NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 29 May 1915, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

' ' r' r France is- the only country--in, Furore that is self-supporting in normal tunes'. The country produces" sufficent corn •and meat'for tne wnole poputefcon'./' ,• < j Itl pays to let all farm 'animals have ' accpss to powdered charcoalwwil y usually eat it freely. Most of the socalled stock foods contain Jcharc6al as one of the most useful ingredients* j The light of a lamp vrill be much , clearer v a small lump of salt is placed in the bottom of the lamp reservoir. I Also before screwing in the burner soak the wick in vinegar, then thoroughly dry before using. This makes it burn brighter and last longer. „ j Lucerne hay is better than oaten for dairy cows. Oaten hay is very palatable and nutritious, but it is not as rich in protein or bone-making material as the other. Second-crop clover i well cured is an excellent hay; some prefer it to lucerne, but lucerne is richer in protein than clover. I It was only a few weeks -ago. says ' Hoard'st Dairyman, that Murne Cowan, a Guernsey, took the title of world's champion from May Rilma.'-. In '&> few , days a Holstein will supersede: Murne Cowan. . \The present champion produced 10981b fat in a year; the new champion will have a record of more than 11001b of fat. ; .-'■:■. .

Something approaching a. reeorji •was-' estaoiisnea at •tve iß Stnic».iie|.d F/r,eezing..| Works (says the Tnuaru Herald), when ; ai ram wias killed, .and ■',■,-,-after';■.".'-jbeing^ dressednit .weiglied ;pn 'ske\ hooks^iliSSb^j This is th^"■;he'&vlesk'-aftee^ for many years; in fact, many slaughr ter men of long standing cannot _ recall having seen a heavier carcase. I

The first cargo of lucerne hay which the State is importing in order to.meet the shortage of fodder waij dn© to leatyeSan Francisco oh' May I%^YThe voyage over will* take about 40 days, arid consequently the- first cargo should reach Melbourne between June 20 and June 25. In the meantime, a great many orders for the hay are being received by the Agricultural Department, and the'indications are that the first two cargoes will be over-applied for. The first shipment of lucerne hay iconsists of 4000 tons. The second shipment will comprise 2800 tons of oaten hay, and is due to leave fc<*n Francisco on May 20. „

At the Farmers' Union Conference at Inglewood last week,. Mr Maxwell uttered a note of warning 'to dairy factory companies. He hold them that if they wisned to avoid disturbances and friction they must meet together m conference and decide upon ah absolutely fair basis of employment for their hands. They must not wait for the employees to tell the directors what was a fair thing; if they do wait for that to happen their position would be greatly weakened. They must decide amongst themseves what was an absolutely fair thing for the men —the rate of pay and the hours of duty, etc. —and having so decided, all the factories must loyally observe it.

Considerable prominence was given to the value of the pinus insignus as a shelter tree, a weed suppressor in poor land,, and as a timber tree, during a discussion at the Farmers'

Union Conference last week. It was said that it had been found most useful: where planted out, in poor creekbank lands, where it, had most effectually choked out the weeds and was thriving even in the poorest of land. It afforded good shelter, and. as a mature tree the timber was found to be useful for quite a number of purposes. It was considered that no better use could be made of some of the

poor weed-infested lands to be found in some places in Taranaki than to ■plant it out. with p^nusinsignus.

It has been the practice at the annual conference of the Taranaki province of the New Zealand Farmers' Union to accept remits up till noon on the day of sitting in addition to those already appearing' on the order paper. It is very questionable if this is a wise policy, and this opinion was strengthed during the proceedings at the' conference held last week. At least one or two remits would never have been tabled had they been thoroughly considered beforehand, and in one case Mr Okey told the delegates who moved the resolution that they must have done so through ignorance of the legislation passed last year. If no remits were accepted save those which had been considered and passed by the Executive it would probably result in more solid work being done.

