THE COUNTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 138, 11 June 1909, Page 7

THE COUNTRY.

■jP'OHIiAMD'S NEW SAJ-EYA-tDS. !:;; r IXSESI IN AUSTRALASIA. 11l c^ T TRALISINGr CATTLE SALES. ■ *r_e cattle sale yards at Newmarket kA. -Bemuera- are to he abolished, and jtritb a view to concentrating all future jries in one central position, three aucj tioneering companies—Messrs Alfred jjnek__cd and Sons, the New Zealand -loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., jni Daigety and Co., Ltd. —have established new sale yards at Westfield, _oßg__e *he Municipal Abattoirs. These bSTfe been constructed upon the most i up-to-date lines, and are considered to ibe easily the best of their kind in Aus- • toak-ia. There are some 180 cattle pens, ■ tapaite of yarding 800 head of cattle. . jhe'sbeep and lamb pens are capable of -"fiftUng 5000 fat s_.etp and lambs, the jpg pens will hold 300 pig's, and there is a_oiaccon_nodation for 160 calves. _ feature of the new yards is the large __lter shed, replete with every modern convenience. This is 280 feet long, and (8 feet wide, and contains 22 large pens, tapable of holding 400 head of cattle. It Befitted throughout with water troughs

sad hay racks. There are six differen I iafting yards for cattle, and the shee] .'•|ards and-race make it possible to drafi gcgjit'Different lots at. the one time. I &. toriing-room nas "been put tip . edjoiniug' the Eile yarda, and this i< ."-capable of accommodating 160 persons Ihree commodious offices have also beer I irailfc .for the three firms interested ii ;-4he .sales. A railway siding has been, rur Yin at a cost of £1200, and the yards . lichen, completed will cost some £1*2,000 aS&b -area of lan.l taken up embraces T{ j wrej, purchased at a cost of between . I£2ooo and £3000. Water has been laid on to every part of the yards, and it is probable that electricity will also be "ffied for lighting purposes. Reinforced concrete las been used for paving purfoste, and the vard3 have been buiU of jarrali timber. Situated alongside the Bmidgal abattoirs, the advantage to ;;tatchers and buyers -will be much appreciated. With a view to minimising tie danger of bruising cattle brought forward for auction, rounded corners aavß been made a feature of the yards. Erery possible convenience has been atwufea to, and the yards are considered .■ to be-equal, if no t superior, to anything ' rf tie land in Australasia. It is ujider" -Rood the New Zealand Loan and , Mercantile Agency, Ltd. and Messrs Ual--1 Pif and Co. -will sell on Wednesdays at f»M and that Messrs Alfred ; Bat Hand and Sons will sell on ThursPW Tk> first sale will probably take fi? r ' b ° Ut the &nt WedDesda 7 *HE FAT LAMB QTTESXTON. tei SIAXTEK OF ONE WEIGHT. -»w* ll9 Marcll issile of this journal, s>i an article dealing with the diin whici pastoralists found pelves as regards the best breed of w«L f^ 0 ? 1 Itl the concluding para¥*s* of that article I recommended to use the English Leicester ■*™s* it was intended to keep the ewe »fflo lor breeding purposes, and to use taeS" Leicester whe « it was in*Mf that all the lambs should go off . ** fats - Since writing that W Circumstances have arisen which Jfe^ e<i mc to »°dify somewhat .-*"* last statement. hSL I allude to are ««% these, Th e freezing works and wryers have reduced the weights of r fade freezers from 42 to 36 toove • ? b3 OVGr 361b - are counted and are bought at a rejZ~. Farmers are naturally to ? ant over the vav in whic h -was done. Absolutely no warning ■felt » ° f the intenti on. It is true Itat--fw^ ye been told for some time that light weight prime lambs sold * a-London, but the buyers out here ■?*«4 to prefer the heavy weights, ~" gave just as much for heavy lambs toirJ Prime H & ht carcases. " They 2 ■ prefer the heavier and Sfe?-* 5, a gOod of the to them was not in the J heights. This summer Canterbury finding: themselves, after fcJ v Sp ' wifch an y amount of lamb stores at high rates in : «£ « ° ff that feed > thinking that j^ 1 the lambs got into the "forties, , -' get a fai r profit on tneir There was so much feed ifciJ./ there vas consequently, such ■IS for store th a t bi^ to te paid. We know now o spell spoiled a lot of the feed, -C^° rS * of a ". fat lamb buyers sudr™7 -teauced their weights "for first -lias-.f 3111^ 15 - Man y farmers look upon w ° a blt of sharp practice. A great .(U'*" , * lam °s are about and tthil Sf now sold at rednced rates. is somewhat strengthtotJ**r*, fact that some buyers still lie*-M. ».* ce* v * er carcases, and pass «■« ac igitej aitiough they

must be prime. Eor instance, I know of a case where only 10 per cent of a mob were picked, the mob having been kept really well on rape for some time. None of those picked went less than 361b. There -must have been many in that mob in prime condition but under that weight. Yet they were passed by.

