthing-up were done. The success of the crop must always depend largely on the method of planting, whatever may be done to it afterwards by way of cultivation. OLUB BOOT IN TUUNIPB. In connexion with the prevalence of club-root in Southland, the Department of Agriculture in Otago and Southland has decided to undertake a comprehensive experiment in an endeavour to ascertain definitely whether any variety of swede or turnip can be relied upon to resist the disea e. The Danish awede known as Hernings was the only variety on which the disease had no effect on the club-root infested land at the Gore Experimental Aroa during last season. The Fields Division has now imported lewt of the seed, and farmers have been invited to co-operate with the Department by sowing half a pound of Hernings swede with the rest of their crop this year. The imported seed will be sown in alternate rows with the ordinary crop, and the fully developed crop should show definitely whether the vareity is club-root resisting or not. The list of farmer# willing to co-operate is now filled, and at least 100 farmers in Southland will receive samples for the test.

an unpopular objectob. There is a South Otago farmer who apparently wants to pay more local taxation. At a sitting of the Assessment Court at Balclutha the other day, the application of Albert John Webb, of Waipahi, asked for an increase in his valuations in respect to a property of 1440 acres. The Government valuations were: Capital £6717 (unimproved £5347, improvements £1370). He asked that the capital value be increased to £12,200 (£9090 unimproved and £3200 for improvements). In 1914 the valuation was £7 an acre, and he would have been quite satisfied with this. The president of the court said the idea of the valuers was to place all land on the same basis as far as possible. Objector would have to show that his land was so much better than that round about him. He was the first man he had met who asked for an increase, and was very unpopular. Everyone else was satisfied but the objector. Mr Webb said there was only 14s an acre difference in bis valuation, and he was near the railway. The Department's representative said three valuations had been made on the property, and they were practically all the same. Tho valuator gave his reasons for reducing the valuations, and after consultation, the court increased the capital value to £B6i»o (£6t53« r > unimproved and £2055 for improvements), this being an increase on a basis of 10s an acre on unimproved value and 7» an acre for improvements. HOME POTATO MARKET. Whilst potatoes in Sydney have been making over £2O a ton they have been selling in England and Scotland for table purposes as low as 30s. It would eertainly look like carting coals to Newcastle to ship a primary produet like potatoes from the United Kingdom to Australia, but there would appear to b« * margin for it here, and the

length of the trip would not an obstacle. However, farmers in bcotland, states a Home paper of June, are left with thousands of tons on hand. Even Golden Wonders, the popular variety, have gone out of favour. These were quoted as low as 50s a ton at Cupar, and even at that figure the demand was limited. A tow tons of good white changed hands at Perth recently, for feeding purposes, at 15s a ton. Farmers m Fifeshire have completed negotiations; with the Second Anglo-Scottish Boot Sugar Corporation for having ten surp us potatoes dried at the Cupar beet sugar factorv, to be stored and used later for siock-feeding. The process will vield at least ton ot the dried material for ever> five tons of potatoes, and the cost will be roughly 2oa a ton, depending on the quantity to be dealt with. Promises of over 1100 tons of potatoes were intimated at one meet, insr The hard part about the position is that earlv Continental potatoes are arriving on the market at a cost of 3d per lb.

| WHEAT RESEARCH

BEST VARIETY FOR THE BAKER. j A PRACTICAL EXPERIMENT. , A PitLM reporter who visited the j Wheat Research Institute yesterday, found Mr H. E. West, officer in charge, j with a lot of small loaves of bread on tlie I tabic. He had ground the flour him- ! self, had baked the bread, and was in the process of weighing it up. ! He explained fli:;t the loaves were j made from different samples of wheat ! which had been taken in equal quantifies and varied only in the \ariety of . the grain. The difference in the quality I of the bread was very material. The { loaves themselves showed this clearly. ' Two pale loaves, which were among the I poorest, were made from ilonr from Tns- ! can wheat, the same variety as about | .Ml per cent, of the wheat grown in New | Zealand. The best loaf to look at had | been made from a variety of Canadian wheat grown in New Zealand. It was evident that no two wheats made the | same kind of biead. I Mr West, said that in New Zealand i the quality and nature of the soil varied ] tremendously, even from farm to farm in the same neighbourhood. Indeed, i different paddocks on the same farm varied. Then there were many other i factors which all had their influence on the sample of wheat. The rainfall in two localities might, be the same, but falling on different classes of soil, effect was much different. Such regional differences were very pronounced in this country. The purpose of his experiment was to find out which wheat made the best bread but this was not the end of the story. One variety might make an excellent loaf, but its yield might be so poor that it did uot pay the farmer to grow it. His work was aimed at discovering what kind of wheat made good bread, and at the same time gave a fair return to the grower. But both sides of the question must be looked at by the farmer, too. He would not be able to go on growing a wheat which yielded abundantly if it made poor bread. In selecting his variety he would have to take note of its bread-making qualities as well as of its yield. This would be the only way that his wheat would create its own market.

