BY THE WAY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 14 October 1922, Page 9

BY THE WAY

Mr V. Marx's great record-breaking Friesian cow has done well over 1100 lbs. butter-fat for the twelve months. : She is said to be wonderfully docile ! •and easy to manage. Truly a great j performance. We are told that a bull' calf was sold for over 600 guineas. The figures for this cow are not up to American records, but we believe com- \ parison can hardly be made as eo'ndi- ' tions under which tests are taken are j very different. *> j Mr Green, of Kairanga, had, we are ' informed, almost as good a one. He lias sold it, as well as her bull calf, ' tut lie has kept .a heifer from this cow. j In a general, discussion with three J keen farmers, each having a fancy for j a different breed of dairy stock,. the : ■opinion was expressed bluntly by , one .. of them: "Any breed, so,long as you ■"*" are keen on it and get the best you : are able to procure." You must, like them, do your best." j Jerseys are best adapted for the !< light soil; and a heavy breed for the : heavy land. _ 1 On one farm of 60 acres (50 only effective for good farming) near Strat- j ford, 36 cattle and two* horses, all of ; -the best quality, ate kept well through- ; out. The owner says that actually «veiy farmer, even the best, might do better than he is doing provided he ] ■goes in for really'intensive cultivation.\, He looks on the 50-acre farm or even • less as the farm of the future on. the < : good lands of Taranaki, and this would ' cover a good deal of the province. He , Is a great advocate, as are so many . A . good farmers, of the value of "change „ of pasttures." ! Looking at some, nice s grade-Jersey lieifers the other day with two practical farmers, the question cropped up . of the age for .beginning to breed. \ I These heifers were yearlings, and one •was already timed to come into profit as a two-year-old. One of the farmers : said that many dairy farmers could not wait till the heifers were three-; year-olds. In any ease, he added, opin- : -ion was divided as to whether it was a good' thing for the dam and the calf.' He said he had seen as nice and wellgrown calves as could be wished from two-year-olds. A great deal, he add- . ed, depended on the feeding and care' given to them.' If they are well grown [ ■.'■ and in good condition there is no rea- ■ • son why they should not do just as * 'well as the three-yeai'-olds. : '.';'■ Taranaki main- roads and many of the by-roads are far in advance of. 1 most of the Wanganui roads, but there ; are stretches in the latter district '. ] rwhieh compare well with, Taranaki Js 1 best. They are a distinct asset to the ; farming community. - -: The question of cropping lands came ,1 fup the other day in a general discus- < sion, and a farmer who used to be in ! the SouNfch Island instanced the wonder- 1 1 ful land\ round., Oamaru. One instance 1 .he gave of a fairm cropped for 27 years i ;in succession and still getting 54 i /bushels of wheat to the acre; ! ; Clumps of native bush are alike pie- i turesque and practically useful on a< i farm, especially where they come in ( gullies, which are not a great deal i pof use from a farming point of view. | Down several of the gorges that lie i 1 between Waitotara and • Wanganui g there is more, or less native bush. In i - :some tlie ruthless hand of man has at < , some time in the past put the torch i and the bush is no more or scattered s :. trees or stumps. In one gorge between . < Maxwelltown and Kai Iwi' there is -\ x . " wonderful bush to the south, which, at i this time of the year and especially i now, is a sight to gladden the eyes, the i -deep green of the native bush inter;Spersed with the beautiful clematis and i rangiora knd other blooms; to the \ iiorth there is practically none—and i the country is too precipitous to be ] worth a great deal for grazing, ' < \ A tree that might be encouraged in j .some parts is the poplar. It grows to ] an immense size,.straight as a, die,;and ; is besides a thing of beauty always. i . . The rule of planting two trees where ( one is felled is observed only in the ; exception. More-—much more—might •]

be done by the farmer to Ms own and the country's benefit. The "o-ver-ruu" is a familiar term in dairy factory work, and one would suppose would be familiar and easily denned by all dairy farmers, but, if re-

