FARMING NEWS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 255, 25 September 1935, Page 5

FARMING NEWS.

11 URAL RA KINGS. The annual report of the Department of A ,r riculutre records the first occasion on which over 100,000 tons of lime have been carried by rail in one year in each islund. “If it were certain that the lime supplies were being used where farm experience and investigation have shown that they are productive of profitable results, then the recent increases in the amount of lime handled would bo a matter for congratulation; but when the railage destinations of certain substantial supplies are checked against the results of field trials and veterinary experience it seenis that lime is at times being used increasingly without any evidence that would justify . recommending its use,” says the report “The official certification of seed was extended to embrace Italian rye-grass during the year under review,” says the annual report of the Department of Agriculture A pioneering step of potential importance was the sowing of considerable areas of pasture seed originally produced at the Plant Research Station, the objective bcinn- the production of pedigree seed . ot strains superior to the strains commercially available. An assured result of the free use that is being made in New Zea.and ot certified seeds is better pastures and arable crops A further possible result is that official certification may lay the foundation of a valuable subsidiary primary industiy dependent partly perhaps on an export trade in seeds, but also on the use locally grown seeds replacing the use of seeds now being imported. ■ , • “The total area planted in tpbucco m the Dominion during the 1934-35 . season was approximately 1800 acres: in the previous year the area in tobacco foi commercial purposes was 2500 acres antlt * ll ® r ‘ presented a reduction relative to the year before it,” says the annual report of the Department of Agriculture. £n oxperimental shipment of this season s tobaccoleaf is to be made to the United ■ There is renewed interest m the g_io b of hops, which have been increased in aica because of the improved prices ob auie . Considerable planting lri regard ° 1 p oil has taken place in Isartli Aucklan , the total area in tung-od trees now being estimated at 3500 acres.”