TARANAKI AND WEST COAST NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3214, 20 October 1915, Page 13

TARANAKI AND WEST COAST NOTES.

I (From Oor Own Correspondent.) MILK AND HOME SEPARATION. 1 The amount of milk received at all the Taranaki dairy factories is far in excess of lust year's supply at this time. At Egmont Village home separation ha<3 been installed, but great difficulty is likely to bo experienced in getting so many small cream cans to the main factory, as the present waggon is too small in the flush of the season. Extra provision for the increased demand . will have to be made. A GOOD START FOR THE SEASON. ■ A good start has already been made with the shipment of produce irom laranaki. The Rimutaka, which sailed from Wellington this week, took 15,159 boxes of butter and 3650 crates of cheese. The shipment is a valuable one. The butter, it is anticipated, will realise £3 10s a box on the London market, and in the aggregate the value is approximated at £53,056 10s. Cheese, it is expected, will bo worth £4 a orate, the shipment of 3650 crates being therefore worth £14,600. For the rest of the season regular shipments of produce will bo made irom New Plymouth every fortnight. j A COMPLICATED CASE. I A rather complicated case was discussed at the Patea County Council meeting on Monday. A communication was received from Mr T. B. Crump, of Eltham, in ro Messrs Bovis and M'Lollan’s Omona property. The whole of this property of 580 acres was on the valuation roll of the Ha worn County, and full rates had boon paid there up to March 31, 1915. It was rather rough, it was contended, that the parties should have to pay rates over again to the Patea Council on part of their property, with nearly 200 per cent, added, tie was'making inquiries as to how this property came to be in part of two county valuations. The clerk mentioned that the county had got judgment against these people for rates due, and the costs had amounted to almost double the amount of the rates. They found, on reference to the Valuer-general, that the portion of this property which appeared on the Patea County roll was quite correct. ! AWATUNA DAIRY COMPANY. | At the twenty-first annual meeting of I shareholders of the Avvatuna Dairy Company the directors reported a very successful year’s operations, and, continuing, said: “Your directors have decided to write off, as usual, 10 per cent, for depreciation, the amount being £657 Is, leaving a balance of £3752 6s 7d. This will be absorbed in the payment of interest, £3lO 6s 6d; a further payment of l£d per lb butter-fat (September 20 to May 31), amounting to £3303 15s; and Id per lb butter-fat (June and July). £29 16s; leaving a balance of £IOB 19a Id to be carried forward.” i The balance sheet showed that payments .for milk amounted to £40,101 4s lOd; salaries, wages, boxes and crates, freezing firewood, cartage, etc., £5074 3s lef;’ ocean freights, £2817 6s 3d; and depreciation, £657 Is. Butter sales realised £5762 2s Bd, and cheese £48,152 17s 6d. Statistics.—ls,2Bß,6B4lb of milk ; 13.883.639 lb of milk for cheese; 1,400,0551 bof milk for butter; 580,0691 b of butter-fat; 528,3591 b of butter-fat for cheese; 51,7101 b of butterfat for butter; 1,353.1351 bof cheese made; 57,9831 b butter made; 30,6371 bof whey butter made ; pounds of cheese to lib butterfat, 2.56; pounds milk to lib cheese. 10.22; pounds of milk to 11b butter, 24.0; overrun. 12.14: average tost, 5.79; average payment, 17.971 b. I The payments for the season, including further payments, per lb butter-fat—August to September 30, Is; September 21 to May 31; Is 6gd ; June and July, Is 4d. Factory weight of cheese made, 1,387.8351 b. THE DOG NUISANCE. Quite a number of dogs in Taranaki district have apparently disappeared recently, and it is stated that farmers have been laying poison pretty freely to overcome the sheep-worrying trouble. Dogs do not always confine their night prowlings to the sheep farm. Sometimes they visit the barnyard, and in this connection a rati icr interesting ease was heard at Hnwera Count this week, when Charles Goodson, farmer, of Hnwera, was charged with having cruelly beaten an Irish terrier dog. The defence was that Goodson found the dog worrying his fowls, six of which it had killed, and gave it a thrashing. The dog died, and

