NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1650, 7 July 1883, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Mr Carl Diehl, Herbert, Otepopo, has for. warded to Messrs Nimmo and Blair a very good ? ample of buckwheat from this season's crop. The firm had procured the seed from Victoria to Mr Diehl's order, and the result so far has proved satisfactory to the grower. The object in experimenting with buckwheat was to pro procure a paying crop on foul lands. But for the ravageß of the birds and inclement weathti the yield would have been heavy, and tin weeds are reported to have been thoroughly cxteiminated. We may add that buckwheat is an excellent crop to grow for green fodder. Poultry are particularly fond of the qraii> which also makes excellent pig food if nolgivi n in too large quantity. It will grow well in poto t soils, and in almost any climate, and w • think dJBiOTYmi a place among our farm pro ductiona. .

There are at present on view at Mr Pryor's shop in Princes street some very good speoi mens of turnips from a crop grown this season by Messrs J. and J. Callender, Springbank, East Taieri. The varieties are champion Swede (an exceedingly dense and weighty turnip for the bize), green globe, and Lincolnshire red globe ;- but the principal interest attached to the exhibits is owing to their having been grown with an application of superphosphates manufactured by Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co. (limited), and that Messrs Callender report the weight of the crop to be nearly three times that which they have been able to raise hitherto, The commodious freezing-chambers of the j New Zealand Shipping Company's steamer lonic, which sailed on Saturday, were well supplied with cargo by the stockowners and farmers holding runs and farms in Otago and part of Canterbury. During the time the vessel has been lying at Port truckloads of refrigerated carcasses of sheep have almost daily been taken to her, with the result that she leaves Port Chalmers with a total of 9584 sheep on board, weighing 1J41,3951b, and each sheep averaging 671b. This is the largest cargo of its kind which has been exported from Otago, and it will most probably be supplemented at Lyttelton by 3000 more sheep. It is also gratifying to learn, as vvill be seen from names winch are appended, that in all 33 shippers have taken advantage of the opportunity afforded to send mutton to the Old Country, a number of whom are,comparati vely small farmers. Besides meat, \the lonic conveys two magnificent specimens of trout, weighing 101b and 121b each, which have been forwarded by the Acclimatisation Society to Dr Day, editor of Land and Water, London, as an experiment in the direction of the exportation of fish. Included in this large cargo are 841 halved sheep, the primest parts alone being sent, and the remainder boiled down here. The shippers, and the number of carcasses each has contri buted, are as follow:— M. C. Orbell, Waikouaiti, 439 sheep ; John M'Gregor, Waimate, 723 ; J. M. Ritchie, Burkes Pass, 609 ; John Douglas, Waimate, 1384; John Bruce, Brighton, 117; New Zealand Agricultural Company, Southland, 188 ; William Shand, Caieri, 206 ; W. H. Teschomaker, Oainaru, 321 ; J. R. Elder, Maheno, 158 ; E. Elworthy, Pareora, 89 ; J. Smith and Sons, Greenfield, 554 ; H. R. and J. E. Parker, Waimate, 186 ; Joseph Preston, Toi-Tois, 189 ; Henley Company, Taieri, 195 ; New Zealand Land Company, Clydevale, 196 ; James Logan, Kelso, 77; Mathew Holmes, Southland, 893; M. Studholme, Waimate, 285; Begg Bros., Baljiutha, 200 ; Richard Oliver, Oainaru, 314 ; Peter M'Laren, Otakia, 219 ; George Gray Russell, Timaru, 98; Robert Wilson, Maungatua, 199 ; George Nichol, Maungatua, 41;- E. Menlove, Oamaru, 207; David .Vl'Kellar, Tapanui, 113 ; Wright, Stephensou, Hid Co., Dunedin, 176; John Reid, Elderslie, 798; Murray, Roberts, and Co., Strath-Taieri, 200; Anderson Bros., Waiwera, 39; John 'iibson, Waiwera, 38; J. Johnston, Kaihiku, 39 ; and Royse, Stead, and Co., Toi-Tois, 144. The Gear Meat Export and Freezing Company of Wellington have concluded arrangements for making a shipment of frozen meat by the Lady Jocelyn in December next. The Jirectors have concluded arrangements for the purchase of a Haslam refrigerator, which will >c in full working order at Petone before the irrival of the Lady Jocelyn. To save time, the necessary building will be proceeded with immediately, so that it will be in readiness for ihe reception of the material as soon as it is landed. New Zealand (says the Bruce Heral<?) is coming to the front, so far as the Sydney market is concerned, with regard to horses. Recent importations from New Zealand have proved so much superior to anything which can be produced in that Colony, that we are credibly informed, the values of local first-class draughts have fallen by no less than £30 a head. The Clydesdales, which are a specialty with Otago breeders, attract great attention in Sydney, and command high prices. Good sires of this breed are in great request, and buyers will give almost any price for them. At a recent sale in Sydney, Mr Thomas Parker topped the market with two horses of his own breeding, out of 91 fioin different parts of New Zealand. Farming matters (writes the Clutha correspondent of the Mataura Ensign) occupy so much of our attention that I must say something on the subject. Ploughing is pretty general, and should the season be anything Like mild a large acreage will, I believe, be down with wheat. The present price of oat* A'ill deter farmers from again .sowing so much of that cereal, as they tind it does not pay. Some there are, however, who maintain that oats grown every year will pay in the long run better than wheat, but this statement I fear must be accepted with some grains of salt. Oats grown every year for the last five years have not paid, but wheat has. Certainly some land will grow oats better than wheat. This is strictly true with respect to the land in this district, but on land that will grow wheat farmers will find that that pays them best._ I heard a very good