ON THE LAND.

Feilding Star, Volume 7, Issue 2135, 14 February 1929, Page 7

ON THE LAND.

NEWS, VIEWS AND COMMENTS.

Argentina will this season export over two millxmi -tons ol linseed.

Several late hay crops are being gathered at Putoriuo, says the HunExpress.

To lose 400 out of GOO line rape lambs as a result of ragwort poisoning, was the recent experience of a Wanganui farmer.

The Rangitikei Dairy Go. has decided to pay Is Gd per lb. for January supply of butterfa.t. The supply showed an increase of 16 per cent on that bf the corresponding period yea*- The payment will absorb £II,OOO.

An Inglewood farmer is the owner of a sow that is very prolific Usually her litters consist of 13 or 14 youngs pigs, but recently she eclipsed all her records'by giving birth j»»> no less than 17. (Several of the young pigs, however, were killed at birth.

A Canterbury buyer w!jo has been drafting lambs on the West Coast spates that during the past fow weeks he has drafted ai splendid line of 400 fat lambs. Although most of these lambs were only throe months old, they made the splendid average of 38.381 b, and only 3 per cent, were second quality.

Two samples of Knowler potatoes shown to a Southland Times representative the other day surely came within the province pf “record” potatoes... One weighed "23 ounces and the other 224 ounces. They were eight inches in circumference. The samples were grown by :t Lindisfarn resident, and although named, are said to be U cross between Up-to-dates and [Robin Adairs.

“I tun satisfied you are losing £1 a, ton on your cheese this year through hawing allowed the quality itio go down last year and this year to date,” said Sir Thomas Clement when addressing fanners in New Plymouth. He believed that in New Zealand ..there whs either too J-.ttlo died daring In manufacture tof \-neese, or too much moisture was put in. He wa,?i satisfied there was a market for the right quality article.

Five hay stacks have been destroyed by fire at Pirongia, in the Waikato this season by being ignited through spontaneous combustion. The loss this year has been duo to the unfavourable hay-making weather, and the haste with which farmers have made their hay. If the hav is properly cocked it will stand for several weeks during wet) weather without suffering damage. It can then be stacked in good ccxnditon.

On tl*e big stations in North Queensland are thousands of petrol tins lying in heaps. In the Longreach district a settler has made quito a decent shanity by filling the tius with soil and placing them one on top of the other. The sides are held in place by a light framework of saplings arid wire. The shanity is one of the coolest c ,spots you could wish for in hot weather. A verandah all round and a few spots of paint keep the trust from eating the tins away.

It is stated authority 4'vely that the sale of the Waingawa Meat Works to Borthwick and Sons means that the works are to stay and that there is no foundation for rumpurs lately current that they were closing down (says the Masterton Age). Last season the works, besides .handling a big volume of ordinary stock were able to deal with all the young calves offering from dairy farmers. This season they are dealing with all the pigs available, as well as v. sheep, lambs and cattle.

Commenting on tUe harvest prospects for cereal crops in the various districts of North Otago and Soujtji Canterbury a grain merchant, after touring both sides of the Waftaki, states thajl the prospects are exceedingly briglit. Wheat and oats, however, promise greater yields of both grain and straw in South Canterbury where exceptionally fine stands of wheat are 't'o be seen. In many instances wheat and oats promise record yields, tMe heads being numerous and full, while the straw is well above the average length.

Grass seeding, an industry which a few years agoi meant much to farmers on Banks Peninsula, is declining every year, with the result ibhat reduced quantities of cocksfoot are coining on to the market from foe Peninsula.. Oapt'aLi T. HtvmrGalk, master of tEe snigll steamer John

Anderson says that a few years ago he used to take 70 or 80 grass-seed-ers to various , par, is of . the Peninsula, on every trip, hut now there were very few travelling by sea for this purpose. He said that when the holders otf land on the Peninsula, had to pay the grass-seeders 8d to 9d a. pound for cocksfoot fjliey, thought it best to lot tli© cattle eat it.