However, to return to our "muttons." There can be no doubt in my mind that we must grow smaller lambs in future, and the Border Leicester is not the kind required. People at Home want light weights. One Smithfield man says that he is being constantly asked to supply 301b. lambs of prime quality. The past two years we have seen that light lamb is in demand, not inferior, lean lamb, but prime lamb. This has at last been driven home to us, although as I have said, the freezing works and sheep buyers, have not given us much of a lead in the matter hitherto. Instead of Border Leicesters it seems to mc, therefore, that we must use English Leicesters.

Canterbury ram sales this fall demonstrated the fact that Border Leicesters are still easily favourites, but if the demand for light lamb keeps up, they must surely go out of fashion. English Leicester lambs do not fatten as readily as Borders, and they are lighter in carcase and not bo heavy in the bone. They should get on the London market after AxisEralia has sent all she can fatten, and that should be a desirable matter. It cannof be a good thing for our lamb to arrive Home at a time when the markets are loaded up ■vrfti Australian lamb. The skins of English. Leicesters always bring good prices. This is a point worth considering if the growers continue shipping Home on their own account, as they are doing this autumn. I know from personal experience that English Leicesters make real good stuff, and if, for any reason, lambs cannot be fattened, they come out splendidly as two-tooths, giving a gooc clip of vrool and the very best of mutton. DIAMOND BACK MOTH. Our experience of farm and garden pests leads us (says the journal of the Canterbury A. and P. Association) to the conclusion that the larva of this moth is without doubt the most destructive and the most difficult of all pests to control, not even excepting the army caterpillar. It visually makes its appearance when the summer is -well advanced. Fortunately, it confines its ravages to plants of the cabbage and , turnip tribe, in other words, to pod-bear-ing or cruciferous plants. The moth is grey in colour, about half-an-inch in the spread of its -wings. "When disturbed it flits rapidly from one plant to another. It deposits its eggs on the surface of the leaves. The caterpillars hatch out in a short time, and commence to feed voraciously on the substance of the leaves, completely denuding them till nothing tout the mid ribs remain. The caterpillars, when fully grown, are about one inch long, of a delicate green colour, with dark heads. When disturbed they let themselves down towards the earth, returning to their feeding grounds when the danger is passed. The life of the caterpillar is about four weeks. It then spins a. cocoon of white, silky matter over itself, •when it assumes the chrysalis form, from which the perfect insect emerges in about 18 or 20 days, to commence its round of egg laying. It is more than probable that there are more than three broods in a season. The late Mr. Feraday (a local entomologist) informed us that in his opinion the insect is indigenous to New Zealand. Fortunately, violent attacks are not frequent, although the moth is present every season in our gardens and fields, infesting the turnip, rape and cabbage crops in a greater or less degree, it being more prevalent during hot, dry autumns. Such, unfortunately, is the case this season, the absence of rain (up to the time of writing, March Bth) being responsible for the virulence of the attack from which large areas of turnips and rape are suffering. Reports are to hand to the effect that farmers have lost areas varying from 40, 60, and SO acres and upwards—crops which a few tveeks ago promised an abundance of autumn and winter feed. It is probable that early and copious rains would start a second growth, which, however good, would fall very far short of the original yield of feed. Should the infestation Tse general it -will entail a seri- : ous loss upon stock owners. In the year 1851 this moth appeared in enor- ' mous numbers in the United Kingdom, i decimating the turnip crops throughout • England, Scotland and Ireland. Fortunately such attacks are few and far be- >. tween. In 1566-87 we had an attack, . -which destroyed quite 75 per cent of the total crop of turnip and rape in the < Canterbury district. Since that time j attacks of more or less virulence have j been intermittent. It is true that small { ■birds and etarlings devour great quanti- ■ ties of toe caterpillars, but liey are i

in such vast quantities that their good offices avail little. As regards preventive measures which have been suggested, we confess that we have not much faith in any of them. The pest may be kept somewhere in cheek by frequent spraying with soft soap ,and quassia water, kerosene emulsion, or tar water, •but such applications are difficult and expensive when applied" on a large scale. We have a few rows of cabbages and brocoli plants under experiment, and although they are frequently sprayed with the above specifics, including scalding water, it is very questionable whether we shall be able to save them. But even if successful, the cost of application on a large scale would be very heavy. Spraying is utterly useless unless applied to the under side of the leaves.

Keeping the crops in a stiong growin.s condition by the application of nitratfof soda, lime, etc., is recommended a: a preventive against the attacks oi the larva of the diamond back moth. Our experience is totally at variance with this suggestion. It matters little how strong the plants may be growing, they are equally liable to attack and destruction. Land upon which a crop has been destroyed as described should" be deeply ploughed' as early as possihle in the autumn. In this way multitudes of the chrysalis will be destroyed. Our experiments have forced us to the conclusion that the pest will never be properly controlled until a machine is invented capable of capturing the mothwhile on the wing We helieve that it is quite possible to do so. Such a contrivance would he worth hundreds, if, not thousands, of pounds annually to -j the farmers of Canterbury alone. [An illustrated article on the "Dia- j mond Back Moth," -which, by the bye, has been particularly prevalent this sea-1 son in all parts of the Dominion, ap- . peared in our February issue of last year.—Ed.]