THE NORTH ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3338, 6 March 1918, Page 11

THE NORTH ISLAND.

CFbom Oub Own Coebespondent.) The meteorological conditions during the past week have been varied. Some parts of the island have enjoyed persistent sunshine, whilst other parts have been subjected to rain and heavy winds. Still, there is nothing to growl about, for the season all round has been wonderfully good. Dairying particularly has had a splendid run. There is abundance of feed, and herds generally are yielding better averages than at this time last year". In Taranaki, for instance, one well-known factory which at this time last year was dropping in its milk supply about 5001 b daily, is this year making i2 to 13 more cheese daily than in 1917. In the Waikato also there was a very marked advance in the amount paid out for butter-fat supplied to the Waikato Dairy Co.'s factory during December, 1917, as compared with 1916. For the December, 1916, period the value of the butter-fat supplied was £22,230; whereas for the last month of the old year the value increased to £32,237, or an advance of juet over £IO,OOO. The New Zealand Dairy Association distributed .amongst its suppliers the sum of £118,053 13s lOd, which amount covered 1,732,217i1b of butter-fat supplied during the month of December, which is also a big increase on the corresponding period of the previous year; therefore, while some .districts have gone down a little on account of reduced herds, it will probably be found that at the end of the season it has been a record one in the aggregate, despite shortage of labour. HARVESTING OPERATIONS.

Harvesting is still proceeding in some districts, and Borne very fine stacks are dotted.' •over tho landscape. In the Wairarapa. ■where wheat-growing was undertaken, the crop's are mostly a failure, owing to the wet weather of December, a, fungoid having sapped the straw. The oat crops are expected to yield well. In the Poverty Bay district the oat crops on the flats are small in area and yield, and a good deal .of it was caught in the recent rain; consequently there will be little chaff locally on account of the broken Weather. Barley is now being harvested, ■ and, although there are quite a number of «-fair crops, a well-known Gisborne farmer asserts that there will be no heavy yields. Prices offered, however, are good, and in this respect farmers are likely to be well compensated for any shortage in yield. Maize is very promising, and some fine crops are to be seen throughout Poverty Bay. There is quite a large area under maizo this season. The grass seed harvest in the district under review is the smallest for many years, and the output of hay is also limited. In referring to the matter a Gisborne farmer ' points out that there had not been a keen demand for grass seed last year, and the shortage of labour, he thought, had been more apparent last year than this. There is comparatively little bush coming down just now on account of tho war, and that regulated the demand and price of grass seed. . There are areas of bush country felled for burning this season that are still unburned—in fact, 'some bush has been down for two seasons, but owing to the burning season being unfavourable, it was left. SHORTAGE OF POLLARD. It is feared in the Wairarapa that the rabbit pest is likely to materially increase throughout the district, owing to the fact that pollard, which was used largely for poisoning purposes, is practically unprocurable. _ The merchants admit a serious shortage—in fact, the representative of one big firm admits that supplies are very difficult to obtain from the South Island, where millers refused to supply pollard except to those giving orders for flour. It was anticipated, however, that the position wouli be relieved in the course of a few weeks. NEW DAIRY FACTORY. The dairy industry is developing well in the North Island, and one district that is increasing in_ importance both in the dairy and pastoral industries is Whakatane, in tho Bay of Plenty. It is only a few months ago that the large now freezing works were opened, and now tho progress of the district has been further marked by the opening of tho Tarawera Company's new dairy factory. The ceremony was performed by the Hon. W. D. S. Mao Donald. Minister of Agriculture, who said that this was the second time ho had been to tho Whakatane district to perform a function of tho kind. He was as keen as any settler of the district to _ see tho_ Raugitaiki lands settled. Tho Gisborne district was one of the most progressive in New Zealand, and the settlers of the Rangitaiki district had something far greater before them than the Gisborne people. The land was as good as any in tho Dominion, and the ciimate of tho Bay of Plenty was unsurpassed. Mr MacDoriak? urged every farmer to keep up his milk standard if hn wished the dairy industry to prosper. Ton years ago the value of cheo-'o exported was' £1,000.000; this year it was £4,000,00*). Tho value of the

