NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18332, 23 February 1923, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS .

.... ..— —— «» ■ Livestock returns for France for 1921 show a. general, if Blight, increase over those for 1920, but the numbers ax© etill a long way below 1913. According to the latest figures, there were 9,599,560 sheep, 13,343,440 cattle, and 2,706,110 horses in the country i' last year. The number of privately-owned cows under official test in New South Wales on December 1 was 253, made up of 59 herds, and comprising 87 milking , Ayrshircs, 80 Jerseys, 34 ' Illawarras, 23 Ayrshires, 19 Guernseys and 10 Friesians. There were also 100 Government cows on test at , experiment farms. ■ Fifty years ago (remarks an English stock journal) there . were 32,000,000 people in this country; to-day there are 47,000,000. Every hour of thin working day 300 tons /of meat are being turned out by the freezing works of the world for the English market, and ships which can carry 120,000 sheep in their holds are • coming io this country at this rate of more than ■ one a "day. Organic matter in the soil helps to retain moisture, improves its texture and workability, and provides plant food; in digestible form. It darkens the colour of the soil, and so . attracts heat, thus raising the temperature and making the land "earlier." Dark soil, . under the same sun, has been proved to average four to ten degrees more heat than a light-col-oured soil. Don't hesitate to plough in vegetation. ' It is claimed that the Dawson Valley irrigation project, which is about to be commenced by the Queensland Government, will be the largest in Australia and third in the world as regards storage and land served. It is estimated the amount of water stored will be 1,300,000 acre feet, and the land irrigable, by giavitation about 200.000 acres. The estimated cost of the irrigation works, hydro-electrio scheme, and railwayHs £4,000,000. The construction is expected to occupy from three to four years. v ■ ;'■■; ■-. _.. ■. • ■•■''•',.". • ■': ■:' '■. '■: ■■'. ; V ' :',-: y" ■■■ ..'•'.. .'..:■: j'r , .'.•:■ .:■. :'; .. •■'••'•'';'• ■