THE FARMER'S PAGE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16035, 28 January 1920, Page 6

THE FARMER'S PAGE.

L TOPICS OP DAILY INTEREST.

The value of potatoes as a cleaning crop should not be forgotten.

The silo is one of the foundation stones of successful dairy farming.

Breeding, breed type, quality, conformation, and prepotency are factors to consider when purchasing a new herd sire.

Legumes add nitrogen to the soil, furnish good feed, and cost less to grow than many other crops.

No farmer can consider that his life has been rightly lived unless at the end he can feel that the land he has held is the better for his kindly care.

Farmers should bear in mind that phosphorus is the element which will give the largest returns, and it is the most important for him to consider.

A Scottish farmer has disposed of his clover hay at the rate of from £ls 16s 8d to £l7 per ton. This is claimed to be a record.

The aim of the butter-maker should be to produce butter as uniformly fine in grain as is is indicated in a piece of newly-broken iron or steel.

Small quantities of concentrated foods, while taking more time to produce results in fattening live stock, are, nevertheless, more economical than large quantities.

Young pigs gain strength from the sunshine. Let them out as soon as possible, but provide protection from •the direct rays of the sun, so as to avoid their hacks burning.

Reports from the district commissioners of the Board of Agriculture in the North of England state that £l6 a ton was being paid there for hay last July. Thea verage pre-war price was £4 a ton.

During the year ended July 31 nearly 24,000 samples of seeds were tested at the National Seed-testing Station (England). This number represents three times the figure for the nine months to July 31, 1908.

Knowing the past history of flax cultivation in England, buyers will not come forward without a Government assurance that the industry shall not be again mined by cheap imports.

During July pedigree stock to the value of £126,947 was exported from Great Britain. The aggregate for the current year is £634,703, an increase of £114,343 over last year’s total for the same period.

In the first two mouths of last year Canada imported over 8,000 tractors from the United States. During 1918 some 21,000 tractors were imported from America, against 3,693 in 1916.

NEWS FROM QUEENSLAND

The news from Queensland is very encouraging, ns in many districts the drought has definitely broken, and in those not yet relieved there is hope that the next downfall will include them in its influence. This does not mean that hand-feeding can he stopped at once, as the feed has to grow,--and experienced stockmen do not stop feeding until the stock become accustomed to the change. Feeding operations are, however, severely hampered by the inability to secure steamer freights, and it is likely that losses of stock will occur. Western Australia has enjoyed a wonderful season, hut the fodder which it can supply to the eastern States, themselves eager for it, is held up in its ports. Harvesting in Northern" Victoria is nearly finished, and the grain has turned out a very fair sample. The recent rains have enabled farmers to plough up the land for the next crop, which was previously too hard owing to the dry weather.

UTILISATION OF WATER POWER

BRITAIN BACKWARD

The British Prime Minister (Mr Lloyd George) visited the water-power works in the Conway Valley, in Wales, on December 30, and in a speech on the occasion expressed regret that Britain was the most backward nation in the matter of utilisation of water power. Germany had long used water power for agricultural and other purposes. Mr Lloyd George proceeded to point to Australia’s opportunities in this respect. The secret of her future lay in the adequate exploitation of her great natural resources. Cheaper power would revolutionise industry. Labour was demanding shorter hours, therefore something must be done to increase production. Willing hands were shoulded in the clouds, which made no demand for an eight-hour day. It was true that the clouds sometimes struck,,, but dams were prepared as strike-breakers, and great reservoirs stored water while the clouds were striking.

JOINT STOCK FARMING IN GREAT BRITAIN. The London Express understands that the movement for applying limited company methods to British agriculture will receive considerable impetus from an important deal just completed by the Commercial Bank of London, of which Mr Clarence Hatry is the managing director. The deal involves the purchase of more than 10,000 acres of land in Lincolnshire, comprising some four or five farms and estates already among the most highly-cultivated sections of English farm land. The pur-

chase mony amounts to more than £2,000,000, or an average of £IOO an acre. This would appear to be an extrely high valuation were it not for the fact that other interess intimately linked up with the Lincolnshire farms have been taken over. When the arrangements are complete the whole of the property acquired will come under the control of a single company, in which it is probable that the general public will be invited to take a share.

