218 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



[tune, 



Eastern Counties. — Employment in Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire was 

 hindered by rain to some extent. Outdoor work was somewhat in arrear at the com- 

 mencement of May, but good progress was made towards the end of the month. The 

 backward state of the crops occasioned a demand for extra labour in Lincolnshire, and 

 several correspondents reported an insufficient supply. Wages at the May hirings 

 generally remained unaltered. Some day labourers lost a few days through rain in 

 Norfolk and Suffolk. The supply of, and demand for, labour were generally about 

 equal, work being plentiful in hoeing, carting and spreading manure, and threshing. 

 Employment in Essex was generally reported as regular. 



Southern and Sot it h Weste?-n Counties. — The supply of extra labour in Kent was 

 more than sufficient for the demand, and there was some irregularity of employment 

 in consequence in certain districts. Hoeing and weeding, potato planting, &c, 

 generally provided regular employment in Surrey and Sussex. Similar reports come 

 from Hampshire and Berkshire. Some scarcity of men for permanent work was 

 reported in certain unions. There was generally regularity of employment in Wilt- 

 shire, Dorset and Somerset, with the supply of labour about balanced by the demand. 

 There was a good demand for labour in Herefordshire, but some day labourers were 

 in irregular work at the beginning of the month through rain. Employment was 

 fairly regular in Gloucestershire. Da)- labourers were in some demand for hoeing corn 

 and roots, but the supply was in general quite sufficient. Employment was plentiful 

 in Devonshire and Cornwall in hoeing, sowing mangels, and preparing land for other 

 crops, but the supply of extra labour was usually equal to the demand. 



Opening for Agricultin al Appliances in the North of France. — H.M. Consul at 

 Dunkirk (Hon. R. Walsh, M.V.O.), writing with reference to openings for British 

 trade, observes that the north of France is very rich 



Miscellaneous Notes a s riculturall >'' and that there a PP ears to be an increasing 



tendency on the part of farmers to employ the most 

 up-to-date mechanical appliances appropriate to then- 

 different needs. Ploughs, sowing machines, chaff cutters, pulping machines, 

 separators, churns, &c, are to be found for sale in most of the market towns in 

 that region, and British marks seem to be well in favour. From personal observa- 

 tion and enquiry, H.M. Consul is of opinion that dealers in these wares throughout 

 the country districts prefer dealing directly rather than through travelling agents, as 

 they have the feeling, which may be quite erroneous, that either directly or indirectly 

 they themselves have to pay these agents, thus adding to the cost of the article. 

 British sellers should, therefore, obtain satisfactory results from the generous circula- 

 tion throughout the country towns of well-illustrated catalogues, in which prices and 

 terms are clearly expressed. Such catalogues would naturally be more easily under- 

 stood if issued in French, or if quotations, at all events, were given in both English 

 and French currency. {Board of Trade Journal, 23rd April, 1908.) 



The Zurich Seed-testing Station. — The number of samples of seed examined at this 

 Station in 1906-7 was 9960, of which 2706 came from Swiss sources and 7241 from 

 abroad (1291 from the United Kingdom). The number of foreign samples tested at 

 this Station has considerably increased in recent years ; in 1898-9 it was 4846, while 

 in the five years 1902-1907 it was 3n the average 6748. There are now 168 foreign 

 firms whose seeds are tested here. 



Exportation of Butter from New Zealand. — It is provided in an Act (No. 37 of 

 1907) dated the 17th Nov. 1907, that any person who exports or attempts to export 

 any butter from the Dominion of New Zealand, which contains more than 16 per cent, 

 of water shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £^Q. 



