FARMERS' TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 3, 4 July 1938, Page 4

FARMERS' TOUR

A BIG PROGRAMME

ROUND OF BRITAIN

MONTH ON CONTINENT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, May 28. In- the Overseas Farmers' Escorted Tour of Europe for 1938 there are 22 New Zealanders and 42 South Africans. At Cagny, in France, a visit will be paid to the farm property of M. Henri Philippe, one of the most beautiful in the whole Caen district, and one where | beet culture occupies an important 1 place. This farmer is regarded as among the most eminent practical agriculturists. From .Paris, notable centres to be inspected include the National Sheep Stud Farm at Rambouiiiet, dating from 1786. Comparisons of wool from every country in the world are kept specially for study and it is remarked that with all the inbresding that has taken place in 150 years the flock can still show some very fint samples of Wool. At Versailles there" is the Horticultural College of France. The gardens at the Palace of .Versailles are the work of the College students and the Presidents of France are also supplied with vegetables and. flowers from the same source. , Proceeding .through rural France from Paris to Montreux, a visit will be paid to the Gruyere cheese factory, entirely modern, at. the Chatel St., Denis. The * tptal milk available is; nearly 4,000,000' pounds per annum; a proportion is used in cheese making and a portion is set aside for butter. From Montreux there will be the Bermese Oberland route for Interlaken and Brienz, where the Agricultural School will be shown. Lucerne will be another centre for sightseeing and for dairy factory inspection. GERMANY, HOLLAND. DENMARK. The party goes" to Munich, Nuremberg, Wiesbaden, Cologne, via the Rhine, Brussels, Amsterdam, Beemster district and the reclaimed land of the Zuyder Zee, to Leeuwarden, in the midst of' Holland's agricultural area. There, visits will be paid to butter and cheese centres as well as to model cattle breeding and dairy farms. After Hamburg the party goes to Denmark, for Copenhagen, where the typical. Danish farm of Mr. S. J. Sorensen, at Glostrup, will be inspected. At Frederikssund there is a well-known bacon factory to see, pig farms, and the State Experimental Dairy near Hillerod. England will be reached again on July 1. Next- day the travellers will set out on;,a 23-day motor^coach tour through England and* Scotland. The tour inbludes a drive to Alderiham, to inspect Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan's pedigree stock, farm; then Oxford,' Cheltenham, and Gloucester. At Lydhey Park, Lord 'Bledisloe's Agent (Mr. H. . !McLaren) arid his Farm Manager (Mr. W. Hay) will receive the party., Lord Bledisloe is away in Central Africa, as Chairman of ' the Rhodesia-Nyasa-land Royal Commission. / ■ WHAT LYDNEY OFFERS. The visitors will be shown .Lord Bledisloe's pedigree herd of Red Polls. The stock bull, "Hyders Tenderfoot," hag been first prize winner at the Royal Agricultural Show, Sussex County and. ..Oxfordshire County; fisss reserve champion, .'Bath and West Show, and first reserve champion, Royal Counties. , He is considered one of the best Red Poll bulls in the country. In addition will be seen the big herd of Large White pigs, with its equipment of a Danish1 pig house accommodating'about 600 pigs, and its grain silo and little grinding mill for feeding them. There is also r the wellequipped cheese dairy,, which.provides a rioted stores' iii London with 'some of their best Cheddar cheese. , ■ On July 6 the tourists will be the' guests; of the Royal Agricultural Society's 97th annual .show, to take place at Cardiff. Worcester, with "its cathedral, its Royal Porcelain works, and its.;museunv,will be enjoyed on^ the way to Evesham and Carnpden, where ,the Fruit and Vegetable Preservation Research Station will he seen. This is the centre of the fruit and,vegetable canning industry of England. Campden is one of the, most attractive of ..the old Gotswold towns, which were •famous, when wool was exported from England to the Continent. .. HEAVY FOLLOWING PROGRAMME. The Shakespeare^ Country will be seen, also Leamfngtori, Birmingham, Wolverhamptqn,, arid Shrewsbury. For this district the .programme is a heavy one, a specially noticeable organisation being the Harper AdamS Agricultural College. Chester, North Wales, and Aldford will be seen..and,there, will be the viewing of the jEaton Home Farm, belonging to the Duke of Westminster. On Lord Daresbury's estate at Warrington, the Walton 'and Worsley herd of pedigree '! Large White pigs, .founded over 40 years ago by this owner, will, be viewed. In 1912, Lord Daresbury purchased the Earl of Ellesmere's famous herd..,. This .combination has proved very successful, for awards have been numerous. ' • , Mr. J. ,T. Black's Jersey herd will be inspected at IJgrempnt, and Messrs. J. J. Irving and Sons'' herd of Red Poll cattle at Whitehaven. ! There will be the very lovely drive from Keswick to Carlisle for Dumfries, • where at Muirside Farm Mr. J. Howie's Ayrshire cattle and Border Leicester sheep are famous. The route to Auchincruive, for the Wdst of Scotland Agricultural College Experimental Farm, will include the Burns country. The activities of the college include dairying in all its departments, poultry husbandry, general agriculture, horticultural department, plant husbandry, research department,' and apiary. Courses in all these subjects are held at the college, which is beautifully situated amidst wooded scenery on .the banks of the River Ayr. The Empire Exhibition at Glasgow has been included in the programme, also The Trossachs, North Berwick, Melrose, Kelso. At Sandyknowe, Messrs. T. and M. Templeton have made the farm famous with their prize-winning Clydesdale horses, Aberdeen Angus cattle, Border Leicester sheep, and Oxford Down sheep. The Marquess of Zetland farms 650 acres at Aske, the home of the famous Aske herd of pedigree dairy, Shorthorns. The herd of Aberdeen Angus started more recently has also been successful, and the same owner has a herd of Aberdeen Angus cross shorthorn which produced some excellent quality beef cattle. GRASS-DRYING-J^LANT. Swinton Grange, Malton, belongs to the Hon. Mrs. Clive Behren^s. There the party will be shown the tuberculin tested and attested pedigree herd of Ayrshire cattle, also the Kilmartin crop and grass-drying plant. The output of dried grass is up to five tons per day and the total costs, as costed by Leeds University, £3 5s per ton. After Harrogate will come Bramwith Hall,- owned by Mr. C. W. H. Glossop, a member of the party of Empire farmers. who visited Australia and New Zealand in. 1930. His herd