story about this same subject some short time ago. It was to this effect : — Farmer A. one day met farmer 8., and wanted to know what he was going: to kow his land with. "Oh," says farmer 8., "I am going to sow oats, of course." " Ah," says farmer A., " it is very easily seen by that where you come from !" And this is a substantially true sketch,as Scotsmen, as a rule, grow more oats than do those of other nationalities. A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes as follows of mildew on frozen meat :-— " I must still hold to my opinion that the cause of mildew is the want of ventilation in preparing the meat. I was at Belfast at the time the first sheep was killed, and will recount the method of workiner. The sheep, as soon as killed, are passed still hot and steaming into the cooling room, a room destitute of all ventilation—in fact, every means possible are taken to prevent it — and are then hung as olose together as possible without touching. The first sheep killed have some small chance of the heat passing off, but as soon as the room if filled, or the day's work done, the doers are closed and all chance of ventilation cut off except the cool air blown in by the engine. Now, with 400 or 500 sheep fresh killed and hung in a close room, the amount of heat and steam must be considerable, and it is at this time the mischief is done,' and seeing that only patt are affected, does not this point to those 1 isfc sheep as being mildewed ? The carcasses should be hung in a free_ current of air for a1;a 1 ; least an hour before being placed in this r mm." As an indication of tho firm establishment of t >'i frozen meat; trade in this Colony, we hay pleasure in intimating that the New Ziwipud awl Australian Land Company have ■h.utf'red the, bailing ships Dunedin and Marlbomiu;h for thrcsn voyages each, to load at Port Chalmers. The Dunedin belongs to the Sbaw-Savill and Albion line, and has space for 8500 sheep ; and the Marlborough is own d .

by a private firm, of which the well-known captain (John Leslie) is managing partner. She is expected to have the same size of [ chambers as the Dunociin. The Dunedin is now on her outward voyage, and the Marlborough is timed to arrive here in November. The New Zealand and Australian Land Company were the first to initiate this trade in New Zealand, and it is pleasing to see that they are encouraged by their former ventures to continue and extend the trade. | At the dinner held in connection with the Auckland A. and P. Association's anmial ploughing match Mr Joseph May, chairman, inproposing" The Agricultural Interests," said the Legislature thought there was nothing which could bear taxes so well as land. But he thought that was a mistake, for there was no class of individuals in the Colony who found it ao difficult to make both ends meet as farmers. South Australia's prospects for the forthcoming year are much brighter than they have been for some season's past. Reports from all parts of the country speak most hopefully of the prospects of the season. The rainfall has been general and abundant, and now a little fine weather is required so that the young crops, which are reported to be looking well, can get a start. A number of our Darling Downs farmers— who own sutfiuenfcly large areas of land— are (says the Queenalander) fully impressed with the importance of combining cattle or sheep fanning with ordinary agriculture, and we are certain that their views are perfectly sound ; in fact, on account of the vicissitudes of climate and rainfall to which we are liable, only those farmers are safe who are in a position to combine the two ; and Parliament could not do a better thing for the welfare of the country generally than to legislate for such a possibility. On several occasions we have urged the matter on public attention, and the present unsatisfactory circumstances of the fanning community in South Australia furnish a glimpse of what will assuredly be repeated in this colony, unless greater facilities are afforded selectors of combining grazing with farming proper. One of the natural results to follow such a course is aptly illustrated by the following extract from a letter to the New York Tribune, by Dr A. M. Dickie : — " During a recent visit to my native county of Washington, Perm., after an absence of more than twenty years, the first thing to strike my attention was the greatly-increased fertility of the soil during the interval, as indicated Jby the numerous haystacks and big corn-fodder seen fr >m the car window. When my native hills were reached, landthat was perfectly familiar to me until I was 22 years of age was equally perplexing upon close examination. Fields that thirty years ago were too poor to pay for cultivating are now good for 50 bushels of corn and 1^ ton of hay per acre, without the application ot any fertiliser, and the sheep did it ! 1 have heard through correspondence and otherwise of the increased fertility of the hilly country which constitutes the famous sheep walks ; but behold the half was not told, and I would scarce have believed it if it had been, and was unprepared for what I saw. On one farm in particular, which adjoins my ancestral home, and which as a youth I knew well, I could scarcely believe my senses._ As I remember the farm it was so poor that it was all a man, and an industrious one at that, could do to make a living on it. The farm now belongs to a relative, and in company with him 1 went over it, and was confounded at every step with the change wrought in its fertility and productiveness. These were evidently, as the Spanish say, I ' gold under the feet of the sheep ' that trod that farna for tha past twenty-five years. The fertility is increased fully 500 per sent, and land that I can remember as too poor to cut one-fourth of a ton of poor briery hay per acre is now good for easy six times that amount of good hay, without a brier in it — and the sheep have done it all. It is not only isolated or occasional farms that have been thus improved — the iwcreased fertility is marked on all the 2000 and more