NOTES ON' RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2689, 27 September 1905, Page 7

NOTES ON' RURAL TOPICS.

I have received a copy of the report of the Department of IndusOur Industries tries and Commerce, as pro and Commerce, sented io the House by Sir J. G. Ward, who is Minister of the department. This is the fourth annual report, and it states that the policy cf keeping ihe products of the colony prominently before the. consuming markets of the world has besu well maintained. A large and varied assorrment of New Zealand products wad displayed at the fit. Ixmis Exhibition, and also at the exhibitions held in Liverpool ar-id in the Crystal Palace, Louden. At the last two exhibitions the display made of the products of this colony were much more complete and attractive than any made by other British colonies. Tb.3 Minister i-efers to the sue-

ces&ful establishment of a steam service to the. west coast ports of the United Kingdom, and is -very sang pine as to the future development of this trad 3 — so much so that he expresses the opinion that the time is riot far distant when the volume of our exports to those ports will warrant the contractors "supplying a direct service, which would be an in^rr-ense advantage compared JVrifch the present one, via South Afuca.

Mention is made of an endeavour to establish a steam cargo service between this colony and the western ports of Canada - so far without success, — and Sir J. G. Ward thinks that somo vigorous policy should be adopted with the object of piomcting trade and interchange witb Canada.. He says that the value of our annual imports from the United States amounts to the enormous sum of a million and a-half, while imports from Canada a>nd British Columbia "^nly amount ir> value to less than one-tenth of that sum. The Minister seems to realise the importance of providing all possible facilities for the cheap and rapid transport of our produce to all the available markets of the world. He is hopeful of being able to seme day obtain a share of the markets in the Far East — Japan. China, and Manila. At present Australia possesses facilities for trade ir that quarter, and the shipping companies do not extend their operations beyond Australian ports. The following arc the principal shipments of produce to the ports on the west coast of Great Britain during the yeai ending with last March : — 206,369 carcases of lamb, 4-4,646 carcases of mutton, 3720 boxes of butter, 60,000 crates of frozen rabbits, 6000 cases preserved meat, 315,000 superficial feet of "timber, 2355 bales hemp, 79,000 sacks oats, 18.000 sacks wheat, 2600 sacks bran, 5000 sacks peas, 2500 sacks barley, and a dozen oilier products in smaller quantities. The expense of carrying on the head office in Wellington during the year was £1411; that of carrying on the South African agency was £1444-, and the cost of the London Produce Commissioner's office was £796 — the total cost of the department for the year being £3651. The report includes some very clear photographs of different sections of the- New Zealand courts at the various exhibitions mentioned.

" Subscriber," Tapanni, wants to know whether it is likely to do Seed freshly-cut potato sets any Potatoes. harm by shaking lime and sulphur over them to assist in dryinij the cut sets. There is a diversity of opinion on tins point, just as there is on many other points in connection with seed potatoes For my part, Ido not think there is any need to use lime or sulphur. If the sets are cut Immediately before planting I generally sprinkle some dry wood ashes or dry soil just to stop th-e bleeding, but unless the soil they are goiivg into is rather ?efc I do not think it matters whether the cut sets are dry or not. If they are cut a day or two before planting they will dry without any artificial assistance, and that Is probably the better plan. I see by an English farm paper that the Yorkshire Farm College has endeavoured to find a satisfactory answer to this muchdebated question — whether out sets should be limed or not. It is reported that those experiments m Yorkshire did not go far towards answering the question one way or the other. In one isefc of experiments there appeared to be no difference whatever in the appearance and growth ot the crop grown from limed or unlimed sets, but in another experiment in a different part of the country it was thought that the plants from the limed sets stood up better than the plants from ihe cut sets that were not dipped in lime. It appear, therefore, that w-hether dipping the set<? in lime does any good or not it does not do any harm, so that I think "Sinb-seribe-r" can, please himself 'n this matter without any fear of harmful results either way. While on the subject of lime and sulphur I may mention that it has been found that powdered culphur prevents potatoes from being badly affected by th© disease known a? "scab."" The sulphur is sprinkled along tho drills with the sets, but e-^en just dipping the sots in sulphur has teen found bsneiieial as a precaution against scab. The Yorkshire College Farm also weat into a lot of experiments in order to ascertain whether ciown eyes or side eyes are the best to leave in a set. Some good Northern Star tubers were cut so that one-half had a crown eye and the other a side eve, each part being made as nearly as possible, of tho same size. T 1 cy were treated the same in every other reapeet Wlic-n dug the crop from the side eye sets yielded at the rate of 13 tons per acre, and the crown eyes at the rate of 9 tons per acre. I cannot ouite believe that such fine distinctions con have such markedly different results. There arc many fine-drawn theories put forward in connection with potato sets, and we read about so many contradictory results that the. practical man is inclined to doubt the reliability of the conclusions drawn from the numerous experiments.

It vas leported a few i ears -ago that the dairy industry was rapidly Bntter from expanding in. Siberia, and Siberia. that butter would be largely exDortad from that countiy Io England, and so increase the compoti- ! tion with our onr dairy produce. Ti h.is j been ttated bj a, R'vs=ian authority that j Russia intends to rend butter to Britain j at the rate of about 5000 tons (over ' 11,000,0001b) per month, and that in order ' to facilitate transport the Russian Government will provide a daily tram pervicp of wagrsrons fitted /ith a rofrigv rating plint for the conveyance of th-o butter from tho chief centres of production to the Baltic poits, to be from there shipped to England. Some time ago x read an account of the manner in xth'oh Russian butter is

made, and I am sure that after reading o description of the way the milk, cream, and butter are handled by the dirty and ignorant Russian peasantry no decent person would venture to consume it. The dairy cattle are, for the most part, badly bred and poorly fed. the appliances are imperfect, and, judging the peasantry frcm the point of view of their national character and habits, it is impossible to suppose mat with little or no training they can produce an article fit 1o be sold in the same street as our excexlent butter. The Russian stuff is, I believe, largely bought by the confectioners of London, and thousands of tons are mad© un into what is called "milk-blended" butter, which meets with a ready sale among Br'tish corsumers, who do not realise that tbey are getting 25 per cent, of water and milk m every pound of so-called butter they buy.

AGRICOLA.