DEAR FOOD STUFFS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 81, 3 April 1908, Page 7

DEAR FOOD STUFFS.

OUTLOOK FOR THE ULSTER.

Famine prices at present prevail in 'Auckland for nearly all classes of produce, and the outlook for the winter is to tie regarded as rather serious. Maize las been almost unproc-iirable for two or three -.veeks past, and the East Coast arrivals this week did not exceed 100 sacks, ivliich were eagerly bought up at 5/. Xo Australian shipments have come to hand tliis sersson. for the reason that there has been a shortage in the Commonwealth, and the present quotation in Sydney is 5/3. The East Coast supplies have, therefore, been largely <irawn upon, and at present the market is very bare, with the ex-store quotation ruling at 5/3. Suppliers, however, are on their way from the islands. The outlook, as far as the poultry farmer is concerned, is very serious. Fowl feed is almost unprocurable, and with the winter coming the poultryman's prospects look dismal. Fowl wheat is scarce, and the only lines at all plentiful are those which the millers are doubtful about. The f.o.b. quotation is 4/7, and it is going into store at 5/2. The question of horse feed is equally unsatisfactory. Oats axe a luxury at 2/6, f.0.b., or 3/ ex store, but whether this price is going to remain permanently, it is difficult to say, since it is considered in many quarters that tho high price is not ■ justified. Bran and sharps Tule at the extreme quotations of 6/10 and 7/10 ex store. The scarcity here is, of course, accountable by the fact that many of the mills are not going full time, and by-products are short. Chaff brings Tecord prices, and is higher now than it was after the January floods last year. • Fortunately, there is a good growth o£ green feed on the farms, but the. outlook for the -winter is, neverthless, to be considered as serious.

for instance, as are derived from ances- • tors which flourished on maritime coasts —beet-root, marigold, sugar-beet, saltbush, fat-hen, or any chenopodiaceous plant, asparagus, and cabbage. It is ! perhaps necessary to mention that sugarbeets should not be grown for sugar-pro-duction on such soils, owing to the amount of salt absorbed preventing the crystallisation of sugar in the nianuiacture. At Napier, several acres of asparagus are cultivated on land of a salty nature. From Nelson, Messrs. Eout and Sons forwarded three samples which contained 2.237 per cent. (G 369), 0.588 per cent. (G 370), and 0.072 per cent. (G 371) of salt respectively. The applicants were advised that probably grass crops would grow in the areas with the smaller percentages, and on the portion containing the largest percentage mangolds or white or red beet would grow. Later on the applicants wrote in reply:—"We planted mangolds on a large ar ea—some 70 acres. A long drought ensued from the time of planting the seed, but in spite of this we have now a fine crop, which proves the correctness of your opinion. On other parts of the land we planted rye-grass with gratifying results."

Mr Job Osborne, who owns a considerable tract of land at Motukaraka, Lake Ellesmere flat, Canterbury, has adopted a most ingenious method of dealing with salty land. The land is subject to periodical flooding by the sea, in spite of a wall which has been built at great cost. The vegetation is that with which we are familiar as indicating salt-meadow. Plants such as Salieornia (known locally as ''salt-weed) and grasses of little value, as Deyeuxia, Holcus (Yorkshire fog), and Hordeum murinum. (barley-grass), abound. Mr Osborne has attacked the problem by sinking artesian wells in all directions. The water discharged washes the salt out effectively for a certain area around each spring, judging by the luxuriant growth of clovers and grasses, though close to the spring a dense growth of raupo often results. This method has its limitations, as eventually the pipe rusts through below the ground, and difficulty is experienced in finding it again in order to maintain the flow. The same area of this soil will apparently exhibit great variation in the quality and amount of crop yielded from year to year. One year a copious crop of Atriplex patula, variety hastata, spontaneously appeared, and fattened a goodly number of stock. Another year an immense yield of grass-seed was obtained. A sample of soil on which grass and clover were growing was analysed, and found to contain 0.066 per cent, salt; another sample growing salt-weed containing 0.62 per cent. Mangolds do not do well on this soil. Applicant was advised to try saltbush, and a variety of seeds was supplied to him by the