FARM NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13673, 11 April 1908, Page 3

FARM NOTES.

It is roported.that, the Government has declared its intention to acquire compulsorily I^a Station (TVairarapa) for closer settlement .purposes, and that ! the property is now being valued by the Government valuer, Mr J. Fraser. It is imderstqod that the Government ■will not apquire thp BowlanHs Estate, which has been under offer for some time past. A farmer from the back country above Pohangina informs the Manawatn correspondent of The Dominion that the prospects for the winter in his district are exceptionally good, and evon better than they Were in three previous years. He was surprised at the way the grass has dpve^oped since the drought. . , ' In a case in which a Gisborno resident was charged with failing to exterminate blackberry the information was dismissed, the Magistrate hplding thatthe<La»'3on berry did not cbine within the designation, contained m the Act, being. a hybrid blackberry. On ji large line Qf<«kimt-mtlk fed pigs recently slaughtered at a North Island abattoir, (says 'the DoDarttnojital contributor to the N«w Zealand' Farmer) j fully 50 por pent, we**©- condemned for tuberculosis.

Mr, ,C. Klliott .(savg:, Jhe Fea±her ; ston correapohderit of The Dominion) has grown a crop of 400 pie melons on a piece of proand- 19 Vards' bv 8 yards, one weighing as much as 401bs. ' They suffered from a slliftrtffgo of water, but - ,were well riuunfred., The Featherston Dt.iry Company (cheese) is no^v dealing with but 700 , gallons, as -.against, at the corre- , sndndujg weriod of last year, due to / the, drought ftnd thfSTleatoblishment of the Fresh Milk Factory* in its neighbourhood. The. company will probably cldso clown, on the 20t% > ' The average \v3iea.t (yield for North Otago ia estimated \p fee about 82' bushels, slightly less tH^n \the earlier estimate., Near t^e coast; yields have run up to 40, t0 45, bushels*. h\vt further inland the., yield hajs:Jbe©n,,as low as 17 bushels. Oats are oxijectod to average 5b bushels. - /, '. . .'.- l**j>mine prices at present prevail in Auckland for nearly all classes of produce, and the outlook . for winter is regarded as rather serious. Maizo\ has been almost unprocurable for tw<A or three weeks past a and East Coast arrivals tjli is week'werq eagerly bought up at ss. The prosont quotation in Sydney is "5s 3d. The outlool^, as far as the poultry farmer is conceru^d, looks blacty. PowJ feed is alrtipjst.improcui'abld, and with winter coining the poultrvman's prd^peots, look dismal. Fowl wheat f.oTb. quotation' is 4s 7d, and it is going into store at 55,. 2d. The question 6f hoi*sp w fj^od,, is ' dually unsatisfactory. Oats aro a luxury at 2s 6d f.0.b.. or 8s rx ztoro, but whether this prrfcc is prom;? .to. rempin periftanffltly it is difficult to saj', sinee 11 it is oonßidered' in many quarters tliat' tlio liticli price is not justified. Bran and sharps rxtlo at the extreme of <3s 30d and 7s 105 ex store. The s*sareity is. of course, accountable by the- fact that -marry of the mills '.are not «oin£ full ttine ; and by-prbdtrcts arc short. Chaff brings recsoVd prices, -and i$ higher than it Was aftfcr the tJamiary floods last year. Fortunately, there is a good, growth 1 of green feed on- the farms, but the- outlook for the winter is, nevertheless, not ericour&ging. ■ • ~' < ■ rt

The announcement that Mr Ernest Sliort intends to disncfee'^f%iß fP*roratigi: Estate 'Mitst. w*«f* eaXisM f *bmo swrpw^ (says the -Feiiaihg sW^Tlifo fine property lios 3 'in *3ife V^wttina'district, sotao sixteen rtr eighteen miles from Foikling. It has 'an area of 5500 Acres, which would cut up wel^ for closer settlement, especially as it is SO<>d land, well" suited . to agricultural as well as pastoral purposes. It is understood that Mr Sbortj having found Kis f orto in the brpjpdjnfj. of stud sheep, hkn deculod to wholly devote Itiniself to ftpecialisinj;, and thoroforp so large an area of country as Parojrangi is not necessiar'.v. Mr Snort has given, the- Government tlje first optuHi over, thp estate, in ordor that <$ mi^lit, . if so disposed, carry its closer settlement policy into effect in tl^at disriefc. If the Government doos . not acquire Parorangi, then Mr Short will proceed th cat rt up and offer >it for sale to the general public Jn tlte* prdinary way.