FARM AND DAIRY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 17 October 1914, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

Farmers were delighted by the rainfall on Wunday. Truly . the cloucis dropped fatness The grass came away wouuerlully during the week. The effect in the saieyards was marked, liasc week the tanners were getting a bib airaici of the look ot things, out. this week the. tone of the markets is j ever so much stronger.

For some time past stock has been selling extremely well, especially grown stores, which, probably are worth £1 a head more than they were this time last year. As in every other part of the country beef is up and is likely to remain so. The demand is gooa, and with •Waitara works doubled m size, and Patea materially increased, there should be no difficulty about freezing A South Taranaki farmer with long experience says it is many years since we had so dry a- spring in Taranaki. His memory carries him back, however, to a year about a quarter of a century ago, when the dryness lasted practically i right through to March or April, and lie had fears that we were in for something of the sort again this year, judg- ! ing by general indications and the weather reports from various parts of the southern hemisphere. However, the rain came a day or two afterwards, and for the present, at any rate, everything is all right. j Taranaki, happily, does not know what a drought is, and it certainly could not stand one, so far as present knowledge goes. If rain does not fall at fairly frequent intervals we soon begin to squeak. Some years ago, during a rather dry -spell, a farmer at the Egmont A. aiid P. show was complain- ' ing to a visitor from Hawke's Bay about the want of rain. "How long since you have had any?" asked the visitor. "Three weeks." "Three j weeks! Why, we have had none in Hawke's Bay worth speaking of for j twelve months. Don't growl'yet. As a fact, we should not know how bountifully we are served with rain if a few . dry weeks did not come occasionally. The price of fat stock in the South Island has eased a little. In Victoria the railways are carrying starving stock from drought districts and accepting promisory notes for the freight. In the South Island the shortness of feed owing to the dry weather, h checking the value of store stock. The advance in crossbred wool is appreciating the value of crossbred skins, which have quite recovered from the slump visible a few weeks ago. As a result of the drought some Cohuna farmers (Victoria) are securing high prices for the rental of their lucerne paddocks for grazing purposes. One paddock of 30 acres was leased-fan-light months for £200. If the Agricultural High School is not established at Hawera it will not- be from want of energy by the Education Board, but simply because the public have not responded to their efforts With the guarantee of 40 to 60 pupils the Education Department would probably have been satisfied, but the cifers do not yet reach requirementsj though pretty well half that number of pupils j would have come automatically from existing institutions. The apathy is deplorable.

Mr Grant, of the Wanganui Technical College, wrote the Wanganui A. and P. Association offering the services oi eight or nine boys to the farmers during the harvesting. Messrs J. Higgie and Fred Moore gave testimony of the usefulness of me boys on a farm. They could turn their hands to almost anything on a farm. It was resolved to thank Mr Grant for his offer, and to inform any farmers who required the services of these boys to communicate with the secretary of tlie Association.-

Fruitgrowers in the Manawatu are (says the Manawatu Standard) anticipating a record fruit crop this year, the excellent spring and the absence of late frosts being the chief factors allowing of good settings of fruit. The high wind which has prevailed during the last two days lias affected plums slightly, but not to any appreciable extent as yet. There has been much more spraying carried out this year than ■previously.

In England and Wales the latest sta. tistics show that cattle have increased by 163,000, sheep by 327,000, and pigs by 414,000. The cattle number 5,888.----000; sheep, 17,457,000; and pigs, 2,516,----000.; Breeders are urged by agricultural experts to produce all they can for the home market, while carefully retain ing purebred breeding stock, for which there is sure to be an unequalled demand at the end of the war. On the Continent horses, cattle, and sheep will require replenishing on an extensive scale. The whodesale slaughtering of calves has ceased, and more care is being shown in the preservation of young cows. :

The position of Clydesdale sires, with reference to the successes of their offspring at leading shows in Scotland, has. undergone, little alteration from ;last ; year.. Baron of Buehlyvie 'heads ; the Jist,J 29^ his offsjyrrngiiia^ing wori ; 69.'prizes,:! including■- nine c%mpipnships,V 23, firsts, j, 16 seconds, and nine thirds. Diinure Footprint comes next, 25 of his youngsters, having gained 39 prizes. Apukwa's 12 offspring have won 36 prizes, and Bonny Buchylvie's 18 have taken 35 prizes. Hiawatha, Baron's Pride, Revelanta, and Royal Favorite come next in order.

English farmers are now being urged to treble their usual area of wheat fields. If 40 per cent, of the cultivated land be sown with wheat, sufficient will be produced for all the home country's needs. To produce large yields, it is proposed that the Government shall finance the farmer to secure phosphatic fertilisers, an application of 3cwt. to 4 cwt.. per acre being regarded as necessary. Nothing is said about fixing the price of grain after it is grown, so probably in Great Britain farmers will be allowed to rean the result of their labor, by receiving the prices fixed by the law of supply and demand.