AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2362, 1 June 1899, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The arrangements for the winter show are proceeding apace, and it is Confidently anticipated that the show will be superior in all respects to any o&its predecessors. The secretary advises us That entities for fat stock are coming m freely, accommodation Laving been, made up to date for penning 300 sheep. The following judges have consented to^ act : —Fat . stock — Messrs W. '£. Clarkson (Riccarton) and G. W, Gunnell (Oarnaru) ; factory cheese — Messrs J. A. Ruddick (dairy commissioner) and J. Sawers (Wyndham) ; factory butter — Messrs J. T. Lang (Wellington) and A. A. ' Tbornton (Chriatckurch) ; grain — Messrs James Fotheringham, G. Shirtcliffe, and Nathaniel . Reid (Dunedin) ; seeds — Messrs A. F. Hawke (Invercargill) and J. B. Waters (Dunedin) ; rootc — Messrs J. Deaus (Christohurch) and James Oughton (Mosgiel) ; hams and bacon — Messrs J. Familton (Oamaru) and A. Kilpa trick (Wairati) ; bread and scones — Mrs M. V. Driver (Dunedin), Mrs Findlay (Mosgiel), and Miss Charters (Mosgiel. Notwithstanding the impetus thai has been given to mining in Otago, about which public interest seems centred, the taking up and cultivation of land is by no means neglected. A reference to the weekly proceedings of the Land Board shows that applications are ' numerous for all but the roughest and least profitable country. There is not at present much Government land available. The next estates to be put into the market by the Land Board will probably be the Janefiekl and the Elderslie estates, and the opening of this land is strongly desired. The Janefield estate is, as already mentioned, a small piece of land on the Silverstream, considerably under 200 acres in extent. It is, however, as is commonly the case on the Taieri, considered" to be remarkably good land, and, being within a mile and a-half ofHhe Mosgiel .Woollen Factory, is to be cut up into small holdings Mutable for workmen's homes. The F/Iderslie estate, at Oamaru, is a large" holding to be cut up into small holdings and disposed of for agricultural purposes. As this estate will not come into the hands of the Government for about 12 months, it cannot be put into the market for some time, but it is considered not improbable that the Janefield estate will be ready for disposal within three or four months of the present time. Both estates are to be dealt with under the Land for Settlements Act — that is to say, they will be offered to the public upon lease in perpetuity. A new line of industry has recently been commenced in Dunedin. An enterprising gentleman who recently returned from the Home country, taking ""advantage of the inspection of meat conducted at the Dunedin , City abattoirs, has entered upon a project whereby beef is slaughtered at the abattoir and prepared for export to London by being boned, and, when frozen, made up into neat packages. The business is a very promising one, the meat finding a ready sale in tlie poorer quarters of London. | I At a meeting of the Cheshire Dairy Far- , mors' Association, Mr Joseph Beecroft, a ; local farm«r, declared that the farmers were , in a dilemma because they could not obtain enough dairymaids. Servants objected to I (having to milk the cows, and would not be engaged, and he knew of one farmer who, in consequence of the difficulty, was seriously considering whether or not he should dispose of his stock. | With n, view to opening up a trade with I Natal in New Zealand frozen mutton, the •! Christchurch Meat Company (sayo the Press) Bent away by the Mokoia 100 sample carcases I to be transhipped at Melbourne by the Aberj deen line. Th» carcases ar« second quality I mutton, and it is the intention of tht company jfeo see whether ft South African demand

I can be> created for thia class of mutton, ifrus causing a better price for second quality j sheep here, and at the same time leaving only the best class of mutton to be shipped Home. The difficulties of transhipment' to Natal are at ffreHent very groat, and if a profitable trade is to be done a more direct service will no doubt have to be arranged for. Referring to the drought in New South Wales^says the Sydney Daily Telegraph), Mr Carruthers said that the people of Sydney had no idea of its disastrous effects. At Walgetti where ori one 'run the sheep shorn last Reason numbered 58,000, there are now only 9000. Tho consequences of the protracted dryweather will eventually be seriously felt in Sydney. f The annual meeting of the National Dairy Association will be held at the secretary's office on .Wednesday, 7th June, at 11.30 a.m. Each factory sends one delegate. The committee meet at 9.30 a^n. same day. Wo {Wellington Post) learn that' there is every indication of an exceedingly busy time next season in the dairy industry; -and that no less than 20 new butter factories will be set vp 1 m different parts of the colony during the winter. The greater number of factories will c carried on by farmers under the co-opera-ve system. A blade of grass picked up at Gingin, 250 j«iles north of Brisbane, is stated to have held nearly 5000. ticks in the early stages" of tlieir development. It was once confidently predicted that the stoats and weasels would soon exterminate all tho native ground birds; but, although these vermin have been on the West ' Coast for some years past, .wekas ai-e* (says the Inangahua," Times) as plentiful <*s ever, and there is not the slightest doubt that they destroy stoats and weasles just as easily as they do ;rats.' It /is ttr be feared, however, that the kiwi and other birds easily fall victims >tb -the imported .v««nin. - The Times recounts a fight,, in which a weka is said to have killed two stoats after they had aotually got their teeth into its neck. Mr James Gait, of Maraima estate, has, says the Wyndham Farmei, just effected the sale of a picked nine head of his famous Ayrshire cattle^-one bull and eight heifers — their destination being Canterbury. The price per head ran into double ' figures. Before the negotiations were completed 4he cattle had to submit to the tuberoulin test, which ordeal they passed without a blemish tinder the scrutiny of Mr Reakes (Government vet.) on Tuesday last. We (North Otago Times) have received several 2 :> i eces of rushes and thistles which were taken from the nostrils of a cow killed, on the Plain after it had been pronounced to be suffering from tuberculosis. There is no doubt that the foreign bodies affected the brea tiling of the animal, but such' at thing cannot be confounded with tuberculosis, which is a well-defined disease, unfortunately only too widely sxistant in cho colony. The operations of the American troops in the Philippines are, saya the Australasian, still providing Australia with a market for frozen beef and mutton, as well as for live slock, vegetables, &c. Mr John Cooke. of ihis city, has juct dispatched irom Brisbane to Manila -the steamer Duke of Westminster with over 500 tonß of frozen meat and other produce, together with a deck load ' of fat bullocks. Speed was an important element in the business, and it is interesting to note that between Monday, April 24-, and Tuesday, May 2, 2000 tons of inward cargo were discharged, while 2500 tons 'of coal, 500 tons of frozen meat, and irallocks and sundries were loaded. Seeing that the steamer had to work at four differnt wharves, and that it takes nearly 48 hours to -cool the holds for the reception of meat, excellent dispatch was secured. The Southern Standard saye that once more the Southland Frozen Meat Company is called upon to make additions to its works at Mataura. The storage accommodation, although considerably extended some time ago, is inadequate to meet the growing business, and Mr Little, contractor, is now busy laying foundations for a large storeroom. It will be a storey higher than the main building, and will occupy all tho ground space north of that building and 'between the water race and the cooling rooms. The shipment of cattle from Brisbane to Cape Colony which. wa3 'dispatched some time back was largely depleted by looses. Out -of 430 head shipped only 172 were landed. These, however, realised £32 per head, a price which would make the trade very profitable if heavy losses could be guarded against. A settler in the bush district recently sent ,24 pige to the Woodyille "bacon curing establishment, and received in return a cheque ior £67. In consequence of this a number of Makotuku farmers have indicated their intention of " going in stiff " for pig rearing this year. In* the same connection it ie interesting tc note that a Norsewood resi dent turned out two pigs at five montht turning 2721b when dressed for the factory, and for them received £4 10e 8d from a

