TARANAKI FARM NOTES. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 14

TARANAKI FARM NOTES. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

March 14. The dry weatksr continued up to last night, when heavy ruin sefc in, and still it looks as if ib meant to last. Rain was much needed, as the ground was very dry aud feed ecarce, and the outlook for stock during the winter months was getting serious. The present warm rain will, however, I think, put matters right, as there is yet timo for a good gtowth of gra«a before the frosts set in. This is, I thiuk, a record se*Bon for Taranaki aa far as dry weather is concerned. We are seldom more than a week without rain, but this seaeon we have had no raiu to upeak of since the commencement of November, and, all things considered, we have suffered less than any other parb of the colony from the unusually dry season. Harvest is now over except some few Ute paddocks, snd all crops have been saved in fi'strate condition, and those threshed have yielded well, considerably over the average both in quantity and quality. Turnips are not as good as usual, but the present rain will coneiclprably improve them. During the past month sheep fairs have been held in the various centres. The musters have been largf, aud prices satisfactory. At Toko Sheep Fair there wa3 a ruoster oi; over 20,000 sheep —this in a district that very few yeaw ago, sny eight or nine, was an unbroken foresl, showing tbab Taranaki is makit'g seme progress, and has producls other than butter and tungus. " I notice " Drover "in a recent issue remarks on the practice of passing on useless cows from dairyman to dairyman through the medium of ;