On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 22 January 1914, Page 59

On the Land

The crops, in the Temuka district are looking exceptionally well, and farmers anticipate a record harvest. In France a farmer neglected to cut down thistles after notice, so from a neighboring garrison came a squad of soldiers and did the work. The farmer was charged with the keep of the men and their pay for the day. The total production of hops in England in 1913 is estimated at 255,64 1ewt, which is smaller than in any year since 1909, and 118,000 cwt less than last year. The average yield per acre is 7.17 cwts, or 21 per cent, below the average of the past ten years, and about 33 per cent, less than last year. - Eggs broken on the way to market represent £15,000,000 a year wasted energy on the part of hens, according to statements \ made at the annual convention of the National Poultry, Butter, and Egg Association, at Chicago. About £200,000,000 a year is the value of the total egg output in the United States. Large numbers of lambs are now being daily sent to the Fairfield Freezing Works, and* over 40 butchers are in full work on board. The recent hot weather (says the Christchurch Press) has hardened off the feed, and as there is an abundance of it, both sheep and lambs are doing remarkably well. The majority of those which are being sent to the works are in prime condition. The cocksfoot crop on Bank’s Peninsula is ripening fast, the hot weather of the past fortnight having brought it on rapidly. Cutting will not be general for quite another week, though in some of the earlier paddocks a start'will be made this week. It is the general opinion that, though the area,, closed up for seed is a little less than last year, the yield will be considerably smaller. Many paddocks show much rubbish, fog, and* so on, instead of a good even crop of cocksfoot heads. At Addington last week there were large entries of stock and a good attendance. The change in the weather that set in during the forenoon came too late to affect the number of stock coming forward. Fat cattle showed a further drop in prices, and fat lambs were firmer by about Jd per lb. Store sheep, which were mostly hoggets, also sold well, and fat sheep maintained previous week’s prices. Fat lambs. Tegs made 21s to 245, equal to.6d per lb; average freezing weights, 17s 6d to 21s, equal to 6|d per lb; light and unfinished, 15s 2d to 17s. Fat sheep. —Prime wethers made 21s to 24s 6d ; others, 16s 5d to 20s 6d ; prime ewes, 18s to 25s ; others, 13s Id to 17s 6d. Fat cattle —Steers made £8 10s to £ll ; extra, to £ls 10s; heifers' £5 17s 6d to £8 ss; extra, to £lO 15s; cows, £5 5s to £lO, 12s 6d. Fat pigs.—Choppers made 55s to 85s; heavy baconers, 57s 6d to 655; extra, to 725; others, 48s to 55s— prices being equal to sj-d to sld per lb. Heavy porkers made 43s to 465; lighter, 38s to 42s— equal to 6|d to 6ld per lb. . , T^ ere were average entries of all classes at Burnside last week. There was good competition for fat lambs, but fat cattle and fat sheep sold at rates below those ruling at late sales. Fat lambs.—3sß yarded. There was good competition’, and prices were firm at last weeks rates. Quotations: Best lambs, 17s 6d to 19s; extra, to 20s; medium, 14s 6d to 16s. Fat sheep —Two thousand three hundred yarded, including several pens of extra prime sheep. Prices generally showed a drop of 2s per head on last week’s rates, though extra heavy sheep did not suffer to this extent, while medium weights showed even a further decline. Quotations • Prime heavy wethers, 23s to 24s 6d ; extra-prime heavy wethers, to 29s 6d; medium, -19 s 6d to 21s 6d ; prime heavy ewes, 21s . to 245: extra prime heavy ewes, to 31s 3d ; medium ewes, 15s 6d to' 17s 6d. . Fat cattle.— 186 i. yarded, and prices showed a decline of 15s to 20s per head, as . compared , with last sales’ rates. Best bullocks, £ 13: to £l4 :7s 4 6d ; good,' £ll to £l2 10s; best

heifers, £lO to £ll ; good, £8 10s to £9 10s. The sup* ply of pigs was again limited, and 'consequently previous rates were fully maintained. SILVER-BEET. Many farmers are trying silver-beet this season for the first time. A common mistake (says the Journal of Agriculaure) being made is to plant on too large a scale.. Better to do a small area well than a large area indifferently, for silver-beet must be nursed by the provision of a good seed-bed, proper manuring (the. Department recommends lewt superphosphate, lewt guano, lewt dried blood, ; jcwt sulphate of potash per acre), and inter-cultivation until well established. Land suitable for mangels will be ell adapted for silverbeet. It should be emphasised that crops may be secured for several seasons from the one planting, and therefore liberal treatment is well repaid. After each feedingoff the scarifier should be run through the drills. The crop demands careful management, the method of which is given in Bulletin No. 36 (new series) of this Department. A copy of this may be had on application. USE OF SUGAR IN BUTTER. The right to use cane or beet sugar in the making of butter was disputed in an interesting case at Liverpool recently, when Mr. Ernest Edward Whittaker, a butter exporter, of Cork, was the defendant. The City Analyst said that he found 1.2 pm' cent, of sugar in a sample of the defendant’s butter. This he regarded as a foreign ingredient. There was 4 per cent, of salt in the butter, which was a sufficient preservative. Mr. Whittaker explained that he used sugar because the public demanded a mild salted butter. He had followed the practice for thirty years. Others did the same. Less than 6or 7 per cent, of salt would not be sufficient, without sugar, as a preservative. The magistrate dismissed the case, stating that he thought it had been proved that sugar was a preservative, and that the presence of sugar with salt was-not •an infringement of the Act of 1887. A NOVEL MONUMENT. V Perhaps one of the most novel monuments in existence has recently been built in Ontario by Canadians. The. farmers of Dundas County, Ontario, have just erected a marble pillar to mark the site on which grew a famous apple tree. More than a century ago a settler in Canada named Mclntosh, when clearing a space in which to make a home in the wilderness, discovered among a number of wild apple trees one which bore fruit so superior to the rest that he cultivated it and named it the Mclntosh red. The apple became famous ; seeds and cuttings were distributed to all parts of Canada, so that now the Mclntosh red flourishes wherever apples grow in the great Dominion. In 1896 the original tree from which this enormous family sprang. was injured by fire ; but it continued to bear fruit until four years ago. Then, after 115 years, it died, and the grateful farmers have raised a marble pillar in honor of the tree which has done - so. much for the fruit-growing industry of their land. ■ The story of this apple tree illustrates the African'' proverb that though you can count the apples on one tree, you can never count the trees in one apple.