later on. a post mortem examination by a veterinary surgeon being held, it was found that feathers from the fowls had got into the dog’s windpipe. The surgeon considered this was the cause of the dog’s death. The magistrate said there was a doubt, and death may have resulted in the manner outlined in the defence. Ho dismissed the information. MISCELLANEOUS. The Feilding Branch of the Farmers’ Union is now making a little progress, an accession of 75 new members being obtained. Hitherto the union has been a very dead institution, and it seemed almost impossible to arouse any enthusiasm. Feilding farmers have discussed the question of work for returned soldiers, and it has been decided to call upon farmers who could do so to offer work for the soldiers, giving to the local secretary of the un;on their names and the class of work they could offer, and the remuneration. Good progress is being made with the •work of putting in a siding at the site of the Christchurch Moat Company’s works at Imlay, and the excavation work is now completed and ready for the rails, the first consignment of which is due here at the end of this month. Between 30 and 40 men are employed at present. Shearing has commenced in the Taihapc district, dry ewes and rams receiving attention. It is expected that work will be in full swing in another two or throe weeks. Although it is stated that in some parts shearers are demanding an increased rate, there are no rumours respecting the increase in any of the surrounding districts. With so many young men leaving, labour will be scarce at haymaking and harvest. I notice that in the Inglewood district the business people have promised to give all the assistance in their power during harvesting operations. The Inglewood Chamber of Commerce and Kaimata Branch of the Farmers’ Union have got the matter well in hand. Pigs’ hair is a valuable commodity if it can be saved. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Inglewood Bicon Copl- - the chairman (Mr A. Morton) said that the comoanv had every faedity for making use of the by-products. The only thing they lost was the hair.—(Laughter.) The ham. however, was a good commercial article, as they hod received an offer of P,2Z 10s tier ton for it delivered at Sydney. They had experimented, but were unable to drv it without a loss.

CUI/riVATISG Tilßs SL'KFLOWKR (livliantJnis Ansuns).

Oil-producing plants have come in for more attention of late years, especially those, such ■ ■ the sunflower, which are easily culti\ . and from which a good return may be . xpcctod. He li an thus annuus is supposed to be a native of Mexico, and to have spread throughout the temperate and sub-tropical zones from Europe to as far as India and China. The cultivation of the sunflower is easy. From 61b to 81b of seed is required to sow an acre. The seed should be planted lin deep, and when the plants are lit high they should be earthed up, and need then receive no further attention. In Russia the seed is sown in drills 2ft apart, _ and the plants are afterwards thinned to give about 12.000 plants per acre. Up to 16,000 plants have been successfully grown on an acre of land in England. It seems advisable to have rather wider rows—say, 28in, —and to space the plants 15in apart in the rows. Horse cultivation can be better carried out with this space between rows. Topping the plants is recommended in order to increase the yield per acre. The sunflower does best on rich, calcareous soils On really good land the yield per acre should lie something like 50 bushels. One bushel of seed yields approximately one gallon of oil. The white-seeded variety is said to yield more oil than the dark-seeded kinds. At the Moumahaki Experimental Farm in the past season a dark-seeded variety, Russian* Giant, was successfully grown. The seed was planted in October, and the crop was ready to harvest early in March. The sunflower is rather an exhausting crop so far as potash is concerned. A means to counteract this is to burn the stalks and spread the ashes over the land. It is said that the stalks grown on an acre contain from 15cwt to 20cwt of potash. An analysis of the ash of the plant (given by the Pharmaceutical Journal) includes, in round numbers, the following constituents: — Potash, 48: lime, 10; magnesia, 5, and phosphoric acid, 10 per cent. The oil is of groat value. Besides being used in some parts for table purposes, it is employed in the manufacture of paint (especially for greens and blues) ; it also makes soap of great softness. It burns well. The seed is a valuable food for poultry. The seed, shelled and ground, makes very fine sweet flour for bread; if roasted and ground it forms a substitute, for coffee. The marc is superior to linseed-cake for fa(tening cattle. The leaves may bo used as fodder either fresh or dry. The flowers are useful in providing honey. By treat-

