WEATHER & CROP REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1363, 14 February 1912, Page 8

WEATHER & CROP REPORTS.

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT AND THE PRESS. Tho value of the Journal produced by the Department of Agriculture is unquestionable, and it is good to see by the last issue that in view of the fact that the publication is only issued once a month, and that some questions regarding the ailments of stock require immediate attention, tho Department has decided, in order to meet the convenience of stock-owners and to enable them to apply the necessary treatment without delay, that the Live Stock and Meat Division will reply direct to correspondents where the questions are of an urgent nature. It is to he hoped, howevsr, that where the queries are of general interest they will still be given publicity in the Journal, for the information of all readers. Another departure from the present system might bo made by tho Department with. advantage to farmers and to the Journal itself. It is the custom at present to publish in each issue monthly reports from officers of the Department, on the crops and pastures in the vaiious districts. This information has interest and value, but it is robbed of both qualities under present conditions. The reports aro sent in to the Department at, the end of each 'month, but as the Journal is not published until the fifteenth of each month, and often later, the information savours of ancient history by the time it reaches subscribers to the Department's publication. Last month, for instance, the December crop reports did not reach the public until the end of January, by which time, of course, they were valueless. The remedy woidd be to .give these reports out. to the newspapers for publication as soon as they arc received, under which system the public would receive the information while it was still of value, and the Department thus save six to eight pages of its Journal's spaco for reports or articles on farming topics by its experts.

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