WHAT “SUNDOWNER” HEARS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 297, 1 December 1928, Page 12

WHAT “SUNDOWNER” HEARS

Western Australia is reported to have been kept free of the codlin moth by constant vigilance. Both Commonwealth and State regulations prohibit the other states sending apples into Western Australia.

Private and commercial orchagdists are urged to be careful with their trees and not neglect to apply a fungicide. Suitable mixtures are lime sulphur (1 in 100) for pippin fruit and 1 in 120 for stone fruits.

Tomatoes should be plentiful in Hawke’s Bay this year. The plantings have been very heavy and there has been a considerable extension in glasshouses. -

In the paper on lamb dyuentery read at Newcastle. England, Mr. T. Dalling, of Beckenham, Kent, said it was possible to state definitely that this could be prevented either by passively ammunising the lamb with an antitoxin made from the L.D. bacillus or by actively immunising the mother ewe with an antigen made from this organism.

The West Australian Government has decided to encourage the breeding of better draught horse* by allocating £4,000 per annum to be used as a £ for £ subsidy for settlors buying good stallions.

Damp, badly-ventilated pens may cause rheumatism in pigs during cold weather. Concrete floors built without dead air space and concrete or stone walls predispose to thia trouble. The pin becomes lame and stiff and the joints swollen. It is very difficult to cure the pig if the disease has reached this stage. Prevention is the best cure, but a dose of oui’-’ne or salicylate of soda is useful, Tne last being given in doses of 20 to 30 grains in the feed or as a drench three times daily. In acute cases, larger doses may be given.

It is held that the fruitgrowers of New Zealand could do nothing without the Government guarantee, because ‘‘it is far more than a simple matter of financing. It is the backbone of our whole scheme, making us completely independent as to where we place our fruit. Once a broker finances a grower be is in the broker's hands, and not a free agent. 80 tbe guarantee’is the backbone of our scheme.

It is stated that wheat farmers in North Otago are seriously concerned as to the probable effect of the political change upon the wheat-growing industry. It is believed in some quarters that the sliding scale of duties imposed by the present Government will be in jeopardy now that another party is likely to assume power.

A new method of dealing with the codlin moth hat been expounded by Mr L. Haseman, of the Missouri College of Agriculture. Bands of cheese cloth are wrapped round the trunks of appje trees in the spring. The worms gather in these bands, and when a mixture of beta naphthol and engine oil is applied the result is di« rectly fatal to the worms.

Sulphate of iron is commonly used for citrus trees, and is not a general manure for fruit trees. It is not advisable to use it on trees other than orange or lemon. For a seven-year old tree one pound per tree, would be about the right quantity. For other fruit trees use the same quantity of blood and bone and potash. If the ferterliser is put down 3ft alt round the trunk, the rain will wash it in and the surface roots feed on it.

Temperamental housewives are making it tough for the hen. Some assert that brown eggs make richer cakes, some think that eggs should bo pure white, while others are tn favour of 50--50. This makes it hard for the hen and the poultryfarmer. However, by the use of better foods, bigger and better eggs will be laid, with sufficient variety of coloui* to meet the needs of the most temperamental.

The efforts of the Empire Marketing Board and thp New Zealand Dairy Produce Board had resulted in the practice of blending New Zealand butter falling off to a large extent. “Our butter is in great retail demand for its own sake, and for what it is—New Zealand produce, sold as such on merit,” declared Mr W. G. K. Wright editor of the “N.Z. Dairy,” who returned recently from a world tour. New Zealand manufacturers are working along sound lines in the manufacture and distribution of their produce. They have now practically regained the confidence of the British trade.”

The question of more advertising on the part of growers was at the last meeting of the Roxborough Fruitgrow ers Association. It was reported that more fruit would be sold direct to consumers if they knew where to send for it and what it would cost. A system of collective advertising was suggested. Country newspapers would be made use of and in this way the names of growers would be published and tbe purchaser could select any one. It was considered that this would be the means of bringing fruit and the growers more under the notice of householders and bring about a better distribution than exists today. It is probable that something along these lines will be done before the season commences.

A new grass that promises to revolutionise stock husbandry has appeared—and not in America. According to the director of the Division ot Botany of tbe Department of Agriculture at Durban, that organisation has “secured a grass of outsauding merit and great promise.” It is known as ‘‘woolly finger grass.” The average carrying capacity of Pretoria veldt was usually estimated at 30 acres per beast, be said, but by laying down one acre of this grass under dry land conditions it had been shown conclusively that it was possible to change the carrying capacity of the veldt irum 30 acres to a beast to one acre per beast. . “If this can be done on a large scale this experiment will be of immense value,” naively adds the authority quoted. If the millions of acres in Africa can be made to carry a beast to the acre the other dominions will be left well in the lurch.