NOTES BY THE WAY

Hawera Star, Volume L, 14 February 1931, Page 12

NOTES BY THE WAY

•' A delegate at the recent Farmers’ Union Executive special meeting in ±iawera said that he had been told -V man returned recently from Home that -“Canada’s best advertisement was secured from New Zealand cheese and a contrast between the two. One of the pioneer settlers of Rawhitiroa, was the late Mi. . • Pease who had been 4i years in the district. He first took up land at Man°atoki, but was there lor only a short time, leaving later for the section h e held m the Kawhitiroa Road. On taking over the section which was all standing bush, Mr. l ease cleaied the land and made a home there, holding it till his death.

A Gisborne farmer told a pressman the other day that on a recent jourxiev between Napier and Gisborne lie met a farmer who told him that he had iust disposd of his farm near Whakatane. On 100 acres, divided into 21 paddocks, lie had kept 90 cows. Each of the 21 paddocks was grazed one day every three weeks b\ the milkers, followed by the dry stock, while in the days of greath growth as manv paddocks as possible were shut up for hay. In all, 10C> acres oi hav were cut one season. lhe plate had been top-dressed twice a year, with the barrows going over every dav in paddocks just vacated by the stock. Instead of placing troughs in the corners of the paddocks he had one placed in the middle of each paddock, acting on th.e knowledge that the cow is a lazy animal which will not walk any great distance for water.

A farmer bit Wharepoa, Thames Valley, has been getting wonderful returns’ from a small area or o- acres on which he runs all the year round 43 cows. He supplies the Hikutaia cheese factory and lor last year his total of butterfat was 10.030 lbs ioi cheese- and - lTlllbs for butter (the latter being a short- spell when the factory had to make butter), a total of 15.6961b5. This makes production per cow of 365.0231bs and per acre, which is the most- important eompaiison, 301-3451b5. „ . Some farmers in eie Hawkes -Bay district nave been experiencing great dirlicutty in checking the growth of convolvulus which in ,parts lias completely covered the ground and stilled ail growth. A farmer m such an area has experimented with sodium chloiate and has found that a & per cent solution has completely cleared the land from the pest and it showed no signs of reoo>ery after several months. The State hire Uthce suggests m the current issue of the Journal of Agnculture, that sodium chlorate (and other oxidising materials) -should be stored: m bins- preferably of ooneiete or brick; zinc should not be usecL Containers which have held such materials should not be stored, but destroyed as soon as empty Care should be' taken to keep chlorates well away from such substances as starch, su°ar, gum, sulpher, fertilisers contahining blood and bone, mineral acids and dust. Care should also be taken to keep the floors clean and free from spilled chlorates, as friction may cause ignition.

•‘Most countries/’ said a speaker at a recent meeting of farmers, “appeal to send away the best of their produce. This is none largely in -New Zealand: In a Scottish town lie saw when on a trip, the best iish being picked out for shipment to .London the rest for the people themselves and the same with strawberries in Cornwall,” and is it not so with many branches of farming industry m this country? „ , T . There is being built for the Departhent of Scientific and Industrial liesearch at East Mailing, in Kent, England the largest experimental cold store in the world, the funds being supplied by the Empire Marketing Board. The main part of the building takes the form of a model ship’s hold. idealising the seriousness of the present farming position, a correspondent of a Southland paper states that hoping to give a chance to the man on a iarm on whic-ii he holds a first mortgage, he has written off a fifth of hi” capital, has given a year free of interest, and thereafter has reduced to 5 per cent, the rate of interest. He has also supplied grass seed, timber, fencing material, etc., to the extent of £IOO. . . . One of the limiting factors in the increase of production from our grass lands is the prevalence of disease among our flocks and herds. say s a contributor to the “New Zealand Herald.” A study of pamphlets dealnicr with research on live stock diseases” which have been published by the research institutes at Home has led the writer to the conclusion that the prevalence of animal diseases to-day is due more to lack of vitality in the stock than to an increase in the microorganisms causing disease. Hus maybe” hard to believe, since breeding for strengthened constitution has made rapid strides in the last hall-century, but is borne out by Hr. J. B. Orr, director of the Howett Research institute. . The holdings of land in (’hue. says a recent visitor, are very Jarge, the average size being about 00.000 01 j 60,0CX) acres, while some of the great land companies had estates totalling up to 4,000.000 acres, and carrying 1,300,000 sheep. Pastoral country carried these flocks and fattened the surplus stock without provision of any j supplementary feed. Olio sheep were almost entirely of the Romney-Conic- J dale cross, and large numbers of stud] sheep of both breeds were annually | imported into Chile IY-pm the well- i known New Zealand breeders. It might be anticipated that where ilie] holding and the flocks are so large | the standard of farming would be anything hut high. Such, however, is! apparently not the case, as it was I stated that the lambing percentage j was rarely below 90 and frequently i reached as high as 100 per cent, and over, while the average weight of wool] per sheep was betwen 8 jib and 9-j-lb.; Tlie Department of Agriculture at] Washington estimates the United | States wheat yield! this season at 837,-] 761,000 bushels, compared with a yield jf 800,508,000 bushels in 1929. The I estimate for the maize crop as at Sep-I tember 1 was 1,982,765,000 busheks com-| pared with an actual crop of 2,614.000 1 bushels last year. The condition of the: r-roo is reported to he 51.6 per cent, of normal, compared with the last ten year average- of 77.7 per cent.