square miles of territory given up to this specialty." The production of largo quantities of grain, meat, and dairy produce— the greater portion of which must be sent out of the country — cannot be continued for any lengthened period without exhausting the soil of its plant food. This, we think, will bo admitted by the most superficial thinker. The question we have now to investigate is by what means we may continue to extract from the soil the largest possible amount of corn, meat, and dairy produce and at the same time to preserve its natural fertility and obtain a fair return for the outlay. In England the soil has Jong since been robbed of its natural fertility, and may now be looked upon as litulo more than n medium whereby crops may bo obtained in proportion to the manure and stimulants applied. ... It will therefore be apparent that so far the Colonial farmer has the advantage of those engaged in the samn pursuit in the old country, inasmuch as the item for manure has not as yet entered inlo his calculations. His immunity from this item will soon be a thing of the past. Not that we think there will be any great necessity for manure in any considerable quantity for some years to come. This of course will be regulated by the system of farming pursued in the future Food for plants may be purchased in the shape of natural and artificial manures ; or it may in part be obtained from the soil and atmosphere, at a comparatively small sum of money, by a good system of fallow cropping. One chief point in good or bad farming is the extent to which the fertilising matter in the soil is made available, and the manner in which such available food is preserved from weeds for the use of future crops. By the term fallow cropping, we mean those crops which adroit of having the ground periodically stirred during the term of their growth, such as mangels, turnips, peas, and beans. The old system of naked fallows is now abandoned by all good farmers, for the reason that it is found to be a more expensive mode of refreshing the soil than by the growth of fallow crops in drills, to be fed off by sheep and cattle. . . . Science has demonstrated that a considerable portion of the substances necessary to feed plants is obtainable from the atmosphere, such as carbonic acid and ammonia. There is a wonderful affinity between the earth and the air when brought into close contact by deep and frequent cultivation. It is, therefore, necessary to keep the surface loose, porous, and accessible to aeriform fertilisers Broad-leaved plants, such as turnips, mangels, and rape, are supposed to absorb a large amount of nutriment from the air, and their deep roots derive from the subsoil food which cannot be reached by the weak roots of cereals, except where the subsoil has been stirred by machinery. A thorough knowledge of the theories and established facts, which we have endeavoured to lay before our readers in aa lucid a manner as possible, should stimulate them to consider whether or not they are pursuing a course of spoliation, and if so, whether it would not pay to adopt a system of cropping which would enable them to continue to reap abundant return^ in 'meat and grain. ' But while we may do much by careful cultivation

to preserve our soil from utter exhaustion, we cannot hope to do so permanently without some little assistance, particularly so as we are about to add_ meat and bone to our export trade. Happily we have at our hand the very manure most required, and we might add most suitable to our wants — we refer to superphosphate of lime and nitrogenous manures — manufactured at our local manufactory. The nitrogenous manures will be furnished from the blood and offal collected at the moat factories. Crushed bones are also to be hid when required for permanent action. The former are admirably adapted for stimulating a rapid growth from the seed, an all important consideration in the culture of the turnip and rape crops. A couple of hundredweight of either of the former manures sown with the seed will ensure in most seasons a successful braird. By this means large crops of roots may be obtained, to be fed off with sheep or cattle, when the land will be in the very best condition for corn or grass crops, and thus we may hope to continue the fertility of our soils indefinitely.—Canterbury Weekly Press. Fruit Shipments. The following memorandum on shipments of fruit to the English market is being distributed :— The following suggestions have been sent me from England, and are published for the benefit of intending shippers of fruit. I may add that the agents of the Orient line at the various ports have been instructed to adopt the recommendations as to stowage, and to make the freight as reasonable as possible, in order to encourage a trade which is but in its infancy. " As to Packages and Packing. — In size they should hold about one bushel, and should be either cases or casks .: it is most important to pack tight. If paper shavings were put above and below, it would not require every apple to be packed separately in papers, which is a very tedious process. "As to Sorts and Samples.— Senders should confine themselves to firm-fleshed apples of good quality. Rubbish it will never pay to tieud. " Cleopatras, dummelow, seedling, stone pippins, and others of that class are the kind 3 to send, and great care should be taken to select only sound, large, even-sized fruit. Small apples are never good to send here, and they cost the same expense to send as the best fruit. "Stowage on shipboard should be in the coolest part of the ship ; if possible, near the refrigerators, where an equal temperature could be maintained. These remarks, which are all that occur to me at present, apply equally to Melbourne and Adelaide." Shipments should not be made after the end of April, as the fruit is not wanted beyond the middle of June, by which time English soft fruits are in the market. G. Skei/ton Yuill, Manager Orient Line of Steamers, Sydney.

For remainder of Agricultural News see 'page 14. MMCHMMWWiIMIrMMaWIMMaiwnnaiI^HWNMMWHUnrwWMIIMiB