Ragitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9392, 11 March 1909, Page 4

Ragitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE report of the Chemistry Division of the Department of Agriculture contains a good deal of matter of considerable interest to farmers especially in connection with experiments on manures. Among the most valuable are the investigations which are being made into the effect of top dressing pastures which are running out. The dressing applied is basic slag either alone or with potash. Mr G. de S. Baylis, who is in charge of this series of experiments, makes some general remarks which are worthy of note. The action of slag he says is chiefly beneficial by promoting a vigorous growth of clovers which besides their value as feed have the effect of enriching the soil considerably. The action of slag on grasses is that of a stimulant, It promotes a quick growth and therefore even coarse grasses if grazed early are tender and palatable. As a proof of this Mr Baylis quotes a case in which the manured portion of a hill pasture was accidentally left unfenoed and it was found that the stock had eaten this down close so that it made a well marked square in the paddock. He remarks that it is obviously the better course to top dress pastures while clover and the better grasses are fairly plentiful rather than to leave the ground till the good grasses have practically run out and have to be nursed back again rrom seed shed by the few plants remaining.

AT the Methodist Conference, when the resolution relating to the unemployed was being discussed, Mr C. H. Jones, who moved an amendment, expressed great contempt for the' “little Englander” or rather “little New Zealander” kind of action, which seeks to prevent other people from coming to New Zealand. He said “ A great number of New Zealand people had received their start in the country by means of the assisted immigrant provisions of the Government, and yet they wished to kjhep others out. The agitation, which began against Asiatics, had now extended to their own kitli and kin, to whom thev should rather extend a helping hand. Instead of this welcome, new arrivals were greeted with howls, and this by the men who were being appointed to Government inspectorships. It was not the people who were objected to, it was the little capital they brought

with them. If this policy of exclusion were persisted in, it would retard the progress of. the country considerably. He appealed to the conference not to support the exclusion of the poor man who was fleeing from want in the Old Country to the Dominion, which was hearing only a small portion of the population which it was capable of sunporting.” It was confidently predicted that the agitation against Asiatics would extend to even the British, Unionism is quite willing to strive to persuade others to §end money for food for Britain’s unemployed, but strongly objects to allowing them to earn a living here.

THE news relating to the London wool sales is very satisfactory. The rise in crossbreds will be specially welcomed by growers in this island. The cable refers to the exceptionally keen competition, and there seems every reason to believe that onr chief product will continue to realise improved prices. 'The cheering news should have some effect in easing the .financial stringency.