WAIKAKA VALLEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2087, 22 February 1894, Page 22

WAIKAKA VALLEY.

February 20. — The latter half of the past week was dry, and a great deal of oats were reaped. A stiff gale was experienced on Saturday, but there was only a small loss. The most of the standing crop is ripe, and reaping will be almost over this week if the weather continues fine. The unfavourable weather of this month has ripened the crops too rapidly, and the yield will probably be considerably under the expectations formed a few weeks ago. Telephone. — There is little doubt but that we shall soon see a telephone line laid between Gore and Waikaka, as the sum of .£BO demanded by the Postal department has at last been collected. The delay in getting in the local subscriptions has been entirely owing to the fact that a committee was not appointed at first to carry the matter through. However, all is well that ends well. Gore business people, by their subscriptions, enabled the committee to raise the sum required, and local subscribers feel very grateful to them for their assistance.

The Bot Fly. — The eggs of this fly have been noticed on the jaws of horses for a number of weeks, proving that the fly has come to stay. A number of veterinary authorities assert that bots in a horse's stomach are harmless, except when in very large numbers—but this is a contingency which they say is not likely to arise frequently. Still such authorities are not unanimous on this point. A high authority— Mayhew, for instancedoes not hesitate to express dissent from the conclusions of others, and recommends horseowners not to turn their horses on to the grass till after sundown, when the flies will not molest them. But as this is impracticable in most cases it is better to übo some wash deterrent to insect attack, or one that will destroy the eggs. Kerosene is recommended by "Entomologist" in last week's Witness, so that everyone has a preventive agent at hand.