THE NORTH ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3335, 13 February 1918, Page 11

THE NORTH ISLAND.

(Fhom Oua Own Correspondent.)

j _ Shcep-farmers have been mostly engaged : Li dipping and ( harvesting, both occupations involving many long hours. Dipping i 3 of course, very essential just now, as so much depends on satisfactory and effective dipping, both as regards carcase and wool. Next mbith sheep-men will bo busy drafting out ■'heir ewes with the rams, and in this respect it is well to remember that the most 'mportant aim is the improvement of the breed. This can be done only by judicious selection at the drafting period, and whether it be for purebred or for cross breading it is absolutely necessary in order to get best results, to select the purebred ram that best suits the ewe. For instance, if a farmer wants to improve the quality of 'the wool he will not use an open-woolled ram with open-weolled ewes, nor would h use a leggy South Down ram amongst leggy South Down ewes. In the first instance he would obviously use a j dei.se-woolled ram, and in the second place | r.or would ho use a leggy South Down ram j well "let down" without showing too much j daylight. In view of the Empire's demands just now, and .the farmers' own interests, it is well for all men on the land to do their very best to improve on present production, and keep quality in the foreground all the time. FARMERS AND EDUCATION. At a meeting of the Palmerston North Branch of the Farmers' Union on Saturday a good deal of discussion arose over a proposal to subsidise an agricultural scholarship, and one farmer, Mr Wingate, said he."could see one danger ahead —namely, over-education,—and on that ground he opposed the proposal. He added that the cost of education was becoming an enormous burden on < the country, and he expressed the opinion 'that the people could get through the_ world on the T 'three R's." This point of view is simply an adaptation of the old theorism—'"What was good enough for father was good enough for me." DAIRY PRODUCE. The conditions under which the whole of" the exportable surplus of 'this season's New Zealand ■ butter and cheese is to be purchased by the Dominion Government on behalf of the Imperial authorities are notified in a Gazette Extraordinary issued on Monday. Tho following prices are to be paid for butter delivered free on board steamer at a customary grading port for carriage" to the United Kingdom:—Creamery butter: First grade 157 s per cwt. In the case of second grade butter a deduction of 6d per cwt. shall be made for each half grade point by which the butter falls below first-grade. Whey butter and dairy butter : First grade 133 s 8d per cwt, second grade ,129 s per cwt. Milled butter: First grade 124 s 4d per cwt, second grade 119 s 3d per cwt. The price .to be paid by the Government in the case of first grade full cream factory cheese is lOd per lb, and in the case of- second grade factory cheese, 9|d per lb, delivered to the customary grading port for direct carriage to the United Kingdom. The prices to be paid for dairy cheesa are B£d per lb for first • (jrade. and 8d per lb for second grade, de- ' livered free on board. SUGAR OF MILK. " The question of establishing sugar of milk plant has been under the consideration of one of Wairarapa's progressive | settlers for several years nast, and his investigations are now so far forward that a meeting of the shareholders of the Featherston Co-operativo Dairy Factory is to be held to consider tho matter. The proposal to be launched is of far-reaching consequences, being calculated to bring revenue of approximately £70,000 per annum to tho district by the development of what is a waste product. The question is one of considerable importance, and warrants dairy farmers giving the proposed scheme tho closest attention. TAPU SHEEP FAIR. Just below the Thames, on tho Ooromandei side, there is a district of considerable value as a farming centre. ft i» not extensivo in its area, but it pro- j duces some fine sheep. I noticed the other day that a sheep fair has been held there, j and that buyers attended from Waikato, I Hauraki Plains, and Coromandel. Thero