AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2928, 27 April 1910, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The interest being displayed in the Otago A. and P. Society's -winter show, -which opens in Dunedin on May 31, is steadily increasing. A large number of entries have already been received for all classes by the secretary, and numerous applications for space have come in from manufacturers and tradespeople, so that there is every prospect of the increased accommodation made available this year being fully taken up. It is interesting to note that the Department of Agriculture l will, at the coming show, make an unusually attractive display. A few of those interested in potato culture v.'er© present on Wednesday afternoon at Mr R. Glendining's g-arden at North-East Mr R. Glendining's garden at North-East Valley to see the lifting of part of the crop of seedling potatoes raised by Mr H. Clarke, his head gardener. Owing to the exceptionally dry season experienced (this borough not yet having a water supply) the crop did not turn out as satisfactorily as last years phenomenal one, but there is every indication of these seedling potatoes proving valuable acquisitions, the tubers being entirely free from blighv and of fine shape. The judges of the Otago A. and P. Society's field turnip competition (Messrs D. J. Ross, Hillgrove, and W. P. Reid, Maheno) commenced their rounds of inspection on Monday. The entries, though not quite so numerous as those received last year, are distributed over a wider area, extending from Ngapara to Crookstom. Riding through the Ohura district in the potato season, the editor of the 'Waitemata Post found a settler and his two grown children on their three-acre potato patch keeping off pheasants. Inquiry on the subject showed that for weeks this is necessary. Missed from a farm itear Ramsgate two months ago, a_ pig, which had apparently been covered l in during th© building of a haystack, was found alive in the stack, but very weak. In the Magistrate's Court at Inglewood the inspector of noxious weeds said that either the farmer or the blackberry was going to own Taranaki. _ If the berry got into the rough country it would take an enormous amount of labour to eradicate it. No fewer than 14 new branches of the New Zealand Farmers.' Union have been formed in the Auckland province since

Christmas, some of i-'s«m having a membership of 60. A gratifying interest in the affairs of the union is being- displayed in tha province, and it is expected that additional branches will ba formed very shortly. A. sheep farm in the Mangaweka district has just changed hands at £ls per acre, a Taifnaki farmer being the purchaser. Perhaps it is not generally known, but th© majority of land in this dietric! >ys a correspondent) is good three-she: .entry. Opinions cannot be formed from iviuifc little is to be seen when passing through by rail. A correspondent of the Wanganui Herald draws a somewhat doleful picture concerning the Moumahaki State farm. He states, after a recent visit, that some experiments were still going on, but all the" most extensive and important ones had been abandoned. The experimental crop sown for the purpose of finding the best mixture for ensilage was being fed to cattle, while in the pasture top-dressing experiments the gates between the plots were left open, and the whole was being grazed by the farm's dairy herd. The. nursery, garden, and orchard are a complete eyesore; the usually fine educative garden is a mass of weeds, and many of the fruit trees are simply covered with woolly aphis blight, while the large main orchard was almost impassable by reason of a strong, undergrowth of thistle and other weeds. The only bright patch on an otherwise dreary waste is the poultry section, which is highly sipoken of. Concluding, the co-respondent remarks: "To sum up, I am certain that as a whole the Moumahaki Experiment Station has vastly deteriorated during- the past six months, although I must say that the present manager appears to be doing his best with the labour and money at his disposal. To myself and others who have visited the farm lately it is quite plain that the Government does not want Moumahaki to show to advantage." An interesting development has taken place at Dalefield. A small syndicate of five members has been formed for the purpose of co-operating in the purchase and importation of two purebred Holstein bulls. Four of the members of the syndicate are members of the Dalefield Herd-testing Association., and the herd-testing resultst have doubtless stimulated the desire to possess first-class cattle. The two bulls are to be shipped at San Francisco by the Oceanic line, and will be transhipped to the Union Company's steamer at Papeete. The world's champion Jersey cow, Colantha the Fourth's Johanna, is an American-Hol-stein. The Dalefield dairy-farmers are strong believers in the breed. From official figures it appears that the number of home-bred cattle in Japan decreases by 40,000 annually. It is estimated that there are 12 million cattle in Japan, and if the present rate of depletion continues in 30 years there would be none left. Korean cattle are, however, being imported into Japan —in fact, about one-half of the meat now consumed in> Tokio is'not Kobe but Korean beef. Moreover, it appear? that Korean cattle which? have teen pastured for a while in Western Japan are being sold for Kobe beef.