FARM NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 7066, 25 July 1906, Page 1

FARM NOTES

- ♦ I NEW ZEALAND MEiT AT HOME. Ihe mas er ot' th Ipswich Board o; (•uirdians imports that he has made exj •miji nt-i with N w Zealand me it a'ui ! • 'tn hmgli-h UK'; t, i.n-1 tlie balance is Ili ia fwi in- ot the iui'.i.Hr. Piiid statcsI'j.'iit has been drawn attention to ia tim j-ru;S, the local papers h.ve contained comments upin it, and other boards of guardians aro bbing invited to conduct biuiiiar experiments. All the Loudon papers h va published a letter which -Mr Reeves lias caused to be circulated sehiog forth the strict slaughtering aud inspection laws in v gue in Ne-v .', i';iu. ; , in connection with the tinning ot mo.it, so that there can be no doubt existent us to th-: souud citidition of uie.it exported from New Zdaiiud. The purchaser of Now Zealand tinned u.eat obtains a reliable article, supplied under the Government certificate of quality, Consequently, no one need hesitate to use it. Mr Reeves remarks that it has be-in impossible for New Zealand to Compete in pi ice with Atneric i, s i f <.i as canned mo-<t-were concerned, and this cin now well La understood by all readers of the recent exposures in the press regarding the American factories. N.Z. DAIRY FARMERS' UNION. The annual report "f the New Zealand Dairy Farmers' Union shows that new shares iiad been taken up since the beginning of the ye ir tf no less a number than 480, representing £I2OO of new capital being subscribed, 'ihe result of the year's working is that a larger amount is available for distribution than ,n auy previous year of the aompany's exi-teice, and this, no.withstanding that larger a-tv.-nces « > re paid out each month toiui last ye ir. '> his has i-een brought shout chit-fly by le'ter ptices prevailing, both at Home and lo- • illy, but also very largely by considerable reductions in working expenses. 'lhe directors recommend that the surplus be divided am.ng those suppliers who hold the right proportion of shares according to the quantity of butter-fat supplied at the rate of £d per lb on the total for the year. The directors, seeing th.t the high prices ruling in London were inducing nio-t other companies to continue shipping much later in the year, wisely refrained from following the fame policy, and stored a much larger quantity of butter in New Zealand than is tr.eir usual pr.ctice. 'the result is that, owing to the very few companies holding stocks, the union now has the satisfaction of selling nearly 100 tons at a price equal to 123s in London. Suppliers to the Dairy Union will thus reap a considerable benetit by this fortunate circumstance. The qmntity of butter manufactured during the year was Sol tons. The balance sheet shows a surp.us of .£lblo. -advances to suppliers for the year have been: August, September, October, May and June, 0d; and for the intervening months, SJd. It has been resolved to pay 10£ d for July and August. TREES THAT HAVE FAILED. Mr T. W. Adams writes in thelLyttelton Times of some of the planted trees tnat have not succeeded on the Canterbury Plains. " Splendid bluegums are still to be fouud in Canterbury, yet, I suppose, few persons would now reomuieud tlie extensive planting of those trees, since their destruction over sunh a wide range by frcsts, asd ':■■ ir liability to the attack ot insect pests in many parts of Canterbury has made the growing of them quite unprofitable. Yet, judged by our experience of other insect pests, it may be hoped that before long the insect 3 may receive a check, either by soui-i natural enemy or some other cause, and the gum trees again recover Something ot their former glory. How of-en hus the stringy bark gum been recommended by a certain authority on trees as the gum to plant I- And yet I venture t 1 say that not ode tree intivo liuudred raited has survived the frosts of turea winters. As a matter ot fact, this gum is quite too tender tor general planting on the Canterbury Plains. " Another very valuable tree that has very generally disappointed thy planter on the Canterbury Plains is the larch. 1 regret exceedingly that the, in most respects, excellent work on tree culture, published by the New Zealand Forest Department, should lead planters astray with respect to this tree, as it does on Page 11, where it says: '-As an instance of the comparatively rapid growth of the English larch on poor, dry soil in Canteibury," etc. That the larch will grow on poor soil, if there is a good rainfall, no one of experience doubts, but that it will not grow on the poor dry soil of the Canterbury Plains most planter! know from sad experience. Du.iog years or drought t'ey have b-jeu killed by thous-uds, and the trees tint dj manage to survive are of no value, us the w. od is what is called "pumped," that is, it looses its tex'.u-e, :.nd has a soft, pithy appearance. One of tiie best EagiLb authors, writing of the larch, says:-"It is perfectly hardy, though constitutionally delicate, and of very rapid growth; but it should never be planted unless in a sweet, healthy soil, rather moist than dry; it prefers 1 amy, light mou'd and porous gravelly soils." There ia a very iiue plantation of larch on M> ssrs Dein's Home bush estate, over which I once had the pleasure of showing ,the Chief Forester. That on moist ground, and within a mile of this same plantation, and oj the same estate, but on dry soil, 1 saw a nuoib-r of larch trees that had perished during the drought of 1808, My exp-rience, extend ing over a peiiod of forty years, convinces me that there are a doz'in species of trees more suitable than the larch for the dry plains. "Another tree extensively planted is> the common or Norway spruce. This, too isadi-md failure, an I ir is is a rare thing to seo a decent tree anywhere. IVhern the larch has succe <ded the sp: u e mly be seen in fur condition, but the spruce tit it; best is a poor timber tree, and quie unworthy of attention from the planter. Of late years it 'as, aro ml Chris'chureli, b«en attacked by some kind of blight, and the trees lock very miserable indeed. ' The remarks made with respect to larch, and spruce are also appiicible to the Scots pine. This tree is attacked b, an aphis blight, vory similar to the white blight on apple trees, a-id when attacked few trees seem able to make any progress, the trees becouiinu gnarled and unsightly, and perfectly worthless even for firewood.''