AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 100, 27 April 1912, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

A SUCCESSFUL DAIRY COMPANY. The Kaupokonui Co-operative Dairy Factory Company, Ltd., on Saturday last paid out for milk received during tha month of March £11,312 4s Sd, at rho nito oC d3d per llj of fat, us compared with £8260 6s lOd for Maroh of ltul year. The number of cheeses made in the nionlliß of January, February, and March of this year exceed the number for tho same months of last year by 2548 cheeses, or, approximately, 100 tons. As indicating- the nuture of the season just drawing to n close, tho rough dry Bpring, and the good glimmer for dairying (says tho Ilawera Star) tho fallowing figures are instructive : —On 31st October tho output of cheese from Kaupokonui showed a shortage us compared with last year of 13 per cent. This shortugo gradually diinmihhod to 10 per cent, at the end of November; 74 per cenl. at the end of December; 5 per cent, ut the end of January; 2^ per cent, at tho end of February; and at the end of March had disappeared altogether; vhiUt tho month of April , promises to show an incroabo over April of last year of almost 10 per cent. Thus the good summer has more than made up for tho bad tpring, and the great price this company will be able to pay out for butter-fat will make this tho greatest year over known in the history ot cheese-making in New Zealand for the suppliers of Kuupokonui. The Joll Co-operative Factory (Taranaki) paid out £9990 for butter-fat last month. > This was well ahead of tho corresponding month of last year. The milk supply was 20 per cent, more than during Maroh of last your. At Weraroa experimental farm, Levin, the New Zealand Government has (says tho Feilding Star) two champion cows, as proved by their records given below. We doubt if any, other cows in the Dominion have aohieved anything as conbistently good as tho figures below indicate. On Friday, 19th April, Domino had . been in milk 229 days, and had given v total amount of 16,5271b, with a test of 3.6. Her return on the 21st was 531b, and the amount of butterfat 594,972. Mauolu, who has been milked for 265 days, gave 501b of milk on the 21st, with a test of 3.5, and a butterfat record of 595. For the 265 days her total yield has been 17,0001b. Taieri farmers report abnormally heavy crops of oatß this year, a common yiold being 100 bushels to the acre. In former years tho average was from 70 to 80 bushels per acre. Owing to tho continual rains during the period of growth, the straw is tall and heavy. Wheat is not as good ,as is usual in tho Taieri. There are still many stooks standing in the fields — a sight that has not been seen in April for many years. Still another proof of the fertility of the Sandon soil, and of the enterprise of farmers in that locality, is given by the Rangitikei Advocate., Mr. ,H., J. Fagan has been experimenting with a twelveacre crop, ->£ Button's Centenary turnips. This turnip, a cross between greGn glous and yellow Aberdeen, is a yellow-flesh one, a heavy cropper, and stands well out of the ground. Mr. Fagan. is well pleased with the result. The turnips grow quick, provide early feed, can.be fed off at any time, and the sheep thrive well on them. Professor Dumont, a recognised authority on chemical fertilisers,, claims to have demonstrated that the fertilising value of superphosphate is enhanced by mixing it with farm-yard manure. It is contended that if superphosphate is mixed with wellrotted manure the soluble phosphorio acid combines with the humio compounds, and in this form is not liable to retrograde. Professor Dumont states that hio experiments havG demonstrated that superphosphate should be mixed with farm-yard manure before application, as the extra yield thus obtained represents an appreciable sum of money. The great fertilising value of rotten farm-yard manure depends in a great measure on ita richf liess iv humo phosphate, und in this reepeofc , the association of superphosphate with it represents a real advantage. 140 therefore recommends farmers, especially lit district* where the soil, and, coiu>piniently the farm-yard manure, is poor in phosphoric acid, ,to enrich tho farmyard manure by mixing superphosphate with it. Tho manure is thus improved, and according to tho professor the plant gets tho full benefit of all tho eoluble phosphate of lime in the superphosphate. The productivity oE the soil of Kaimai, in tho Bay of Plenty district, is now well exemplified os Mr. F. Well's property, where a crop of horse beans, 7ft high and heavily podded, are now growing. Those, who have seen tl)o crop say it is well up to Canterbury's best standard. Mr. Archibald Kirkpatriek a membor of a- Scottish , firm of bacon curers, who is visiting tho Richinoiid River district, New South Wales, in addressing a meeting of farmers, said ho was there as result of tho reports of Australia by the Scottish Commissioners. For years Scotland had been importing bacon and hams from Australia, but during tho last five yeora importations had been decreasing, though the consumption of bacon in Scotland hud inoreased. Ho urged farmers to go in for pig-raising to meet tho demand. No climate in the world was better suited for the industry than that of Australia, as pigs thrived in hot centres. The season for the inooulation of calves as a preventive against blackleg has been very successful (sayß the Ha went Star). In Taranaki over 60,000 animals have boen treated, which ib considered by the officers of the Slock Department to be very satisfactory. Compared with last year the number is slightly less. The returns, however, are not yet quite complete. Regarding the breaking down and grassing ot fern land,, Mr. Georgo H. Noye, of Ruffy, situated in tho rangy country of Victoria, contributes the following to the Leader :— "During the past few weeks very large, areas of ferns have been burned off, and if some satisfactory Bowing down can bo carried out, now is the timo to try it. Professor Ewart, to whom I wrote, on the subject, replies that he- knows oi no plant that has been used successfully to kill out ferns, but is of opinion that buriiel would probably prove uuitablo. This in a perennial herb, easily disseminated. It is a good drought rosister, having a long tap root. It grows both summer and winter. Meliloius would give a good body of fodder during; the winter, and perhaps reaped itsolf. Anothor clover that would probably prove useful is the greater birdfcfoot clover. It has spread well in Beech Forest. It grows in amongst rushes and tussocks. The ferns Would require to be kept down a bit the firbt season to give it a. start. Kidney vetch, or yellow sand clover, being a Hardy perennial that thrives in poor or dry soils and produces an abundance of iodder, might also be tried- A plant that should do also is the hairy veloh. On a piece of cultivated ground we have had it a perfect tangle amongst feniß. It is properly an annual, but if kept eaten down lasts longer. Fawpalum dilalalunwH a grass that onre it get* a footing thrives, unless tho ferns conio too strongly and choke it out. It and paspaluni virgatum might bo given a trial. Cocksfoot, Timothy, Hungarian, forage grans, Kentucky blue grass, and pliilaris eoinmutata would be likely to do well on burnt fern land. If small patches wore sown with thewe plants alone, and other parts with them in mixture, in tho course of time muc-h valuable information would be gained. No matter how indift'erent a plant may b<\ it would do a good work if it would kill out these ferns." Tho Agent-General for New South Wales has forwarded to his Government a report of a demonstration by Mir* Maonioikaii Dpfrosting Process Company, at Plymouth. Tho piocft-i is described us onp by which fiwon meat w thawed in a chamber so constructed that tho atmospheric pressure can be regulated and excess moisture extracted without, bursting tho tissues of tho meat. It is dunned that frozen beef and mutton ran then be placed on the market iv Mich n condition vi to cumpaio fa-vouiably in appearance with prime English meat.