I Wellington firm ( The Australasian says : — The North German Lloyd's steamer Gera will bring to our shores a small consignment of 14 merino ramp and a few ewes from the famous flook

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of Mr Otto Gadegast, of Saxony. These Sheep are going on to Sydney, and will bo offered for pale at the annual &heep fanon July 3. The Gera is due in Melbourne on May 24, so that the breeders of highelass merinos will have an opportunity of examining them on board. Now that merino wool is coming to the front again the sheep from this grand old flock will likely receive more attention than they have hitherto done. Some of our best merino »tuds have the Gadegast blood in the foundation Btock, and one of the leading Tasmaman studs — the Scone — owes much ot its excellence to two rams purchased by Mr W. Gibson from Mr Gadegast in 1868. The cheep by {he Gera have been consigned to Mr Herman Hage, and will be sold by Messrs Weaver md Perry.

The Sydney Mail states that when the New South Wales Department of Agriculture arranged for the export of a quantity of honey to London it was anticipated that 150 tt 200 tons would bo proffered by api■culturißte in the colony. However, only tome 23 tons have been forwarded, and it looks as though the experiment would have to be abandoned. The list of shipments vfrill be kept open till the end of this month in the hope that a feubFtantial quantity will be sent

Of the Fairfield Freezing Works the Chrislchurch Press of the 24th says: — A number of visitors were conducted over the Fairfield Freezing Works on Sunday afternoon by the secretary, Mr J W. Malcolmson. There was in the yards a magnificent line of about. 1450 lambs, bred and fattened by •Mr Max Friedlander, and recently sold to Mr L. W. Tosswill. Hanging in the cooling room wae another splendid line of about 1000 lambs from Mr John Grigg's Longbeach Estate, and 800 sheep, which were to, be frozen on account of Mi T. Taylor, of Ashburton. Mr Ciraill, the foreman butcher, stated that ,hese were the two best lines ( that had yet been slaughtered. Monday was ia big killing day, when Mr Tosswill's lamb& and others were slaughtered, the total number reaching 2000, the greatest number yet put through since the opening of the works in March. The company now have facilities for killing up to 2500 a "day, md will be able to deal with this number as soon as the Electric light is laid through the i-laughter jfoom. By the Wakanui, 4367 carcases and B0 bales of wool will be shipped. Cottages for the employees are now rapidly drawing near completion, and the vicinity of Fairfield is already assuming the appearance of jm important township. The Wyndham Farmei says:— On Saturday there was an extra briskness on the Southland railway lines, caused by the dispatch of several ' heavy stock trains for the north. One of 22 trucks, freighted with aome 200 head prime bullocks, moved out of Edendale station at 4 o'clock p.m. The cattle were .off Edendale estate and con-

tigned to a Eakn'a buyer. Mr 0. E. Qlark, lately of Ryal Bush, has once more been making his presence felt among Southland flockowners as a buyer of slock for Christchurcli market?, for he has just purchased 6000 .sheep — 3000 forward-conditioned, of which he superintended the carriage from Otautau to Addington on Saturday in 40 odd trucks. The other 3000, which were prime fatp, were to follow. Although not at liberty to name the general values paid for them, we may say thai th«jy were exceptionally good — in one ease for a line of 1000 wethers 16s 3d was paid. It is significant of the abnormal prices that the Canterbury men are prepared to pay for sheep at the present juncture, when " sheep are sheep . everywhere, that it costs no less than £6 a truck to rail sheei) from Olaulau to Addinglon.