GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 821, 19 May 1910, Page 10

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

At the annual meeting of the Hastings branch ; of the Farmers' Union, a proposal by Mi*. A. li. Russell that the brancli .close down was .discussed at length, and ultimately lost by seven votes to four. Tho Moa Dairy Company, Taranaki, will pay. out on June J2O a bonus of Id. per- lb. onbutter-fat/ supplied from August 1 last to March 31. A sum of £2490 was paid out for milk supplied during tho month. About a week ago, writes the Beaconsfield correspondent of the "Feilding Star," farmers had a less supply of water than they had had. all the summer, and many were carting water about tho district. All stock are holding' their own in'condition, and tho outlook for winter feed is very fair. Turnips and green oats, having obtained a good growth/ are sufficiently forward to withstand any rough weather to come. . . "•/ The Beaconsfipld (Feilding) Creamery is .now running on alternate days. Tho price paid for butter-fat'for April was IUJd. : All the rain that . farmers want in North Canterbury • for the present has now fallen,, and..they are. on 'the lookout for a renewal of warm'weather 'to ;a'ssisfc the. growth of grass. - The season up to now lias been mild, and tho frosts merely nominal. % As an 'indication of the mildness of the 'season, it may be mentioned that willow trees which have been cut. back a week or, two since are putting forth fresli .shoots. Ploughing lias' been assisted in every way by the weather conditious.

A correspondent ofc a • Christchurch paper states that Californian thistle is not only plentiful on farm lands in South Canterbury, but there is also much of it in the river-beds. A farmer near-.the Opihi'informed the correspon* dent that recently, ho went some miles up th© river-bed, and he was surprised to see Californian thistles growing in many places. If this statement is true the Government or local bodies should take action in the matter of keeping the thistles from seeding ■on waste lands.

A considerable drop in ; grain rates from New Zealand lias taken place rc''Southland Times." 'At the'-beginning'of the'present season the principal, shipping .companies trad-ing.-from New Zealand to England quoted the following rates: —255. per toil for: wheal., peas, beans,, etc., plus 10 "per cent, primage; 30s. per toil for barley • and oats. . During the last two weeks': the grates; for. wheat,, etc., have been,' and-"are 'still,-J-20s. per ton, and 225. 6d. ,for. ; bariey. v :. This. is. tho lowest rate quoted this season, although the rates have been fluctuating .during the last three months. "Keen is< being taken in the recently established wool-classes at Mangamahoe, under the instruction ol" Slr.'Sr Wood. The classes started with an attendance, of .ele,veil students, and already this number lias been increased 'to" twenty, "and''there 'are indications of a still further increase.

. vHr.-E; J.-'Hughes,-'" an-<>ld and popu-. 3ar resident- in the' Pahiatua district, has' taken-up a block of 'country in the Wairoa district, and will reside there in'future. A Pukerimu (Waikato) farmer has received 63 applications from persons desirous to milk on shares in response -to.-' an i ; ad ver tiseme n tr. v : . •?f J 1 ! 10 applications were from Taranaki. At a meeting of the Hawera branch of the,: New Zealand Farmers' .Union, the acting-chairman (Mr. Willis) read an extract published in Tun Dominion, ; .'showingvthat in Denmark 40,000 cows liad given a percentage of 2801b. of ! butter-fat per cow per year. Mr. Corri«an' pointed out that there wen about 100,00(1 cows in Taranaki, and that the percentage of butterfat per cow was only about 1801b.V 'He thought this \Ws too small, and ; that the percentage fought to be much;higher. .This view was shared by other members present,_ who • considered that an improvement might be made by the initiation of a milk-testing association as was proposed by the Eltham branch. - v _ r A -. The MatauVa, Frcozm'E Works are certain this year r to'*b£a't' A all previous records for the frozen-mutton trade. 1750 lambs and sheep are daily being operated oil by the butchers, and the neighbouring paddocks have • supplies ready for many days ahead. At Gundagai (N.S.W.) rabbiters are . making large sums. One trapper earned . £lo.the other week* and another secured a cheque for £50> all for skins, for live weeks' work; Another, who is being paid per thousand: rabbits by stationowners, made. £85 in six* weeks.

Wo are now within a few weeks of the coldest portion of the year (says the Sydney "Herald")» ;and it has to be confessed that the outlook is not particularly bright, either for the grazier or the man who cultivates Ins land. All this is due to the absence of rain. Taking a very rough-and-ready way* of dividing the State, it may be said that the coastal portions of New South Wales have been favoured with enough rains to keep, vegetation from going back in condition —in some localities, such as the North Coast, the cry has been that there was more than needed—and that inland there has been an absence of precipitation which has taken away a good deal of the favourable prospect which existed up to a month ago.

Some sixty odd Government experimental plots 'have been , in the wheat-growing districts of New South Wales. > ,

The Stratford Branch of the Farmers' Union had an attendance of seven at the animal meeting, and the usual tilings were said about making efforts to induce fanners to take a griatei amount of interest ill the branch. Such efforts had, according to the chairman, proved unavailing so far, and in his opinion the reason was that farmers were too prosperous at present, but if a time of depression set in they would join, and would.be sorr.y ; they had not so before.