GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1089, 30 March 1911, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

The "Gazette" states that Mr. Francis Murray has been appointed an inspector for the purposes of 'the Slaughtering and Inspection Act, as from January 26; and that' Mr. George ' NoeL'Waugh has been temporarily appointed to a similar inspectorship as from February 1. A dairy factory supplier frankly and openly confessed at a 'meeting held on Saturday that he watered his milk (says the "Hawera Star"). Iri giving his reason he said that he,, always weighed his milk beforo sending it to the factory with scales which'were absolutely true, but he found that the factory manager credited hirii with less than his own scales had recorded. To put things straight he always added the following day sufficient water to make up the difference between his record • and the factory, manager's. Asked how he weighed' the milk he said that he w.eighed each bucket as it cariie from ' the cow. • This method members did not seem to. think reliable. One of the most prominent operators in Southland's sheep markets told a. "Southland Times" representative that recent rains had averted a collapse. Winter feed, ho said, was now assured, and before the winter started the heat in the ground would also promote tilt growth' of grass. He did not anticipate that there would be any rapid adyaiico in prices, but a steady improvement could, he thought, be relied upon. .For the timo of' year lie.did riot regard'tho.market as below that of recent seasons, but the sharp decline had been noticeable-from the fact that values'had. ruled unusually high. In expectation of. plentiful feed, buyers started the season by purchasing heavily, ■' and a strong demand naturally forced up rates. Calculations' were, ho\vevcr, upset, and holders had to unload, thus bringing about a weak and unsteady, market. . Ho was of opinion that, fat sheep were destined before next year to boconic very dear, since there was a 'decided shortage of stbro withers. An agricultural exchange says that tho term "dry farming" was originally employed to distinguish unirrigated farms, from those upon which artificial watering was resorted to, but usage has now developed a moro definite meaning. As "dry" farms were generally in localities sufficiently arid to render irrigation necessary, thoy could, not he profitably cultivated by ordinary agricultural methods, and consequently a special system of treatment was evolved which has become known as dry farming. The discussion of the methods of that special system has been engaging the attention of au interState conference of experts and practical farmers at Adelaide. Whilo tho Austra : lian agricultural settlements possess a sufficient rainfall for successful farming without needing to resort to irrigation, those sections in which grain growing (and especially the wheat crop) is most profitable adopt a system of cultivation which embodies the essential features of dry farming. Australian wheat is not grown in the wet coastal sections, where 40 or 50 bushels per acre can be obtained, because the .cost of production makes the lighter yields of the drier inland sections moro remunerative. In those sections there is little need for costly draining operations to get rid of surplus water, but as the rainfall is ordinarily only sufficient, the demand is for the conservation of moisture in the soil. Dry farming is a system of conserving soil moisture, and Australian methods in?lnd«d in fallowing, and the treatment of fallows, are a part of that system.