butter exported was £6,000,000. The value of the Dominion's produots' from the land sold to the Imperial authorities totalled £55,000,000, and subsidiary products produced £33,000,000. These are certainly big figures, and serve to show what our country is doing to assist in the feeding of the armies at the front. THE CATTLE TICK. A few weeks I referred to the fact .. that the cattle ticic was occasioning some anxiety in North Auckland, but apparently the increase of the pest is not regarded by graziers in other districts as a matter for serious alarm. A prominent Waikato farmer states that the tick had been known to exist in this country for a good many years, but as long as the organism of tick fever was not in the country little trouble was to be apprehended from the parasite. The fact that the tick was more than usually troublesome in the north this season, he said, might be due to the excessive rainfall, but reasonable care on the part of stockowners should easily overcome the trouble. A change of pasture for the infected animals and the cultivation or burning off of tho paddocks in which the animals had been grazing, he said, would check the spread of the pest. Even the shutting up of the paddock for a time would probably make it clean, as the parasite required a host in order to propagate. Regarding the remedial measures that had be.en suggested by the officers of the Department of Agriculture, he said that the spraying of infected animals with Stockholm tar could be readily accomplished in the case of tame cattle, but in dipping there would be a risk of poisoning the animals, as he understood that an arsenic clip was required to kill the parasite. As to the necessity for action by the Government Department to eliminate the tick, ho said that presumably the only, action the Government could take would ba to frame regulations controlling the movement of stock in infected areas, and compel stock-owners to carry out such remedial measures as were thought necessary. He expressed the opinion that if the graziers themselves took the initiative, and exercised reasonable care in keeping their pastures clean, there would be no necessity for official action. AUCKLAND FRUIT MARKET. Good prices ruled at the Auckland fruit market this week. Bon Chretien pears were plentiful, selling at from 4s 6d to 6s per case, and good-quality peaches realised 2s 6d to 4s 6d; Owing to the prevalence of brown rot, the growers are picking their peaches green, with _ the result that prices are not as good as if the fruit were riper. Cooking applet? and mid-season dessert were plentiful. Scarlet Pearmains and Spye are just coming,, in. Special-quality tomatoes sold at 3a to 3s 6d, ordinary quality going at 2s to 3s . The supply of passion fruit is very heavy, best grade fruit selling at 2s 6d per case. Lemons reached very high' prices, cured fruit realising from 17s od to 25s per bushel case. Grapes sold at from 4s 6d to 5s 6d. NATIONAL APPLE SHOW. The executive of the National Apple Show (to be held in Auckland in May) is making every effort to ensure the success of the bigr exhibition, and there is every reason to believe that a record show will be held. At a meeting a day or two ago ihe general manager of the federation reported that the show was being taken up with interest in other centres of the Dominion, and that exhibits may be expected from all the fruitgrowing districts of New Zealand. Several novel features will be introduced into the show, one being a fruit flavour competition, with the public as judges. The Educational Committee agreed to consider the arranging for < a series of public lectures on topical subjects at the time of the show. Mr Isaac Hopkins, the veteran beekeeper, offered to read a paper on " Bee-culture in Relation to Fruit-growing." A TEG. In several show catalogues prizes have been awarded to tegs, and some inquiries have been made as to what is a teg. There appears to be a little diversity of opinion regarding the matter, but so far as can be gathered the correct definition of a teg is a lamb of 421 b and over. GREEN-FEED COMPETITION. In connection with the Taranaki Metropolitan 'Show, an interesting competition took place in respect to the growing of green autumn feed for milk production from an area of not less than half an acrf. Sample 'to be exhibited at the Show, weight per acre to be taken into consideration, and kind of manure (if any) to be stated. The result was as follows: Lucerne: B. J. M'Beath, Hillsborough, llf tons per acre; total points, 68-J;. This was the second cut. White turnips: H. C. I Sampson, Hillsborough, 41J tons per acre; I total points, 72J*; A. Wisnewski 47£ tons : per acre, total points 69-.!. Anv other \ variety (maize): J. Bowen tons per acre, I total points 55£; T. Jordan 18£ tons per acre, total points 54^. GREAT FRIESIAN HEIFER, Another of Mr J. Donald's (Westmere) Friesian herd has just completed her semiofficial test —a four-year-old heifer named Woodcrest Johanna Tehee, with the splendid record of 21,483.11 b milk and 754.961 b fat. . This makes this fine heifer the chanx- | pion milk cow of New Zealand. BIG JERSEY MILK PRODUCERS.

According to statistics ' now available Sultan's Olematia (record 641.291 b), the pro-

perty of Mr D. Jones, Woodville, has earned the subsidy of £lO for exceeding the previous highest record held by cows three years and under four years at commencement of test. The following is a list of names of the winners of the gold, silver, and bronze medals: Gold.—P. Mungavin and Son's Camille, 364.47. y Silver.—Roulston Bros.' Grannie's Viola, 341.05. Bronze.—H. H. Phillips's Salvadora II of Jersey's Meadows, 324.58. For cows three years and under four years: Gold. —P. Jones's Sultan's Clematis, 641.29. Silver.—R. F. Wilkinson's Titanite's Lass, 530.41. Bronze. —T. Church's Chelsea Flower, 448.28.* ■iJ'or cows four years and under five years:— v.Gold. —C. G. C. Dermer's Eminent Lass, 500.02. Silver.—T. Brownlie's Northcote Lily, 463.06. Bronze. —H. L. Spence's Golden Primrose, 431.66. For cows five years and over: Gold.—E. O. Sullivan and Son's Sultan's Daisy, 637.31. Silver. —Mrs A. Banks and Son's Floss, 621.4. Bronze. —J. B. Climow's Magne't's Vixen, 587.44. Silver and bronze medals, with their records awarded by the N.J. Jersey Cattle Breeders' Association for semi-official records made during the calendar year 1917. For cows up to two years 92 days at start of test: Gold.—Mrs A. Banks and Son's Woodstock Baby, 514.041 b. Silver.—Mrs A. Banks an«J Son's Woodstock Princess, 496.481 b. Bronze.—J. W. Odger's Mountain View's May. 473.951 b.