At the request of a number of dairy farmers, Mr J. C. Thomson, M.P., brought under the notice of the Minister of Agriculture (says the Southland Times) the matter of cool stores at Bluff for cheese, and in his reply the Minister states that he is advised that the department is of opinion there is a necessity for such stores, but that in view of the good prices which have been obtaining for dairy produce during recent years the Government could render no assistance. Cool stores were in existence in other parts of the Dominion, and to none of these had any assistance been given.

Some idea of the value of bees for the gardener and farmer may be estimated from the following facts: An ordinary hive in the summer contains no fewer than 20,000 bees. About 80 bees leave the hive every minute, say, from 8 a™, until 5 p.m., making in all 43,000 flights per day, and during each of these flights the bee visits about 50 blooms, making more than 2,000,000 visits t each day. Thus it will be seen that m a season of 100 fine days one colony alone may pollinate no fewer than 200,000,000 blooms.

An interesting digast of the world's fruit trade, and the part played by Italy therein, has recently been published. It appears that the value of the world's export and import trade in fresh fruit is about 34 million pounds sterling, and of this amount one half represents the value of Great Britain's imports. Next in rank as an importer is Germany, which, in 1912, took from the rest of the world fruit to the value of 14 million pounds. At the head of the list of exporting countries stands Italy, which exports fruits to the value of upwards of nine million pounds sterling. Spain and the United States are second and third with about five million pounds worth of exports; and the country which exports least is Germany. Great Britain's exports stand at one and three-quarter millions; but this figure includes re-exports. English people eat most oranges, but the United States of America eat most lemons. The biggest buyer of bananas is America. The largest seller of apples and- pears is not, as we may have tho"«?ht, the United States, but Italy. ■$-

tym »&,j|%W%%if^hdent:?» A3 nWGQW%\'Corqfa,*^yp >ea& 0 1<1, and fejwtlto&w eighjfc.montht^in milk> _a*r produced 2 tJurirfg* the p&ioc| 401b, milk " aafly with -a" 3.8 v tesO. * Another cow,"Virginia" barely 'fiye years old, tor*' the ~ month yof -April produced a Uttle over a ton of mfik—Vi2s., v22661b, with a hpue over 7VJ»> bu*„r-yat > tor ihe month. This oow ha§ be^a. in milk since / February 2»-tf.9l's, and »w f ith butter-tat at ls Bid per IK wOuld produce a nice little income'to the owner. Her record tor the year will he awaited with much interest. - These two eotf s to be I keeping up *the reputation ot this fa- - 1 mous herd. Is ______ Aij a meeting of representatives of the dairy companies of the Palmerston North district, Mr T. Parsons occupied the chair, and pointed out that since . home separation was very much on the increase, it was highly desirable that a 1 scheme for the grading of cream should be instituted. Otherwise it would be impossible to maintain the present high quality jof New Zealand dairy produce. i Mr Cuddie said that, in his opinion ? the payment of different prices for different grades of milk and cream was the I only remedy against the supply of inferior milk and cream by certain sup- .' pliers, and in the event Of such a sys- • tern being adopted, it would be necessary to have an agreement between all companies, in, the district, that ho-sup-- ■ plier whose milk or cream had been rejected by any factory should, be allowed fco; supply any other, factory jf or the remainder of the season. Messrs Dunford,. Hart, Lancaster and Beattie also spoke in support of a system of grading be-1 ing adopted. Mr Parlane thought it .j would be desira-Me that a Government ';"; grader be appointed, rather than leave - j the sgradihg to the factory managers, said, hei,^a^ Y°l: opinion. ILidiat^this wor.k could be successfully carried out^ 'by 'the factory /managers. Mr Bendall then moved, and Mr Hart seconded, tbat a committee consisting of Messrs Dalrymple, Grant,. Bendall, I Whittaker and Beattie be formed to draw up a proposed form of agree- < metit. to biesubn^tted for the consideration of irtter.?ite^ and thfit • a meeting of of such companies be held at Palmerston dvr r i j ing the National Dairy Show.