Farming & Commercial

Feilding Star, Volume 8, Issue 2516, 1 April 1930, Page 7

Farming & Commercial

ON THE LAND

NEWS. VIEWS AND COMMENTS

In 1915, Canada's proportion of England's cheese requirements was ■l7 per cent. To-day it is practically ‘2B per cent.

Mr G. J. Grant, manager of the Oruru-Fairburn Dairy Co., of North Auckland, reports an increase of 20 pr cent in his present season’s output. Many other factories are enjoying a similar increase.

Partial paralysis is a diseased condition somewhat frequently met with in dairy cows, ft may occur at any time but 1 1 most frequently occurs in ill-fed, weak unthrifty cows during the last weeks 'of pregnancy.

J«h« credit for the home separation movement has been given to several prominent in New Zealand, but w-o understand that Mr George Finn, of Auckland, was the pioneer in this connection.

At a mooting of the directors of the Masterton Dairy Co. it was announced that tre sale of butter in February had amounted to 218,30211), an increase of 50,7021 b, ovei* the corresponding month last year.

“It is quite nice to see some one outside lour own circle taking an interest in pigs,” stated a member of the' Manawatu-Oroua branch of the Pig Breeders’ Association when referring to a recent reference rtf the Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe) to the pig industry.

Never let the laying birds become fat- To do so is a sure way to reduce the output, and the condition often results in shell-less eggs, badly shaped eggs and occasionally difficulty in laying. Keep the birds busy by feeding the grain deeply buried in the litter, and avoid the use erf fattening foods.

A Chicago trade paper estimates that the stock of wheat in the world amounted to 583,520,000 bushels on January 1, compared with 504, 1 62,000 at the commencement in 1929. Holdings in the United States totalled 2e8,031.000 bushels aficT'iu Canada' v 23.129,000 bushels era Jvinuafy 1, 1930.

St- John's wort which has proved a not inconsiderable nuisance in many parts of Otago is now found compara tiviE' easily disposed of by means of tjv use of sodium chlorate, and although the Cal/fornian thistle has proved to be a much harder plant t° kill it is hoped that stubborn growth has to give the chemical best.

On some farms in the Balclutha. district in Otago the oat crops are still in stuck, on others leading-in is in progress, while the more fortunate have the oats stacked and the threshing mill busy. Returns in the Warepa and adjacent districts are expected to he well up to the average’ of previous seasons.

The spread of ragwort in certain districts of Otago lately has bee 1 proceeding with a rapidity that has not unreasonably given rise to a good deal of comment, particularly as the weed appears to be securing a dangerously strong hold on first qualify grazing laud in some parts of t ie province. But the positiou iu the Otago provincial district is said to be nothing compared with that in Southland, where the golden-flowered pest now covers acre after acre.

“When Great Britain buys practically the whole of the Dominion’s produce, why should one-tliird of the butter and elieese cloth used in New Zealand come from America? asks Mr L. A. Pni.sk, British Trade Commissioner. “Great Britain manufactures an articles Inch is no dearer, or in any way inferior t.° the American article, and it is hoped that factory directors will remember who purchases their products wrapped in American produced cloths.”

The 1929 harvest was, with few exceptions, satisfactory in Great Britain as regards yields. Notwithstanding as decrease of nearly 60,000 acres, of 4.7 per cent., in the acreage under wheat, the total production was higher than in 1928, l>eing 25,4250 wt., an increase of 106,000 cwt. An increase erf 5 per cent-, is noted in the (area under oats, which was a slightly higher yield pel- acre, made the production 30,640,000 cwt., or 1,778,000 cwt., more than 1928.

The National Research Council of Canada, in conjunction with other bodies, lias set up a. new wool research 'laboratory with the object ol improving mutton and w-00l production in tho Dominion. Experiments

iu cross breeding are to be conducted at the Saskatchewan University with various longwool rains on Merino ewes, while the pure Curriedale is to la) thoroughly tested under range conditions at Lethbridge, Alberta. Corriedale rams are to be bred to range ewes in other districts and the wool production studied.

Small farms and intense cultivation are the requirements of the present and the future, said Mr C. H. Cl.inkurd, M.P. for Rotorua, in mentioning that good progress was being made at the - Guthrie settlement, close .to Rotorua, in preparing land to be thrown open for selection. Ho Said that there were 12,090 acres there which, could be developed, and that at the moment about 2500 acres were pumiceous, and much like the land iu the Tirau district. In the vicinity natives were developing a large block for their nse.

The supply of milk at Of ago the dairy factories, although dropping steadily, is being surprisingly well maintained and many factories report that the manufacture of cheese up t'o' the present is considerably ahead of the quantity made up to the same date last year when the majority of the factories experienced a record season. The prices, for dairy produce do not show an very reassuring tendency at present and no doubt directors e)f (concerns which sold for the whole season are congratulating themselves oil their foresight.

The fact that two Taranaki dairy factories were securing a phenomenal over-run, averaging nearly 25 per cent., was referred t° by Dll- 7J. Sluray, secretary of the New Zealand Dairy Factory Managers' Association, at the conference rtf Auckland managers held this month. “If these two factories can secure that over-run legitimately, which they claim they can, they should he paid for the information and the industry should he given the benefit of the knowledge,” said Mr Murray. “An investigation -into the- .methods adopted at the factories should be carried ouf, hv the Dairy Division.” A motion to that effect was carried unanimously.

As a result of experiments carried out by the fields division of the Department of Agriculture there appears to ho good reason for hoping that future attacks on ragwort will prove more effectual than have those carried out in the past. Sodium chlorate, which has alreday proved itself in respect to Californian thistle, arid to an even more remarkable extent in regard to St. John’s wort, lias been found to have a particularly deadly effect ou ragwort, and it is likely- that farmers who are really concerned about the sesrious increase of this weed will be trying out this new controlling agent during the next few months.

While the growing of chicory will probably never become an extensive industry in New Zealand, so long, as the public like a certain amount .of chicory along with their coffee, some will be produced. A fine paddock of this plant is to 1 lie seen at present (on Mr TV. Roberts’s farm at Prebbleton, near Christchurch. He is the largest grower of chicory in the Dominion. The plant, which is of a dark green colour, makes excellent sheep feed, but it is the roots which are used to mix with coffee. After the plant is eaten off these roots are cured in a kiln which Mr Roberts has in Lincoln road. Members of the Selwyn Plantations Board during a recent tour of inspection were interested to know that such an industry- existed in Canterbury.