SLAUGHTER OF CALVES | EFFECT ON BEEF TRADE. LTHE PRESS Special Service ] AUCKLAND, August (j. Believing that the heavy slaughter of calves which is proceeding in country districts will have a prejudicial effect, the Auckland Master Butchers' Association lias taken the matter up with the Minister for Agriculture. The Association says tTiat the business was undertaken ny freezing works in the Waikato and elsewhere, and was intended at first to deal only with calves of dairy strain unsuitable for beef business, but has now developed to such an extent that calves of good beef strain are being slaughtered in great numbers at one or two days old. Members of tho Auckland Master Butchers' Association are not in a position to judge the effect the wholesale slaughter will have on the Dominion as a whole, but they are con vinced that if this slaughter of young calves continues there will be an acute shortage of store cattle suitable for grazing and conversion into beef for local consumption, with the inevitable consequent serious ill-effect upon the trade and consumers in the form of extreme high prices. The Association recognises the great difficulties in the way of dealing with such a situation through Government action, but suggests that the Agricultural Department might take action in advising and distributing information to those oonoerned in regard to the very serious effects upon the stock business a a result of tne wholesale slaughter of young calves.

FIELDS DIVISION. MR J. W. DEEM APPOINTED DIRECTOR. Mr J. W. Deem, for some years Superintendent of Agriculture for the provinces of ■Wellington, Taranaki, and Hawkc's Bay, has been appointed Director of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, and assumed office in the new position as from August Ist. The vacancy was created by the promotion of Mr A. H. Cockayne to the position of Assistant DirectorGeneral of Agriculture. There will be general satisfaction in the farming community at the promotion of Mr Deem to what really should be the most important office iu the Department. He is essentially a practical agriculturist, and his work in the North Island in the way of crop and pasture experimentation has done much for the rural community in the provinces in which he was stationed. He has been largely responsible for the advance of the practice of top-dressing in Taranaki and the Manawatu, and he may be regarded as the leading authority in the Dominion on the subject of grass-land management. His promotion, therefore, should result in real benefit to the farming community of the Dominion.

CROP PROSPECTS.

Mid-canterbury coastal AREAS. Farming operations iu the Wakanui, j Elgin, Riverside, and Seaview districts j have been much delayed during the I months of June and July, and not for j many years have there been experienced i such frequently recurring rainstorms I alternating with two or three bright days. All field work has had to cease J except- in cases where grass land was being ploughed up for cropping, as the ground was too soft to carry the horses or tractors. Wheat. Owing to the exceptional lateness of the harvest most farmers were delayed with their autumn ploughing, and as a result there is a very considerable reduction in the acreage of early sown wheat. Now the indications are that much of the land previously intended for wheat will be devoted to other crops, and possibly some of it will be reserved for the production of sheep feed. Former experience lias taught many farmers that in these districts spring sown wheat crops are not so generally successful as those drilled during May and June, consequently farmers are a little chary about depending 011 any very extensive area of spring wheat. It will be gathered from what has been stated that the area under wheat in these districts will t probably be considerably less than in previous years. In fact, there are cases 1 where wheat-growing has been aban- ' doned for this year, and in quite a number of others the wheat acreage uas suffered a diminution of fully 50 per cent. In previous years where, through various causes, paddocks have been missed for wheat there has always been the chance of a crop of field peas, with a confident hope of a good wheat crop to succeed them the following year. But the bottom of the pea market having fallen out so completely this year, farmers have become doubtful about pea sowing, and, as vhere does not seem to be much chance of an early recovery, it is possible that field pea growing will be left severely alone for this season. Barley. As a rule barley does well in these districts, but is not a very popular crop, and under existing conditions, as marketing is uncertain, over-production can easily bring the pric. below a paying level. With all these factors in the situation it may be concluded that the area under cereal crops will this year be less than usual. However, any crops sown in the autumn are looking exceptionally well, and jiven a few weeks of fine weather a very vigorous attempt will no doubt be made to get in the remainder. Most of the land intended for crop is already ploughed, and a week of fine weather will permit the drilling to proceed. Stock on the whole have wintered well, most of the farmers being well supplied with hay, turnips, and green oats. A fair number of lambs have already put in an appearance, and, though no doubt the owners have had an anxious time during' the wet and c6ld weather, on tlie whole few losses have occurred. Land Sales. There are a few changes of ownership of farms, and where the sales have been public the prices given do not indicate any very material drop in values, except in cases where war-time prices had been paid, which in some cases were abnormal. There seems, however, to be a general feeling that prices for farm products will rule somewhat lower than has been the case for a few years, and that being so, buyers of land naturally are cautious as to the prices they are prepared to pay. In one or two cases where the purchases included fair areas of growing crops prices paid seem good.

