RURAL NOTES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11126, 27 July 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

RURAL NOTES.

Butter and cheese buyers are already on the warpath m Taranaki making enquiries as to the dates of directors' meetings, etc. At the Egmont Box Factory no less than 200,000 butter boxes and 73,000 cheese crates were manufactured, during last season.

Last season the Eltham Butter Factory manufactured 2Q7_ tons, and paid £67,019 to suppliers. December was the best month, no less than 122_ tons being made, and £10,644 paid out. A South Canterbury, gram grower, who held his wheat for the past three years, disposed of it this season, just a little too soon, acepting 3s 3d per bushel for it just before the firmer tendency began to manifest itself.

A sheep farmer m town on Saturday congratulated on the proposed abolition of the sheep tax, said: "We're not having an extra drink on that yet. It's not passed yet.'" — Timaru Herald. The record price for land m the southern end of Taranaki province , was reached last week, when £50 per acre was paid for a fifty-acre section about two miles from Hawera. The section had rio other improvements than a ring fence, v

A sow, owned by a Mount Prospect (Vie.) farriier,*had a litter of 10 young pigs, and amongst them waß a freak which was m every . respect similar to a young elephant, the tail, trunk, and feet being complete. It only lived a day; The North Otago Times states that the Steward Settlement has felt, the need of rain, there being almost a total absence of growth, and many of : the holdings have developed into what : ; the, paper calls "miniature deserts." ' Large numbers of sheep have been' taken off the runs for want of food.

The Stock Department 'state that 60,000 calves were knocked on the head m Taranaki last yearV The poor prices ruling for young stock, and the high rates being given for porkers and pigs are causes of this wholesale slaughter of calves. Of course (says, the News) it is only the poorer calves that have been given the nappy despatb, the better kind being reared. - > The prices realised for stock at some of the clearing sales that have taken place m South Taranaki during the, past week- or so have not .been very bigt At one" sale cows— -fairly y good ones— were knocked down at about- £l, while y for some rib bid at all could bo obtained. Some of the same animals ' cost the owner from £7 to £10 two~ seasons before. .■-■.-.:.

In the Kaponga district, Taranaki* there is , a good number of Swiss milkecs working'on wages.. The labor of the new blood has. been highly "apprecia<-.3d, and these .employes seem to have gui i.kly ralised the fact that they are considered yaluable, for it is rumored that they are combining to strike for 30s a week for the coming- season.. " "New York,*' wrote a correspondent on June 10, "-has recently received its first shipment of Australian apples, consisting of 1008 cases. They came by way' of England, having been shipped from that country m cold storage, though they' were carried until then as ordinary freight. The price at which they were sdld varied from 18s 9d to 22s lid per box. The shipment was the result of a shortage m" this country." The- results of the potato' trials carried out m corinection with the Reading Agricultural College, England, show that m every instance a yield was obtained from the Irish seed from twice to three tiriies as great as that which resultd when English potatoes were planted, and that the returns from Scottish seed were distinctly better than the English records. This shows the advantage of a change of seed. •„

, It is astonishing what can be done m the dairying (business. Mr T. Exley, of Inaha, South Taranaki, states that his herd of 63 milch cows has earned £1000 for, the season. This works out al about £16 per cow— surely a record for the colony. Mr Exley is a capable, painstaking, and eminently practical farmer, who understands the value of vigorous culling and testing of butter-fat of each individual cow. It might be mentioned .that as a supplier to the Riverdale cheese factory he has been receiving Is Id per lb for his butter-fat.'

A keen interest is being taken m this and other districts by farmers as to the value" of drain ploughing m order to produce a better quality of feed for tliis season of the year. A practical; illustration of the benefits derivable from such a source (says the Manawatu Times) may be found on Mr W. G. Pearce's farm at Colyton. This gentleman, who is a farmer of- many years' experience, has during tlie ".past itew years carried out draining operations, with the result that one can see at a glance that the* grass is far superior to that of tlie neighboring fields. Mr Pearce assured our representative that he has . been enabled to increase his stock per acre. He states that the ploughing ywith a little. care, can be done successfully m unstamped land. ' . ' •Some farmers get rid of their places against their will. . The other week a Taranaki farmer was approached by a , land agent with a view to putting his place on the market. "What s the good of selling; I cannot get a place that will suit me better." tlie farmer replied. ! After a lot of persuasion, however, the land agent got tbe farmer to put the place m hjs hands at £31 per acre— a price that the owner thought beyond its real value and therefore not likely to attract a buyer. A few days later the agent looked him up and informed him that he had sold the form at £31 10s ! In due course the farmer gave up possession and told his friends that he Was going to one of the towns to live and there lake it easy for a time. But he did not go to the town. He went straight to the purchaser of liis place and offered him £250 on top of his oargain and resumed possession! This is similar m some respects' to a story told of a Taranaki man who went to South Africa after selling his farm for £20 an acre. Things did Viot pan out too' well m Africa, and so he returned to New Zealand? He looked around the district for a time and then went to the man to whom he liad sold his farm 'and offered liim £25 and acre ifor it. He got the, place.— -News. ':■■■'.■■•■■ Mr W. .Hazlewood, formerly of Goulburn, N.S.W., but now engaged m strawberry culture for the Auckland market, New Zealand, is at present on a visit to hig, Australian friends. He is a director of the Waitemata Fruitgrowers' Association, which contains about four-fifths of the f ruitgrbwers m the district. Mr Hazlewood says tliat, - roughly, £100 worth of strawberries can be raised on an acre of ground. ° The association has itown mart and auctioneer, the latter being paid a salary m place of coriimissibn. J.ne members are bound to put at least twotliirds of their fruit m the mart. Prior to the formation of the association, lOd per lb. was the highest price obtained for strawberries; since, as high as Is 4_d has been realised, while ythe expenses of selling have been reduced from 10 to 6 per cent. — Sydney Telegraph. Tlie report of Dr Samuel Rideal, issued by Messrs Weddel and Co., should go a i long way towards vindicating frozen meat against the' prejudice still lingering m some quarters. . Dr Rideal instituted a series of experiments '■-. under the most rigid conditions comparing frozen and chilled beef with English, frozen mutton with English, and frozen lamb with Welsh, and m no single instance was the comparison unfavorable to the imported meat. Tlie comparative values for soups, of extracts, comparative digestibility of home produce and frozen . meat, both hot and cold, were tackled, and though the' results are tabulated m more or less scientific language, says the' Pastoralists' Review, the man m the street giving five minutes to the report sees that frozen meat is m every way equal to Home meat.