NOTES.

Patea Mail, Volume XLVIII, 17 February 1926, Page 3

NOTES.

Deed is still scarce in tiie Wairarapa, any many farmers are feeling the pinch, the milk yield being very much below this time last year. Last year in Britain there were 212,1KJU acres less than the area of the previous year under wheat. The cows in the ,Te Puke district nave been failing olf considerably in tneir yield, and farmers in* that dis- .. trict state that even though the rain ’ does come it will bo too late to averts heavy shrinkages in the butter-fat returns. In the fat cattle section at Burnside sale recently one steer brought £2O, but prices on the whole were not up to the usual. Woodville Dairy Co. announces the payment of a supplementary bonus of one-cignth pf a .penny, making the total pay out for the season Is 7 3Sd — a record for the district. A rigid inspection of. sheep in saleyards in the Wairarapa by Agricultural Department officials is to commence in Pebruary. Decently the Parewanui Co-operatiyc “Dairy Co. paid out to suppliers the sum of £IO7O. The average for the five mouths is nearly Is Bd. The maize crops at Motiti and Matakana islands, Bay of Plenty, are expected to be a record' this season. A well-known farmer in the Tokarahi district has in his flock a freak of nature in the form of a lamb possessing seven legs. The animal is quite strong and healthy. The second largest bullack -killed at 1 the Ashburton abbatoirs was slaughtered recently, weighing 12001 b dead weight. The record was put up some years ago when a beast" weighing 13501 b ■ was killed. “ Cattle tick is about as bad- this ! season as any other, and it is quite evident it is spreading/ 7 said a "well- • krown settler in the Helena Bay dis- 1 trict to a reporter of the “ Whangarei J Advocate. 77 He cited instances where J the tick had appeared this mouth in paddocks that had been free from the J pest in former years. ’The prospects are that Nelson 7 s ex- 1 port of apples this season will establish a record. The crops are generally J reported as exceptionally “dean 77 — ’ that is, free from black spot. Here 1 and there the spot is slightly in evidence, but taken all through the crops '■ at present are practically free from this blemish. The trees are carrying so much fruit in some orchards that grow'- 5 crS are now engaged in thinning out. J 1 Dairy farming that does not utilise the dairy by-products can not be con- ] quoted along the most efficient and proper lines without, a most efficient number of hogs to consume the skim milk, buttermilk, and whey which may be available for feeding.

Uwmg to tko damage done by pukako to 'Crops, a member of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has given notice to move that there be an open season for one week at the beginning of the season, the limit to be five birds to a gun per day.

Pive English schoolboys who arrived by the Euahino will undergo a course of study at the New Plymouth Boys’ High School before taking up positions on farms. Two other boys arriving later in the year will also become pupils of the school.

' It is reported from Hamilton that over 00,000 cows in 50 groups are being tested by tlie JNew Zealand Cooperative Herd-testing Association during the current season, compared with DSjdOO In 45 groups last year. The association's district now extends as far south as Aria. < .

Hairy farmers in the Tauranga ‘ district, in common with others throughout the province, have suffered from tne prolonged dry spell, but the lucerne crops hav§ done well this season an ’ will prove of material assistance in keeping up the milk flow. Waihi Plains settlers might with advantage devote attention to the growth of this valuable fodder plant, which is claimed by experienced farmers to be practically equal to bran as a milk producer.

An unusually large number of farm hands who recently arrived in New Zealand from Canada are seeking work in the Waikato. A certain number of immigrants arrive from Canada every summer, but the influx at present is considered much greater than in the past. Many of the men are not really Canadians, but immigrants from Great Britain who have found the long cold winters of Canada little to theii liking.