GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

I lAlotHer.New,'Zealand win':, at tho ;Sydaoy Royal 'Show I 'Mas pi ' bo chronicled.. riViessrs. Dalgety and, Co. have been advised by' cable-that. the ;fat cow sent :across-by W/Kairey,of Nelson, hue secured second prize. Mr. Fairey's cow' was 'bred by Mr.'.' James Martin,-, of Wahapuaka,: Nelson. ;' . Turnip blight, is very bad all round Taupiri, ■ in;, ithq Waikatoj; many. of. tho' crops being practically ruined. ' ■ The number'of ; entries for the. stack competition under■'■ the• auspices of -the Mastertou A., and P.' Association \vero riot as good as might reasonably havo been. ! .:expected,-.-or. as.'.tho competition .warranted,' arid.;the "Wairarapa Daily Times", says I'there'is. a..possibility of, .its-being deleted- from : the' programme if it is nob better supported invfuture.' Hops are: now, being sent away :; in largo: quantities by the ..growers around Nelson. •-The price-this ! 3'ear is a very satisfactory. one—one shilling; a' pound.

Tlie ■ entries for, .tho swede turnip and mangold .; competitions; that, are being organised.-.'by the Masterton .A. and P.' Association close on March 31.'

The. turnip, blight has .made:,its .'apA pearance'at B.Opu'aranga.'' A field cf. ten; acres .qf; turnips, .which looked all that, could be desired, a 'wtek ago, /are now completely.'spoilt. This.is' most' annOjang as'well as'.a loss,' as tho mild, weather has brought an abundance of grass.: ■ '■;; - ... .•'•.•.''" ': '■: .

.Messrs. Dalgety.and.Co.; Ltd.,■ have received advice by cable-from their Sydney office to tho effect that the cow forwarded by them on account of their, client, Mr. of Nelson, for. competition'in th'o'fat stock class

it .the Royal .Agricultural Show, held in; Sydney on March. 22, has ■■ been awarded second prize in its class. The'country towards and around Flat Point is stated by the "Wairarapa Ago"' to be' looking at.its very best at present, and the fine' green ..hills form a.pleasant contrast to.tho stunted scrub country, to bo seen further inland. The stock to be seen on all sides look in .the. pink of condition.,

Writing of the'. Hastings Autumn Show,,which takes place ,on April .6, tho Napier; "Telegraph" says:—Kxhibi.tors'aro' reminded that the autumn Show takes place on April-6 this year. Entries- have 'been'"received-from the Hastings and Puketapn branches of the Farmers' -Union for the' district competition,.; which has proved ' ai' great attraction .at previous ,; shows'. The Agricultural Department have applied f0r.;42 feet' Of space between. the two. Farmers' Union exhibits, for a display of grapes and" vines. Tho manager .'of tlie Government • Arataki Experiment Farm (Mr. Ellis) intonds to make this the finest display of grapes yet exhibited in: the .'Dominion. " '.

; The amount paid out to suppliers oftho Rai Dairy Factory (Marlborough) for-, February butter-fat was £207 lis. 7d. , The factory has shipped about 14 tons of ohcese since operations, wore commenced, ; and every shipment has secured first; grade. : ...

Inquiries for sheep farms at reason: able figures arc stated to'be pretty numerous in Masterton. ;

' In writing to tho Marlborough A. and P. Association to co-opcrato in experimenting with- the cultivation of sugar beet in that, district, tho Minister for Agriculturo says:—"ln regard to the growing of sugar beet, I might mention that it has been amply demonstrated in various parts of the' Dominion that beet of very' high quality can be successfully grown, in-. fact, wherever mangolds grow it may bo accepted that beet, will do. well. , The difficulty will bo in tho utilisation of the beet, for sugarmaking .purposes, the cost of .manufacture being considerable. -.Tho question is receiving attention from tho Government." ■'•'.■

There is a'possibility of tho A. and L. Seifert "Flaxdressing Company running ten strippers next reason. The company may either erect three more strippers, or run a night shift'with three of their strippers.

Messrs. Newman Bros, mado a purchase of land in Marlborough. Sales have been mado hiro within tho past twelve months at from £15 to £25 per acre, but in this instance the figure reached £30 per acre. The farm mentioned was that of Mr. John Bryden, situated at Eenwick. Tho land is stated by an exchange to be of the best, and Hflien drained should yield very heavy crops of grain.

. Tho Northern Wairoa Dairy Company is this .month disbursing £1860 for butter-fat (49,5221b5) received during February, Tho amount paid for tho February, 1909, was £1606, the increase in buttor-fat being 52761b.' '.

Success appears to bo attending tho schemo of manuring and rotation of seeding, covering a period of threo years, instituted by Mr. A. 13. Wood, agricultural chemist of Masterton, on some of the poor land in one. of the settlements in "the "Forty-mile Bush dis-' trict. Previously the crops grown on this land have been very poor—in fact a number of them have been failures— but this season—the first under tho new scheme—some really fino turnip crops have been grown, which are so healthy, that they have resisted tho ravages of the blight, which has been somewhat prevalent in tho surrounding district.

| ■■-■ Mr. Donald Donald, of Masterton, has constructed a special machine for packing and pressing, woolled sheepskins, on the lines suggested,in Messrs. Hughes and Sons circular published recently in The Dominion. The custom in the past has : been to fold the skins arid pack them in wool-bales with the straight,' folded' edge to the outside of the bale. Tho result lias been great loss through the most valuable portion of the skin—tlie middle—being injured, by hooks in the handling. With Mr. Donald's device wool bales are dispensed with. Tho skins are packed flat, in pair's, pelt to pelt, with the edges "slightly folded'in to keep tho package as".square as .possible. Three battens are placed long-ways on top and three on the bottom to keep them flat,, and while under great pressure 'the package is ■ fastened with ■ three hoopiron bands. ' The same number of skins as are usually packed into a 4ft. woolbale aro pressed' down to eighteen inches. The size of the package when ready for; shipping-is onlv 4ft. lonjr wide, and ,Ift. 6in. in depth! ho box or frame of any kind is used.

, It has often been remarked concern]fS' heavy crops (says the Invercargill limes'),,that, the dray would have to' be backed in. at the gate, there being no .room in the paddock to turn for the stocks. If ever such has been seen its :equal caii now be seen at Fairfax uvpne of Mr. .Marshall's paddocks, for a better crop of white velvet could not bo, grown. It is not .vet stacked but' the.people of tho district are certainly anxious to know the result of the yield, which, the writer predicts will top 80 bushels of marketable wheat per acre. Certainly the quality of the land cannot be excelled, being the best of river flat..alluvial soil. :• ■ ; The experimental wheat crops grown, last season, by;..'the':-■Victorian. Depart ment of- 'Agriculture ; in ; tie northern and north-eastern districts, the Wimmera district, and the Malice and Mai-' loo' fringe,- have-once-more: given first place ,to Federation wheat, with an ayerago of 21.7 bushels per acre. Yandilla King was nearly as good, averagbushels,. while Australian Tala-' vera yielded' 18.1' bushels. '