FRIESIAN MILK RECORDS

The Canadian cow Zarilda Clothilde 3rd de Kol, owned by Colony Farm, Essondale, 8.C., last year broke the Canadian record by making a' strictly official year record of 30,4271b milk, containing 1,072,2201b butter, is now making another year record that may even be greater than the production of the hitherto unparalleled champion of the world, Tilly Alcartra. The figures for the great California cow are 33,425 lb milk in a year. If Zarilda can hold her own for the next six months she will slightly surpass the production of her American rival. Zarilda Clothilde 3rd de Kol has to her credit 10,337.31b milk in the first 185 days of her test, which is 646.81b more than the amount given as the six months’ record of Tilly Alcartra. Zarilda averaged 104.5 Ih milk a day for the entire six months, and during her six month produced 2,963.41b milk, showing that she is still going strong. Her butter record for the 185 days is given as 685.211b, which, although not as essential as her milk record, is highly creditable.

TEACHERS’ COURSE AT RUAKURA,

The Department of Education does not see any utility in the proposed teachers' course at Euakura, and naturally the Auckland Board of Education, responsible for the course, are indignant. For the Department to have no sympathy with such a desirable movement discloses a grave weakness in the viewpoint of the departmental officials towards agricultural education. The idea of a summer agricultural course for country school teachers at a Government farm is altogether admirable. Nothing better could be designed for the advancement of agricultural knowledge. If the Department had approved the principle but criticised the methods, it would have been quite a different matter. There are many country aohooi teachers who are keenly anxious to extend their knowledge of agriculture from a practical as well as a theoretical point of view, and a number of them are becoming valuable factors in agricultural progress in their respective districts. A summer school at Euakura is a most valuable aid to such men, but, judging by the school of last year, the system of control requires to be considerably amended if the school is to be the value it should be. In the first place, a special course should be provided for women teachers, and the main course, that for male teachers, should be conducted on entirely different principles. No one can learn anything from a maze of tabloid lectures following rapidly one upon the other, and often given by men who would be more at home as students, than as teachers. The course should be limited to a few special subjects, and the services of the best authorities on these subjects should be obtained, but only authorities who are trained in pedagogy, and who are thus able to give the desired information in language that will be understandable and will be therefore appreciated by the teacher students. A few subjects thoroughly dealt with by a lecturer of the right stamp with accompanying demonstrations where this is possible, is what is most to be desired. The Auckland Board is bo be congratulated on its decision to proceed with the course, notwithstanding the great difficulty in securing competent lecturers on agricultural and live stock affairs in this country. It is to be hoped the work will be conducted with, a view to efficiency rather than any striving after limelight effect. —Auckland Star.

RECORD WOOL PRICES OF 1908.

In these times of high wool prices it is interesting to note that the first shipment of wool from Australia to England was in 1808, when Captain Macarthur shipped a bale of 2451b. weight, which realised 10s 4d a pound. He took samples of merino wool and endeavoured to form a company to exploit the fine wool industry in Australia. He was met with the opinion of scientists that the “wool in such a hot country would rapidly degenerate into hair.” Captain Macarthur took back more sheep with him to Australia, and in 1827 he secured for a shipment of wool a price which run little chance of ever being exceeded in the English market. This was 16s 4d per pound. The Sydney Gazette recorded the matter thus: “Though Mr Macarthur and the Sydney Gazette are not likely to be upon terms of regard, still we congratulate the old gentleman upon some of his wool bringing in London so high a price as 16a 4d a pound.” The highest price at the late London sales, and these also were phenomenal, was 12s 3d for scoured merino wool.