GLEANINGS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7866, 31 July 1911, Page 2

GLEANINGS.

Nbw Zealand exported to Australia daring Juno 354 S sheep. Forty horses were sent to India from Now Zealand during June, and nineteen to tho Pacific Islands. A Palmerston grazier states that the feed 'is coming along fairly well, although there is not much growth so far. He says the soaking rain of the last couple •of days has proved beneficial to the country generally.—^Standard/ 1

The horticulturist at tho Euakura Experimental Farm has produced, by means of cross-pollination between two varieties, a now variety of phormium, which' has proved to be a medium-growing flax giving a high percentage of fin© quality fibre.

Tho milk supply at the Ball an ce butter factory is showing a good increase, and quite a number of dairy-farmers have fresh cows in milk. There its, a considerable quantity of artificial fodder in the Puhiatna district, and as the majority of the cows are in good condition there should be an’ increased supply of ■millr during the coming spring. South Taranaki sheepfarmers in proximity to Maori settlements are experiencing considerable trouble with marauding dogs. One farmer had several valuable ewes done to, death a. few nights ago, but retribution followed. He left poisoned meat about his paddock, and somewhere about a score of Maori dogs succumbed* A number of others were shot. Tho price of butter is perhaps lower in Invercargill than in any other town in the Dominion at present. The wholesale price there for best pats is Is Sd, while in Dunedin it has been Is in Christchurch Is sd, and in. Taihapo the ruling wholesale price was Is 6d. Strange to say, practically tho whole of the Invercargill supply is drawn from Taranaki, so that the Southland capital is further from the source of supplies than any other town in New' Zealand. In the course of conversation with a rr Wairarapa Daily Times” representative, several farmers spoke of the destruction which the grasi grub has caused to grass. One farmer who has travelled over the greater part of the Wairarapa during the past few weeks stated that he had never seen the pest so bad before. A South Wairarapa settler said that ho had had forty acres of grass destroyed by the grub. The unusually , dry summer and the early autumn in Southland resulted in many turnip fields having to bs resown, and it was thought a famine in root crops was likely to ensue. Welcome rains, however, in the late autumn changed the aspect . completely, and the resown turnips, although a great deal later than usual, came away exceedingly woll, and promised to be right up ip tho average. Tho feeding qualities of these crops has, however, proved very. disappointing, for when the tops have been eaten off it is found that the bulb, or root, lacks size, and, consequently, does not stand tho feeding usual with turnip crops in that province.