mg’ the stem of the plant like that of fcha European flax a very fine fibre, nearly aa fine as silk, is produced. Few economic plants, indeed, are more valuable than the sunflower, and it would appear to deserve greater attention for commercial purposes in this part of the F.mpire. It is reported that, act ng under official advice, special efforts wore made this yean by the people of Germany to increase the area under sunflower, the produce of small plots being received at collecting depots for bulking am] subsequent treatment.—Journal of Agriculture. EXPORTS OF PRODUCE. WELLINGTON, October 14. The exports of Now Zealand products during the week ended Tuesday were valued as follows: Butter £34,204 Cheese 945 Frozen lamb 81,371 Frozen mutton 32,072 Frozen beef, etc 49,487 Gold 54,155 Grain.and pulse 1,172 Hides and skins 0,127 Kauri gum ... 247 Flax and tow 5.806 Tallow 1,553 Timber 1,922 Wool 6,127 RECORD SHIPMENT. WELLINGTON, October 14. A record shipment of dairy produce was taken by the liner Rimutaka, which left Wellington for London to-day. The com-

Total approximate values £201,357 (batter) ; £l5B 376 (cheese). The Dorset and Hurunni, which loft for London on Tuesday, took the following dairy produce: Boxes butter. Dorset 3803 Hurunni 820 Total ... 4523 Approximate value —£18,492. l-pr/mmc ABIMM’iOS. An instructive lecture on the above important subject was given by Sir Stewart Stockman, of the Veterinary Department, Board of Agriculture, England, at a meeting hold at Louth on March 26, under the auspices of the Lincolnshire Red Shorthorn Association. Lord Honeage, who presided, said Louth was the centre of the area in which _ the disease was most widely prevalent, and ho thought the Red Shorthorn Association had acted wisely in taking the matter up and obtaining for its members the advantage of the latest experiences of those who hud been inquiring into the subject. Sir Stewart Stockman did not suggest for consideration anything- in the way of legislative measures, for such measures, he said, often greatly inconvenienced farmers, and he believed that the board’s researches during the last few years had resulted in tho discovery of other and more practical remedies. The first thing that they must realise was that It was undoubtedly a disease with which they had to deal, and that it was contagious. Therefore there was some hope of establishing immunity against it. The cow, the ewe, and the mare wore the principal species which suffered from the disease, and in each species there were distinctive types of it. His lecture had reference mainly to the bovine type. If several cases of abortion occurred together or at short intervals, they might be perfectly sure, he said, in 99 cases - out of 100 that they were contagious. He described in detail tho premonitory symptoms, and the general characteristics of the disease; but ho recommended in case of doubt that tho diagnosis should be confirmed by a veterinary surgeon’s examination, or by reference to the Board of Agriculture, who would ronly in a few days. As to prevention, it was important to isolate the cow at an early stage, and all infected material implements should bo burnt, or mixed with hot lime and buried. Tho stalls should bo disinfected with chloride of lime, and the hands and boots of attendants should be washed in a 3 per cent, solution of carbolic acid. The animals themselves should be treated in the same way. If a herd was badly affected, the best thing to do was to resort to preventive inoculation. Tho first attack of the disease usually made the animal immune, and by keeping such animals, after due precautions, an owner would bo building up a bulwark against th« disease: but preventive inoculation aimed at producing immunity

without producing the disease, and during ' the last two or three years the board had made observations on several thousands of animals, with the results that the number of cases, which in some herds had been ■ 58 per cent., could be reduced to about 5 | ger cent. 1

Any farmer who wished to use the material for inoculation which was prepared at the board’s laboratory could have it supplied to him free, provided he gave about a month’s notice; but some local organisation in the matter w'as necessary. He warned them against the use of vaccines made from dead bacilli, which his experi-

once had shown to be a failure. —Mark Lane Express.

plcte figures are Boxes Crates butter. cheese. N«w Plymouth ... 15.159 4,266 3/a.tca ... 1,633 14.505 Wanganui 848 417 Wellington ... 4.4S6 6.062 Auckland ... 18,163 1,146 Totals ... 50,339 26,396