SHEEP MORTALITY. SHEEPOWNER»S ADVICE. - Mr G. F. Moore, of Bushy Park, Wanganui, writing to a North Tsland paper on the above subject, referred to a 'lectu;re recently delivered by Mr T. L. Daniell, of Masterton, in which that gentleman stated that the Dominion annually loses two million sheep through, parasitic infestation. Mr Moore's letter was as follows: Mr Daniell mentions that the remedy suggested by Massey College was not effective, which only bears out my contention "that an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory." Since going in for Romney sheep many years ago we have never lost more than half a ner cent, of lambs, no matter how baa the seasons were The whole secret is by proper and commonsense management to prevent worms and other para- ■ sites obtaining sucli a hold on the slieep as to do them harm And it is quite simple to do this. There is no need for any commission of enquiry as suggested by Mr Daniell. There is too much of a tendency in these days to call upon so-called science to solve all our difficulties, when in most cases a little common sense properly applied is sufficient. My manager, Mr S. H. Wilson, will bear out what I have said in every particular, as he has been responsible for this very satisfactory result with the sheep. The position in a nutshell with young sheep is that for the first year they must be run on short, fresh, clean pasture, which has been prepared by cattle. They must be shifted fairly often as it is not good to leave them too long in one paddock. If possible they should not be run together or in large flocks, and rock salt in large lumps should be always provided for them, if they are treated as above and carefully watched they will be all right. Another contributory cause of the large annual loss of sheep" in New Zealand is that many farmers try to carry lambs on country which is only suitable for grown wethers. HARD FACTS FROM A PROMINENT SOUTHLAND AUTHORITY. Invercargill, February 21st, 19i'9. Dear Sir, — Re JOSEPH FORD'S DRENCH. I have used this mixture on Hoggets for thirty-two years, also on Stud Lambs and other sheep. Using it first on the Waicola Estate, and afterwards on the flock of W. D. Hunt, Esq., Waitoru Estate, both for lung worm and scour, and always found it a sure remedy. The cost in comparison with the benefit is small. 1 always keep it on hand. The use keeps the sheep cleaner and the dagging is easier. Yours faithfullv, THOS. PBENDEBGAST (sgd.).

BUTTER FAT IN MILK.

THE VARYING STAGES. Results of numerous milking experiments prove that milk as taken from a cow is not of average composition —that is to say, that the first drawn milk is abnormally poor in fat eontent; whilst the quality of the milk gradually improves as the process of milking continues, the last drawn milk being richest in butter-fat, containing a much higher percentage than a sample of normal milk: Whereas the first drawn pint of milk may have as low a fat percentage as 1.2 or 1.5, the last pint withdrawn from the cow may contain as much as 6 or 7 per cent, of fat. The strippings are richest of all, and may prove on analysis to have 10 per cent, of fat. Hence, unless the strippings up to the last drop are included in the milk, the latter will contain less butter-fat than it should do if the milking operation were satisfactorily carried out. To the farmer who produces butter, this means a decreased butter yield, but this point is also of great importance to milk sellers. Apart from the reduction in the yield and the quality of the milk by incompletely milking the cows, this slovenly practice in the case of heifers and young cows, whose milk secretion has as yet not reached its maximum limit, involves a deterioration of their milkyielding qualities, or at any rate prevents a full development of the latter in succeeding lactation periods. Although the milk-yielding capacity is primarily an inherited quality, yet to some extent it depends on other factors, one of which is the stimulation of the udder by means of the milking process. The greater the stimulation is, the more beneficially will the development of the milk organs be influenced. So, thorough and complete milking of heifers and young cows is especially to be desired as tending to improve j their milk-yielding qualities; whilst if the milking process is carried out in j a careless and perfunctory manner, the opposte effect results in that it d®* teriorates the milk-yielding qualities to a certain extent. With a view of developing the milking qualities and to increase the milk yield in future lactation periods, it is further desirable to prolong the first few lactation periods of a young cow as much as possible—within reasonable limits, of course—and not to allow them to dry off too soon, as this has a n adverse effect on the quality of the future milk yields in succeeding lactatioD period*.