GENERAL NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 114, 6 February 1908, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

There is an agitation'of a mild description' "■ to start a drovers';, imion' -in-tho WairaHipa. Largo numbers'of fat' cattle are at; pre-, sent being driven' 'from - the;'- H&Wks's r r Baj' ; ',• district through'the Wairarapa and over th©:-, Rimutakas into Wellington.*'' ■ ' ; Some Wairarapa.-'farmers are regretting/, their experience of-; being--without;'any ;rape I crops for the first, time since they went upon the land. It., ,appears, . they delayed sowing .in December oinrig to,:the dryness of,the . season; and .waited r patiqntly ; ,fori. the showers .which nbver. Came, or rather >5 did,'. not come in what was .considered; sulfioicnt quantity to .give, their crops, a Btart. Then when the season became drier, all hope of sowing and obtaining" a erop was, lost; A number of " farmers did ; sow; however in December/ and j.haro now fairly good crops up to the sheep's, backs; , but - unlessthere are more, raid-showers' the, sheep, wjll he able to obtain only one feed., from the >cfcp. Other farmers. cowod a portion_of. their -areas: early, and the femafiiingv late, .with ■ satisfactory: growths from; the .early crops, : and not a sprout in the second instances. ■Possibly, the-best .crops, of, rapeji,which, by the way were, sown early, are in the TeWhiti ' The same locality is responsible for:. sonm very, fine turnip ciops 1 In connection with the grass-fire outbreak at Gladstone last weok, .believed -tohave been, caused by imperfectly . mixed- rabbitpoison, our • Wairarapa . correspondents is authoritatively iufprmed that if sucl\ ...were• ■" the oaSe it could hardly bo laid. to,,the_ charge of poison inixed .by -the Government", 'Agricultural - Department. . .The",, Department exercisds. the greatest, care in- this' matter, . "and the, poison is so well miSed.. that . after t days of'exposure it cannot bo'fired.wjthla:, ;match. AllGoveranient poison, manufactured , for the extermination of rabbits: is of phos-. . phorised, pollardj laid. on a. heap, of. spade-, ■■ , turned, earth,; which attracts' the:, .noticed of , the rabbits. Phosphorised ' £rain, such '..as: ; oatsj.is very liable, to become ignited through ! the .phosphorusbecoming;"congealed on the ■ husk, but'the authorities are not aware of„a : case' where fire' has been the , result of "pollard .not; properly'.mixed. -. In the course /of a recent conversation,' "Mr: J. 'A. Dudson, Chairman'-pf- Directors-/ of- the Wairarapa l Brick and TllovWqrjs?ftj"; • fbrred to".the 1 " extr'aerdinaiy■ growtli-' iii ' the; 1 • 'Output- off-drain-pipes amo.rigst . the farmers' : 'of the. Wellington Provincial district. 1 ' Orders ; /were being 'received ; foKdrain-pipbs'from ajl' . parts or the •province; 1 especially in Rangitikei, up th'S'^lain'Trunk tine ajid ManaTvatu," showing that' this branch of .scientific '. farming, was being- quickly -recognised ;■ by , " the 1 man on the land." In some portions of, . the Wairarapa'the?fe W3s evon a-greater, demand;'' an' order' from .Mr. W: Perry, the well-known i sheep-breeder, being of . such dimensions,'as to require twenty-five. .days' carting- by 'the, company's'lorries: • • , i i ' The Government- stallions,. Singlestick-II : and Malachi will -arrivo: from Lyttelton -thic morning, and be sent .on to • Moumahaki. Forty stud Romnov Marsh/ewes .will -arrive from Blenheim, and bo sent to Weraroa. .