THE FARM INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 278, 17 August 1908, Page 3

THE FARM INDUSTRY.

COLONIAL PRODUCTS. THE FRANCO-BRITISH AWARDS. • ; HOW NEW ZEALAND 'SHAPED. Tho recently cabled awards on Colonial products at the Franco-British Exhibition put Now Zealand in a high position among, the : dominions beyond the seas. The awards placo , the 'Various colonies in the following order, the grand prix apparently boing tho plums ■of tho contest:— ■. ■ • Grands Gold Silver . Prix. Medal. Medal. Victoria " ... 6 i — , , ...■ 6 - 1 — . ' N. S. Wales . '... 2 ..: . 4 — Quoonsland ... 2 2 2 S. Australia ...' 1 ; 1 / — New Zealand's grands prix were obtained for lamb, mutton,,pork, poultry, butter, and cheese. . *'' I Victoria obtained grands prix for lamb, beef, mutton, pork, butter, and for onions and potatoes. • , : i New South Wales scored with rabbits and -■ cheese. .. .. . , . 1 Queensland Scored-with lamb and beef—a fact which should encourago thoso who have bought large estates in that country. South Australia obtained a grand prix for lainb. j * '/ Points that ought to , bb particularly encouraging to New Zealanders are tho victories with our poultry and , pork. New Zealanders'have long been advised to produco, pork, mors extensively, especially .on the dairy farms, but no great amount of . Government money has ever been directly spent' in fostering : the industry. Nor'has keeping of swine j-et quito reached the dimensions of an independent industry. Pork is mainly just a by-product of the dairy farm.- Yet there are authorities who contend' that the profit from- pigs as' an ; independent l industry is greater per acre, or for' tie. same expenditure of capital and labour, than the profit , from dairy cows.The.success of .the New Zealand;pork at Home is good evidence that, in_ the .matter of quality, arid fitness for refrigeration, there need be no fear of overproduction, so long as wo could be satisfied with the prices of.the old lands. Doubtless,' ■ with larger outputs the, freezing companies and bacon factories could pay -farmers /the firesent prices and sell profitably ■at much ower than their present cnarges. ..In regrad to the poultry victory,-there is cause for _ congratulation. IJhis is a young industry in New .Zealand, and the,poultry, division has come in for .sharp criticismi be- ,. cause .of its, .very largo departmental ex- . penditure on such a small volume of poultry evports..', In this, as in all new industries of course,.--what justifies expenditure is not so much tho present volume of trade, but chieflyitho outlook.. -New. Zealand's victory in,win-, nirig the only grand prix award, while'the four -Australian States obtained only gold medals, shows that the outlook, so far as ; quality goes, is excellent. The triumph is emphasised by_ tho fact that the birds were selected and dispatched at very short notice. They were' Canterbury birds selected at the Government Poultry Depot there. The victory also.seems to show that the Government ■ officers"who are handling-.our'poultry export industry know; exactly how to" select and dress the birds to please the best judges in the world.' : And, - after all, in lots of these things; it is really knowledge that: counts^ New* South Wales, which won'a grand prix for rabbitsj was tho only colony which failed to win-that "honour for lamb.' This was perhaps natural: Fat rabbits arid good lambs cannot,*'b'e'expected ; to-thrive in the same place. POULTRY yfij£dp E RS 1 FAILURES. MEAT' iFp6p^WANT^N6" ,No matter whether 'tho' birdj t are young or old, of a gooa or,'BaiJ'KyiiPg'fsffam, there will never be good, egg yields unless they are intelligently fed ; ,fpr\that purpose. Time,and again (says a-writer in.the " Sydney Morning JJerald") inquiries are received from breeders asking why their hens do, not lay, in almost-every .case adding that they feed with wheat, maize, bran, pollard,. and give green food and grit, but that-there is no .return in eggs, or at least not sufficient to' pay the hons' food bill. The simple fact is, that although the , above are considered'the staple ?, poultry foods, they are wanting in the principal element for egg-production, viz., animal'food.- Fowls in their wild -state live principally: on seeds, weeds, and insects of the various, sorts-/obtainable, a liberal sub-: stitiite.t.fqr 'tbe ; la.tter in some form being an essential.to a good egg supply. In some of the early egg-laying i. competitions, this feature was ■ not so well known as now, the great increases in the averages of 'late years 1 put up at these ■ tests being attributed I.y some to the meat factor; becoming more generally realised. Conductors of laying competitions as a rule do ■ not caro to acknowledge their conversion to the principal of a > greater meat diet, preferring to attribute the increased production to the oft-times, misapplied term, " laying strain." ■ The fact, however, remains .thai'at many of.the competitions the annual egg-production is increasing in ratio with tho meat; bill. It is the .American Agricultural Colleges, . however, to which wo. are indebted for reliable guidance in the feeding of fowls, tho experiments conducted there being most exhaustive. At one held at the Cornell ... Universtiy, New York, some 20 flocks, of from one hundred to four hundred fowls, have been experimented with as to the cost ' lucing eggs.. The flock which showed atest production at the smallest. cost •' white leghorns, which for the four consumed:—. lb. ... ' ...! ■ '... of wheat : '.b. ...- ... ... of meat j- f00d... ... ... cabbago itrast t-b the above, another pen of. . fed on wheat,' oats, corn, and corn,.rah, ground ; ,barley, cabbage, manclover hay,. and : but a trifling pro-/fir-jti. of meat, was; at nearly the foot of r long list as producers. • The bulk of theVp'roduce merchants now realise the necessity of meat in some form, meat meal, blood meal, cut bone, and dried blood, all being on the market. Poultry men have never taken, to dried blood, and tho value of the meal ir.eat depends solely oh proportion of meat it contains. Wbat is wanted; and should be easily obtained Jin great centres of meat-killing, is some form of,' cheap fresh meat in an available form l for-the smaller poultry-keepers. Some largo poultry farmers go' to tho city '' hotels and restaurants, where the previous day's leavings- are of excellent feeding value' for ducks or fowls. These places are, however, not available to the smaller poultry man, whose only resource is to his butcher for livers. Of late, however; theso have become an exportable product", and but few are available. Tho butaher who can command rough meat of various sorts and put it up in a convenient form, at a reasonable cost, will deserve well of-tho smaller poultry-keeper. Jt has to be remembered that correct . feeding will not make good layers of bad ones. ■ but the meat clement supplied in lareer -quftbtities than at present will hasten ,and' increase tho first year's egg-pro-duotiofi. NO QUORUM. The annual meeting of the shareholders of the Alastertori Co-operative Dairy Company was to have been held on, Saturday afternoon, but lapsed for, want of a quorum (says our correspondent). Tho meeting was postponed until Saturday week. OTAKI NOTES. Mr. Ralph Thompson, of Tokomaru, has been appointed ; to' the New Zealand Dairy Union's butter factory hero (says ■b. correspondent). Tljcro.may bo seen at Mannkau, on the property of Mr. J. Atkins, a large orango fr ee, with fruit ripening in abundance.

