TEMUKA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 28 June 1924, Page 11

TEMUKA.

(From Our Own Correspondent). PICTURES, TO-NIGHT. “Main Street,” the novel by Sinclair Lewis, dealt with the life of a small town. Now a screen version has been made, which is as popular as the book, and will be screened at Temuka to-night. “Main Street” is the story of Carol Kennicott and her brave but pathetic efforts to make her home town a better place to IP. e in. Florence Vidor and Monte Blue have the leading parts, and the supporting pictures include a Gazette, a Topical Budget, and a good comedy “Take Your Choice.”

! PARISH SALE OF WORK. The annual sale of work and produce in connection with the Temuka and Winchester parish, was held in the Parish Hall, on Thursday afternoon and evening, and notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather there was a fairly good attendance. The stalls, which had been prettily decorated with greenery by Mr F. Sanders, were well stocked with commodities, which found ready purchasers. The stall-holders were:— Work: Mrs A. Hayhurst, Mrs C. E. Bremner, Mrs J. Talbot,' and- Miss Phillips. Sweets: Mrs Twentyman and Mrs F. W. Salmon. Produce: Mrs Aspinall, Mrs Gapper and * Mrs Shiels. Refreshments: Mrs J. 01-' liver, Miss J. Bremner, Mrs S. Taylor and Miss Abbott. Bran Tub: Miss Greaves and Miss Palmer. In the evening several musical items lent pleasing variety to the proceedings. The finaacial result is not yet available, but considering the miserable weather conditions it is expected to be very satisfactory.

FUNERAL OF TI?E LATE MR ANDREW GIBSON. ' The funeral of the late Mr Andrew’ Gibson took place at Temuka yesterday, and was very largely attended. Amongst those present were several | old pioneers... The services at the house and graveside was conducted by the Rev. F. R. Fell. The pallbearers were Messrs D. Clarke, J. Bryan, T. Sheen, sen., and D. Tachen; Many floral tokens of sympathy were sent by friends,-, LECTURE BY DR. HILGENDORF.

Last night in the Temuka Technical School, Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf, Biologist at Lincoln College, gave a highly interesting address on “Plant Improvement.” There was a large attendance, and the address was listened to with great interest. Mr G. B. Cartwright occupied the chair, and suitably introduced the lecturer. In the course of his address, Dr.

Hilgendorf, referring to the cultiva-

| tiOh of wheat, said that elaborate | experiment showed that the best time 1 to cut is when straws are ripe, with I knots still green, and when no damp can be squeezed out of the grain, but while the grain is still soft enough to be cut by the thumb nail. Cutting earlier than this causes loss by shrivelling; cutting later leads to no increase in weight, but to risk of loss by shaking. An interesting sidelight on this was that grain from the same crop of wheat cut at two periods, one six days later than the | other, could not be distinguished, i Further, two samples taken at ranI dom on the same day, showed the one perfect clearness of skfn, and the other complete thickness of skin. The whole matter emphasised the necessity for our renewing our ideas as to the quality of wheat as judged by appearance. Improvement by selection was the process used by animal breeders, but much more successfully with plants like wheat and oats, because they are self-fertilised and have such a huge number of offspring. One grain of wheat becomes 40,000 in two years. Some results of this selection were shown in College strains of Hunters, solid straw Tuscan and-Velvet wheats, and in Al-

gerian oats, which gave yields aver-

aging about five bushels per acre above bought seed. A warning was necessary here that these were selected for Lincoln conditions, and there was no guarantee, though there was a likelihood, that the advantage would be general throughout Canterbury. Improvement by crossing was much more laborious, but much more productive, and the lecturer showed a wheat now under trial for yield, in which the good qualities of Hunters and solid straw were com- j bincd. The head was brown, like | Hunters or red chaff, but the straw • almost solid, and the chaff very light. !

The grain appeared of excellent quality. There had always in the past cropped up the difficulty that the College strain of wheat and oats were in greater demand than the College could supply. Attempts had been made to secure seed from scattered

farmers, but inspection of these crops necessitated a great deal of travelling at harvest time when the College crops themselves needed attention. This year, therefore, the College had arranged with a number of neighbouring farmers to grow seed of these strains, and the College was going to buy it and hold it, and risk a loss. Samples of seed would be sent to all merchants for sale on commission. Merchants could buy lines outright, but in any case it was to be hoped that sufficient supplies of seed would be available for all inquiries. At the conclusion of the lecture a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Dr. Hilgendorf.

NOTE tV

Muir r.nd Gounl'ey draw attention to tb-su iow-pri. extra quality boots and shoes.

A meeting of the Citizens’ Miniature Riiie Club will be held in the orderly room of the Drill Hall, on Monday evening, to discuss proposals regarding the rifle range. The Fire Brigade wnl hold their annual hall next Thursday evening in the Drill Hall.