FARMING NEWS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 154, 1 June 1937, Page 5

FARMING NEWS

RURAL RAKINGS. A farmer in the Christchurch district when sowing down grass removes the pipes of his drill loading from the grain box to the coulters. Thus some of tho seed falls down tho coulters ‘and is drilled in, the rest misses tho coulters and ''is broadcast. The farmer maintains that he can get a better sward by using this method than by either drilling or broadcasting straight out. A new method of dehorning calves has been tried out with success in South Africa, The horn buds are burned^out, when the calves aro young, by means of a heated rod. which is hollowed out at the end so ns to fit over the bud. The rod. which is of copper, must be well heated and pressed firmly on to the horn bud. the hair around which must have been clipped away first. If carefully done the operation leaves a clean sterile wound. Some smear the wound with a mixture of equal ports of linseed oil and lime water. It is estimated by the Christchurch office of tho Department of Agriculture that 12,000 tons of potatoes will be shipped from North and South Canterbury this season to Uruguay and Argentina. ’This is believed to bo a Now Zealand record for any one -year. So lar this season 60,000 sacks of potatoes have boon shipped.. Tho remarkable cropping potentialities of the light country of the AVailiau district near Patoka, Hawke’s Bay, arc well illustrated by tho yield secured by Mr J. Walker, a farmer of that area, when har.vosting his crop of Dakota Red potatoes. A large percentage weighed over three pounds apicco, while the quality was equal io the best, grown on tho rich flats, all being clear-skinned and free from blemish. One of these potatoes would provide a meal for a fair-sized family. The crop did not have any special treatment or attention.