AROUND HAWKE'S BAY

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 74, 30 April 1930, Page 5

AROUND HAWKE'S BAY

PARAGRAPHS OF INTEREST TO THE FARMER Property owners in the Whakatu area have had some fine pumpkin crops this year. There is oue particularly fine paddock of Ironharks in the «imme-> diate vicinity of the railway line. * * * The buyer of a pen of 90 mixed sex woolly hoggets at 8s at Waipukurau yesterday got a very fair bargain. A bigger and heavier line of 206 wether hoggets hung fire somewhat as far as biddiug was concerned althongh offered for sale in runs of 50, and was finally passed at 13s. * * * Hawke's Bay is not the only district where weaner dairy heifers are meeting what is practically a closed market. In Taranaki large numbers of weaner heifers are coming forward, and choice weaners made £4 to £5, medium sorts and poor colours £2 10s to £3 10s and otliers down to 25s. * * * The New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company is experimenting with cardboard boxes for the packing of butter and cheese for overseas markets, and everything points to these being suecessful. There is a light wooden frainework at either end of the butter-box and wooden ends to the cheese crates, which are designed to hold only one cheese. These packages have a much neater appearance tlian the wooden packages, and, of course, will be much cheaper.. Butter_ has already been shipped to Britain in the cardboard box, and a small consignment of cheese is about to go forward in the cardboard crate. * * * Sainfoin is a favourite plant with all sheplierds, and it is credited with medicinal properties. Slieep are certainly healthy when feeding upon it, and it restores their strength when they are debilitated. It is said to derive its French name of St. Foin,_ or lioly liay, from its excellent properties, but it is possible that the word may derive its Ehglish equivalent from cina-foin, or, five-leaved, in contradistinction to the three-leaved or trifoliage clovers. In any case, it seems to he highly esteemed wlierever it is known. * ♦ * It is a mistake to interfere with hatching eggs under the impression that one is doing a good thing trying to help chickens to get out of the sheli. In nine cases ont of ten more harm than good is done. By breaking off bits of shell that may not be quite ready there is often hleeding which canses the operator to stop, but how often is it that these interfered with are found dead from loss of blood? It is surely an obvious fact that a bird/ that is not strong enongh to hatch out without assistance is only a weakly specimen and usually not worth. the trouble of rearing.

* V It was a "dead" sale at Waipukurau yesterday. Only about 75 buyer s were present when the auction commenced, but these were more than ebough t'o deal with the meagre and somewhat scrappy offering in the cattle pens. Something a little better was offering in the sheep pens, but bidding was slow and most buyers seemed disinterested. The auctioneers had to work hard for what bids they did get. » # * A property of seven acres, two roods, situated on the main NapierWellington road, in the vicinity of the Hatuma turn-off, recently occupied by Mrs Darrell and under a retprned soldiers' mortgage, was offered for auction by Messrs Williams and Kettle at the Waipukurau Saleyafds yesterday and knocked down at £500 to the representative of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, who was the only bidder. * * ' The Wellington City Council is calling tenders for the supply of 8,400,000 milk bottle caps for its municipal milk supply. * * * The Hatuma Valley country is in particularly _ good trim at present. Sheep feed is not plentiful, hut is present in sufficient quantity and several settlers in the area are carrying particularly heavy stockings of cattle. * * * The price of 16s 6d at which they were knocked down was poor bidding even on the present market on ten fair conditioned rat ewes, the only fat sheep offered at Waipukurau saleyards yesterday. * * * Sir Archibald Weigall was telling the Royal , Council that maliing speeches in New Zealand would have no terrors for Lord Bledisloe. He will he expected to maEe speeches on all subjects but to express opinions on none. Well put! # *c » The current season has beeU a had one for fattening lambs in Poverty Bay and, as was the case last year, more than the usual number will have to be carried over. On the other hand ewes and wethers have been fattening well latejy and fairly large numbers are going to the freezing works. Although the total killings show an increase on last season, the number of stock passing through the works do not come up to the slaughtering of a normally good season. Fat Rheep are selling better in Poverty Bay than store sheep, as there is no outlet, at the present time, north or south, for the latter.