FARMING NEWS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 68, 17 February 1939, Page 5

FARMING NEWS.

RURAL BAKINGS. CANTERBURY NEEDS RAIN. Rain is needed over most of the Canterbury plains after the exceptionally dry weather of January. The need is not urgent yet, but a good rain would renew pastures and carry stock well on. Low Germination. Tho germination tests of ryegrass seed harvested this season appear to be uniformly. bad throughout tho country, says a Christchurch paper. The season has been against ryegrass crops, and in practically no district have germination tests been good, the absence of hot, dry days having affected tho seed. Experiment With New Fodder, The Manawatu Rabbit Board is endeavouring to obtain quotations for “sweet lupin seed,” a new form of fodder for sheep and cattle which is said to grow very well on sandy, ridgy country and will withstand drought. Experiments have been carried out with this seed at the Lincoln Agricultural College and it has proved to bo a most successful form of fodder in dry areas where there is little feed available. It is the intention of the Manawatu Rabbit Board to endeavour to obtain some of this seed, if only sufficient to plant a small plot for experimental purposes. World Meat Consumption. World meat consumption, although lowered in recent years, is certain to increase, according to the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome. Compilations based on consumption of meat by urban families in the chief countries of the world showed that the city of Buenos Aires consumes more meat per capita than any other city in the world. The annual consumption per capita thorp is 3001 b. This compares with 1851 bin Vienna, 1551 bin Copenhagen, and 261 bin Detroit. The institute points out that Tokio now has more than 3000 retail meat shops, where 15 years ago there were only three or four, but the institute’s research experts conclude that only approximately one-fourth of the world’s population eats an appreciable quantity of meat.