IN AND ABOUT THE FARM.

Waipa Post, Volume VI, Issue 268, 28 November 1913, Page 4

IN AND ABOUT THE FARM.

NOTES. The sheaf-tossing competition at the Wanganui Show again attracted considerable attention, and for both days about £l2 was taken. The competition produced a tie, I. Jefferson (of Marton)and F. M’Culloch (Wanganui) each tossing the sheaf to a height of 25ft 7in. A. Jefferson, of Marten, was third with six inches lower.

Seemingly the strike has not to any great extent interfered with the workings of the local dairy companies, says the Wanganui Chronicle, as it is understood that most them have made their usual butter-fat payments for October supplies. The Westmere Proprietary Dairy Co. paid out the handsome sum of is i%d per lb, which is the highest price ever paid by this company. Several.Taranaki companies are only able to advance 6d per lb for butter-fat. After viewing the root of a Californian thistle which was left the other day by Mr G. B. Baird, of Bendemeer, it is evident (says the Lake County Press) why the efforts of the biologists and farmers of New Zealand to eradicate the pest have failed. The root referred to is lift 6in in length and appears to be as tough as whipcord. It was dragged out by the plough from hard clay, and the breaking strain must therefore have been very considerable. The spread of settlement in the Kaipara is responsible for over 300 oil launches being in commission on the several branches of the estuary. With its QOO miles of water frontage and lengthy rivers, the Kaipara furnishes splendid seaways, and many settlers keep launches for their mode of transport just as farmers in other localities keep buggies.' An unusual case was called on at the Hawera Court in which the apiary inspector proceeded against Joseph Adams, of Tokaanu, for failing to comply with the inspector’s instructions to take such measures as might be necessary to cure foul brood in bees. Adams pleaded guilty, saying he had delayed the work as he was negotiating for a piece of land in another locality, and he considered it useless applying the measures to cure the disease until he was quite ready for removal. The inspector explained that the existence of foul brood in one lot of hives was a menace to the district, and that he had come up specially from Wellington to attend to this case. His Worship inflicted a fine of ss, costs 7s, and inspector’s expenses £2 ios. At the present time the Weraroa Experimental Farm, comprising 800 acres of land, of which 640 acres are available for use, is carrying 4,100 sheep, 150 head of cattle and 24 horses. Mr James Burgess, Warea, Taranaki, in speaking of herdtesting says : —Every year I continue weighing and testing I am more convinced of its immense benefits. IVIy cows at the present time are giving an average of 4 gallons, and the test-for the past month will average 4.1. Considering that the. land here is not like the south Taranaki land, that only one expensive cow has been bought, and that the rest have been bred up from the proved best cows of an ordinary herd, it speaks volumes for the practice. The total number of cattle in Ireland returned in June of this year is . the largest on record — 4,932,625 head, as compared with 4,848,498 in 1912, an increase of 84,127. Sheep show a decrease of 208,105 as compared with 19is. The number returned this year amounts to 3,620,724, as compared with 3,828,829 in 1912. The total number of pigs has decreased by 263,597. Manola, whose bull calf realised 120 guineas at the recent sale of the Weraroa Holstein calves, has shown an excellent return for capital invested. She was purchased from Mr J. C. N. Grigg, of Longbeach, on the 6th August, 1909, for £l2. Since then the sales of her progeny have realised £546 13s, and she has produced since becoming the property of the Department 67,6401 b. of milk and 2,134.251 b. of butter-fat, an average per year of 16,9101 b. of milk and 533. 561 b. of butter-fat.

The introduction and application of the grading and premium principle in the creamery business has gradually and generally improved the quality of the cream supplied to the creameries. It has materially raised the general standard of quality of the creamery butter production, and enabled the best creameries to secure a premium in the form of a higher average price for their butter. As the means to an end t has become fully justified.