GENERAL NEWS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 81, 9 August 1929, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

Diluted Milk. At yesterday’s annual meeting of the Lowgarth Dairy Co., the manager, Mr. J. L. Taylor, impressed on suppliers the necessity af reducing the amount of added water in'milk. After one very wet night recently, lie said, a check was taken of milk passing through the factory, and though it appeared as if 30001 b of extra. milk had been received the make was between, three and four cheeses lower than the average.

No Mandate. In the House last night Mr C. E. McMillan said the United Party had claimed it had a mandate to carry out certain proposals, hut in his

on the fact that there was no party with a clear majority in the House indicated that no party had a mandate. It was the' duty of whatever side held the Treasury benches tio see that the country was well and economically governed.—Press Assn.

Dairy Factory Pay-outs. Mr S. Lawrence suggested at yesterday’s meeting of the Lowgarth. Dairy Company that when advances from the company’s agents were high a portion should he retained to compensate for a. fall in price' during the autumn, iso that, as near as possible, therd would be an even distribution over the whole season, with bonuses towards the winter. The chairman explained that the directors did not pay out the whole sum advanced by the agents, the amount being freed from time to time. Mi F. Williams thought snpplitrs should get whatever money was available. Mr A. T. Snlzerhergher wa s of opniou thO|t all factories should combine t,o fix a uniform level for monthly pay-outs. If this policy were adopted there would he less invidious comparison as between different companies.

Selecting Grass Seed. In the past, said Mr J. M. Smith last night, the farmer had taken no trouble in ordering grass seed to stipulate a particular strain, although, as regards root crops, this was the point he was most particular about. In the past the Department had uot been able to lay clovn which strains of grasses were the best, but now experiments were ing carried out all over 'he Dominion and at the Stratford Demonstration Farm five acre R had been planted with grasses of different strains. In the course of aFv years the Department should be a hi* 5 to definitely state the best strains of grasses. A Striking’ Illustration. A lantern slide shown during Dir J M. Smith’s address last night gave a striking illustration of the importance of pasture management. It showed a strip of land on which rushes were growing, with fine pasture on each side of it. In that strip where the rushes were rough, unpalatable grass had been sown. It was left by the cattle and in time the roughage killed off the plants. Where the plants were killed off the rushes came through. In the ground on each side there were just as many rush roots ready to come through, as in the rush-grown strip, but as the sword had been kept close by being eaten off evenly they did not get the opportunity to come through. Top-Dressing, interesting figures relative to the percentage of land top-dressed were quoted, by Mr J. M. Smith last night. Auckland heads the list, with 15 per cent. of. its land topdressed, Taranaki being next with 12 per cent. Six of the twelve land districts have under 1 per cent, of their land top-dressed, Westland being the lowest with .97 per cent, in the Auckland district 518,900 acres are dressed with super and 52,000 with slag, the figures for Taranaki being: Super 02,000 acres, slag 108,000. Slag seemed to suit the volcanic Taranaki, land, said Mr Smith. The work in Taranaki should be in the direction of building up permanent sward, and slag was eminently suitable for this purpose. Harrowing of Fit Mure Land, A very important consideration, paid Mr .1. M. Smith in the course of his address at the Parish Hall last night, wa s the constant harrowing of pasture land. It was easy enough for him to say that the land must lie harrowed every so often, but the dairy farmer was confronted with the labour problem, jn (he winter feeding out occupied all the morning, and other jobs left little time for harrowing. Weather conditions were also a limiting factor. It was not desirable, for instance to harrow when the ground was very wet, caking resulting when (Do ground dried. Each paddock should he severely harrowed at least once a year. English authorities said pasture should be harrowed till it appeared to be spoiled, but opinions would differ on that point,