NEWS' AND NOTES FOE THE MAN ,ON THE LAND.

! CO-OPERATIVE FACTORY FOR SHANNON. At" a mooting qf settlers in tho Druids' Hall on Wednesday night (says our Shannon correspondent), tho proposal to form a coI oporativo dairy company was further dis- , cussed. .Messrs. Dalgety and Co. lately puri chased tho local butter factory and creami cries at Foxton and Moutoa from the proprietors, and a representative of tho company, who attended, stated the prico at which tho firm was prepared to sell, and . offered to financo the association. After considerable. discussion, those present resolved to first of all ascertain tne value- of the plant and property , before coming to any further decision. The number of suppliers is adequate, and tho majority of those at the meeting were very favourablo> to tho scheme. It is probable the terms of purchase will be submitted to arbitration. Many who attended cams from Foxton and Moutoa. FRUIT INSPECTION. At a meeting of the Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association' at Hastings on Saturday (says a Press Association telegram), the action of the Chairman was approved in asking tho member for tho district to keep him informed of any. movement for relaxation of the regulatk s with regard to inspection of imported 'fruit, as this district was strongly of opinion that the present regulations should be- maintained. SHARP FROSTS AT MASTERTON, Frosts are now being experienced in Masterton without precedent in tho recollection of pioneer residents (says a. Press Association message.) The degrees of frost registered for the week are as follow:—Saturday, fifteen; Monday,, ten; Thursday, four; Friday, twelve; Saturday, eleven.' Tho dry spell of weather has materially contributed to the improvement of the condition of the- district roads,, which in somo cases were previously in very bad order, MANAWATU HORSE PARADE. . Mr. JV C. Lane, secretary of the Manawatu A. and P. Association, informs us that the Association's next annual horse parade will be : held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 28. The parade has been successfully held for eight years past. Thero has been no proposal to discontinue this parade. !. The recent report'to that effect should have referred -to the : parade of another, society in quite another district. • OUR DIARY. , SHOWS. ■ , Sept. 2. —Bulb Show, Masterton. Oct. 21, 22.—Hawke's Bav A and P. (Hastings). . October 18, 29.—Wairarap'a A. and P. (Carterton). , Nov. 4, 5, 6.—Man'awatn Nov 11,. 12. 13.—ChrisMroreh.' Feb. 26—Bush Districts (Woodville). Nov.- 11, 12.—Wanganui. Nov 17, 18. —Marlborough .Blenheim). '' Nov. 18, 19.—Egmont (Hawera). Nov. 24, 25.—Nelson. LONDON WOOL SALES. sth series begin \ Sept. 29 6th. .„ .'fii:. ... . Nov. 2i ■ . ■ cm: LONDON SHEEPSKINS SALES. . Sept. 10:" - Oct/22:-.. - -Dec. .17, -: . ..-.1-. - ryvr .- -■