. port is correct, one dairy farmer— I whether director or not is not disclosed —is said to have asked tliat '' a , ! sample of the over-run be sent to Wel--1 lington to the experts to examine." i Depreciation is a term used in most balance-sheets, aud generally known' more or less, but it is said that at a i dairy factory meeting the question was : asked: "Wliui ilo you do \vith depre- ; cmtion?" j "Sheep will keep down ragwort," said 1 a councillor at Patea on Tuesday. This tis generally acknowledged to> be so, and ! therefore it might be wise if every j dairy farmer could keep a few sheep j and put them in the paddock where • there was noxious weed. ! ''When what the law demands is proved to be an impossibility," said the Patea county chairman during a discus- • sion on noxious weeds, "the law goes by the board." | A Patea councillor, talking of noxious I '"weeds, said that a lot of seed came from dung. He instanced a *ase where I a farmers, when requested to take, in j for a night a line of sheep being driven, I said that they could be put not in a paddock, but in, a pen. This was done, and some time afterwards there was a fine, healthy growth of weeds. The question of feeding; turnips has been much debated, and it is generally agreed that care in feeding can obviate much, if not all, of the danger of, tainting of milk. A writer in a paper dealing with the subject. says that it is a pity to cut out the turnip, for he considers that it can ' 'be met by extra ■care on the; part of the farmer, rather than by the elimination of what is a very payable crop. That some farmers by pulling their v turnips and allowing them to wilt for 24 hours, and then feeding for an hour or two only, have gone through a whole season without any trouble or loss in grading, has been fully proved. Whether to grow turnips or not is a question each farmer must settle for himself after considering all" the local factors, but from the point of view of milk production alone there are certainly not many crops superior to the turnip for efficiency and cheapness." At Heston, Middlesex, a boy member of the Young Farmers' Club showed a root ol potatoes which weighed 31b" 10 oz. He has won this prize three years in succession. A picture that delights the eye of the grazing farmer is to be seen in Mr. G. F. Moore's naddocks, near Kai Iwi. On both, sides ol the road one sees the wellknown Herefords for which he is so justly famous.- In the green pastures they look particularly well. An extra fine mob of about a hundred were passed on the Waitotara hill this week. They looked a specially prime, ' well-grown lot. All round that the pastures appear to be in capital heart and will be very useful for the season ■ that is advancing ;so fast and so well. One fail to be, struck with the feeling, when one sees the lovely^ pastures all round-Waver ley and. right down to Wanganui, that there is room . for much more close settlement. The great paddocks look as if they could support a, much greater population, good for the industry and for the province and the Dominion. In a paddock seen from the road, near Maxwelltown, was seen rather a, curious sighiTrecentry. A jet black calf, evidently belonging to a black cow which was lying some distance away, had made friends witE a,light fawn Jersey and appeared to be more attached to it than to its dam. In the country down towards Wanganui are many more gorse hedges than in Taranaki. At this time of the year they appear very beautiful. Kept under control they make quite good 'shelter,, Itlspojgh mot nearly so good as the boxthorn. In many parts, however, one sees quite considerable areas, practically overgrown and spreading fast. It is a matter that requires ; care and hard work to prevent. There* are also quit© a lot of hawthorn 'hedges. They are effective as stock

keepers and look pretty, but they are not particularly good shelter. The iireblight, too, is a danger where hawthorn is grown, though apparently not so much where it is a hedge. it is interesting to note that the bull -championship in Friesian dairy cattle at tne Adelaide Royal Show resolved itself into a keen contest between the Sydney and Melbourne champions and the New Zealand bull, Lougoeach General Botha. The judge was Mr. Geo. Aitcheson, of Kaatangata, who, curiously enough, was the breeder of the Sydney, bull, m consultation with. Mr. North, the well known New Zealand Friesian breeder. After a lengthy consideration they awarded the championship to the Sydney bull, Cordyline Colantha Hero, with the Melbourne animal reserve.

Lambing in the* district below Waverley appears to be more'forward than further north. The lambs are numerous and look in excellent condition, strong and healthy. Trade advices from London are less encouraging than earlier in-the'year. International politics are so disturbed that business cannot be orderly. Bankers are shy of granting accommodation for extended terms. Even with the rate for. short loans at 1J per cent difficulty is often experienced by borrowers in obtaining money nearly as cheaply as the quotation indicates^ If people were to make up their minds that war in the Near East was inevitable, prices would stiffen immediately. Speculators would jump into the money market, and join in a hunt for products' needed by the belligerents.' That they have not, done so may be an omen favour-, able for peace. Another cause of uncertainty is the internal situation in Germany. To keep the people quiet the German Government has sought to mitigate the evils arising from a greatly depreciated currency by granting concessions to the masses. One of/ the most important of these is the bread subsidy, made possible by requisitioning 2,000,000 ions of wheat annually from the farmers. But the farmers object) to the price to be paid to them. The" Government, to placate them, has resolved to increase the price of corn, so as to keep pace to some extent with the lower purchasing power of the mark. Instantly the Independent Socialists threaten to withdraw their support. If that were done a political crisis would be forced; What it would involve in a community polluted iii -one section by Bolshevism, and tainted inanotther by militarism, it is~ impossible to calculate. Farming has never been associated with the, name of the famous stalesman Edmund Burke, but there is one incident told of him which ~*wffl of interest: "Burke farmed in a small way upon his property in Buckinghamshire. One year he put in an acre of carrots 'for a trial.' But when he attempted to fatten two middle-sized bacon hogs upon the carrots, he was puzzled to find that, though they grew considerably, i'they continued as lean as when I put them, up. 5 So he wrote to Arthur ; Young, the most eminent .agricultural expert of the time, to ascertain the cause. An ordinary man would be able to ask a_ question on such a topic without thinking of principles, but Burke was entirely himself, even when it was a matter of fattening porkers. Arthur Young therefore had to be assured that 'he is but- a poor husbandman who is discouraged by °ne year's ill success, where he acts upon good authority or pursues a rational principle.' And after a precise statement of the difficulty Burke rounds off with: 'Now,• sir, let me beg that you will be so obliging as' to point out what degree of boiling the carrots ought to have, or where you suspect that niy error lies!'. We hope that Arthur Young was able to tell him and that he felt as much Satisfaction as we do in finding Burke for awhile leaving the concerns of empire to occupy himself with the fattening of swine; though even in feeding his pigs he is observant of the prin r dple of the: thing." , -

A clever cartoon in a Canadian farming paper warns farmers against politics. It depicts: Dr. Commonsense

prescribing for agriculture and saving to him: "You've been taking too much of that politics-co-operation mixture. Just try some of this pure co-operation for a while." It is good advice.