Demonstration Farm

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 89, 20 August 1923, Page 3

Demonstration Farm

ANNUAL MEETING OF SOCIETY. , The sixth annual meeting of members of the Stratford Demonstration Farm Society was held in the Parish Hall on Saturday afternoon, the chairman (Mr J. W. Deem) presiding. ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report presented to the meeting was as follows: Your Committee has pleasure in submitting'the sixth annual report and balance-sheet which reveal satisfactory r ..suits. Improvement of the Far i has continued. An area ofj, say. ' n acres is being stumped and .cleared for next season's root crops. Temporary pasture has been sown on ten acres and a further ten acres have had green crop ploughed in preparatory to sowing down in permanent pasture. The crops have boen fairly good during the past season, but the continuous wet weather and lack of sunshine have 'militated against them. The policy of improving the Society's assets has been maintained; both farm and stock have rnen generally improved. Interest in l.he Farm continues to grow and the number of visitors has greatly increased. This is decidedly encouraging to your Committee who are always pleased to see visitors taking an interest in the operations they control. Butterfat production has waned a little and this may be chiefly attributable to the failure of the swede crop by reason of dry rot, and the consequent of feed during last winter. Top-dressing demonstrations have been continued and the results of crops grown have been tabulated. New members are always welcome; the subscription is 5/- per annum. Your Committee again desire to place on record their appreciation of the competent, faithful and energetic services rendered by Mr Hartwig and his staff. The Committee is also much indebted to the Officers of the De'partment of Agriculture, particularly Mr Glasson, for very valuable assistance. The establishment of a Farm. School of Instruction during May in Stratford offered an opportunty to use the Farm to a greater extent than heretofore. These farm classes are of incalculable value and should be encouraged to the full.

In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet the chairman said he could only congratulate members' on a fairly satisfactory year. He supposed all farm 3 had suffered during the past season. It had rained almost every day for the past seven or eight months, and the autumn must have been the most trying one for farmers for the past twenty 'years. The return of butterfat had gone down, but this was accounted for by the fact that in the previous winter, the Society, being hard up, had milked the cows into the winter, and they could not be expected to do so well as otherwise. Another factor was the loss of the swede crop. The cows were now coming in, and they were coming in well and early. The whole of the grass area of t"he Farm had been top-dressed, and this had put the lana -in good order. Including everything, the Society had made a slight profit. A fair sum had been spent on repairs and maintenance, but as against this no expenditure had been made on the land inir provement account. Mr A. W. Budge seconded, and the motion was carried without dis'cussion. MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE. For the two vacancies on the committee, Messers W. H. Were and P. Morrisey were the (only nominations, and they were elected unopposed. AUDITOR. Mr J. H. Thompson was re-ap-pointed auditor. NEW MEMBERS. Messrs R. Milne, A. Uhlenberg, R. Wellington, S. G. Addenbrooke, A. C. Bretherton, and W. Greenwell were elected members of the Society. CALIFORNIAN THISTLE. In reply to questions the' chairman said that on good land California)! thistle could be made to disappear in six or seven years by annual top-dressing. Large areas of the thistle were either male or female. The male heads could be distinguished by the fact that they were open and red. In some cases male and female heads were on the same stem. The female heads were more in the form of a shaving brush. THANKS. On the motion of Mr A. W. Budge a resolution was passed expressing appreciation of the work of retiring members of committee. Mr Budge said the Society was indebted to members of the committee, who did a lot of work for no remuneration whatever. The chairman, on behalf of members of committee, acknowledged the resolution.

LUCERNE. Mr W. A. H:witt asked the chnltmaa .wfeft gourae should bo follow;-

ed to stop the leaves of lucerne falling off, when the crop is being cut. I Mr Deem said the falling of leaves could be stopped by the crop being cut just when new shoots were observed springing. i SUPERPHOSPHATE. I | Mr Deem said a lower standard !of superphosphate was desirable, i The high standard would not run j well in the drill. If it was fresh I and it was a dry day it might run decently but on a dull day it would . not run. MANGELS AND SWEDES. In reply to Mr W. A. Hewitt the chairman said the feed value of j mangels and swedes showed a difI ference of 40 per cent, in favor of mangels. Mr Deem said he would not feed a green mangel to any cow lie had any respect for. Green turnips might be fed with hay. SOIL ANALYSIS. The chairman said analysis of soil was of absolutely no value. \ Analysis showed that all New Zeai land soils held all the necessary | qualities, but some qualities were not available and the chemists had been able to say which qualities were available and which not. At one time the Department had done a lot of soil analysis, but they had recognised its uselessness, and in order to discourage farmers asking for analysis it had been doi cided to fix the fee for it at five guineas. I GUNARD CARROT. ; Mr Deem drew attention to the experience of sheep farmers who had planted Gunard carrots in ridges for feed for sheep. The sheep got the carrots out and did j well on them. Some sheep farjdI ers had discarded swedes in favor of these carrots. I Hi 1 u