NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10032, 10 May 1898, Page 2

NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

" Weekly Press and Referee, ,

The outlook for stock in the Hawera district this winter is none too good. From all quarters comes the report that feed is sbort. In some' places the grass looks wefl, but in others it ie too plain that the land is overstocked. The large number of sheep brought over from the East Coast is held mainly responsible for the scarcity of feeds All the stock is so far looking well.

Regarding methods of getting -rid of rabbits, Mr Thos. Moore, of Kialla, Victoria/ recently on three separate nights laid unpoisoned sliced apples in furrows in his paddocks, and these, the Euroa Advertiser reports, -were eaten greedily by rabbits. Tbe succeeding night he mixed strychnine with apples, in the proportion of i-oz of poison to 61b of fruit, and dropped the bait along the lurrows. The result was that next morning 197 dead rabbits were picked up, together Witha' full gfiffwn fox, which on being opened was found to have swallowed several quarters of the deadly apples. He was at first sceptical as to the fox having been attracted by the fruit, but the post mortem proved that such had been the case. Mr Moore is confident that fully 100 more rabbits after taking the baits were poisoned in their burrows, the stench arising , from *wbich a few days afterwards giving evidence of that. The night following the successful poisoning baits were again laid, but the " ba g" was onl y eighteen rabbits. " '" ■ • A good deal of interest was taken in the experiments made last' year in New Soiith Wales in breeding crossbred lambs for export, and this year the tvork is. being continued. I learn from the Sydiiey Man that the chief "inspector of stock has decided to kill two lambs of each of the several crosses that were exhibited at the recent Eastei Show in Ishe non-competitive classes, more as a guide to what the different lots would weigh in their existing condition, which was decidedly a long way from prime. The ages were between four and five months, and it will be seen by the subjoined weights that the South Down-merino weighed heaviest, next/ to which come Shropshiremerino. The lowest in the scale are the Lincoln-merino and Cheviot-merino crosses, bat these weights it is pointed out must not be taken as in. authoritative guide as to what cross will "be considered thespest for freezing purposes. Further inquiry jwill be made as to the exact date of lambing, and whether these lambs were treated alike, also the condition of the various lots of ewes when lambing. This information is very necessary, to get at fhe root of this experiment. Following are the weights of jthe lambs slaughtered:—South Down and Merino 351b, Shropshire Down and Merino 331b Boz, Bor-

der Leicester and Merino 311b 4oz, Romney Marsh and Merino 301b Boz, Dorset Horn and Merino 301b, EngHsh Leicester and Merino 291b 12oz, Lincoln and Merino 291b 4oz, Cheviot and Merino 261b 12oz. "The South African meat trade is practically a monopoly," says the Review's Capetown correspondent, "and rinderpest and drought having swept off the major portion of our stock, we are largely dependent on imported meat, but the price in Capetown is veiy high, the retail price of primq, cuts of beef and mutton is 8d and 9d a lb, for rump steak lid is charged, and there are rumours of prices going higher, in consequence, say the butchers, of the difficulty of getting slaughter stock. AMr William Marshall called a meeting pf the meat trade, and offered to sell them meat, say, mutton at a lb, after paying the colonial duty of 2d a lb, and if the duty was reduced to Id he would supply mutton at 4su, and if the whole duty of 2d was taken off then 3£d would be the price. Well, the butchers juive him no support—l suppose they could ffbt —so he has gone to the public, and offers fco sell direct to them if they choose. His idea is to keep a ship *in the v bay for a given time while the shipment is being worked off, and if sufficient encouragement is given, he will build a cool chamber on shore. I hear he is getting large promises of support, and I fanoy there is money in the business, for we must most certainly be for a long time dependent on other countries for our meat.supply." The Queensland correspondent of the Pastoralists' Review states that although the recent continuous heavy rains have done ,| some damage to the abnormal growth qf grass in the Coastal districts, the state of the pasture throughout Queensland is better jat the present time than it been for years past. The price of store stock is advancing, and sales of store cattle are reported on Western runs at 50s at the yards. Store" wethers are also in keen demand at prices . far inJ advance of those of some years past. •Most of the meat preserving works are again at work. Meat extract is being boomed. It is reported that the Alligator Creek and Burdekin works have-been booked up to their utmost capacity. The recently-estab-lished works at Mackay , are fully employed, and it is reported that the boiling works at Torrens Creek have been bought oy a company who are fitting them with an extract plant. The well-managed works at Longreach are giving great relief to the Central ' sheepowners, and doing an extensive business. An extensive extract plant is in course of construction by one of the Brisbane engineering firms—destination not disclosed, but it is understood to be Hughenden—and it is stated that preliminaries have been settled by a London company to establish extract works in the Wide Bay district) (Maryborough). Agparty of late employees at the Ross River Works, Townsville, have leased the boiling works at Burftetown, which are also intended to be used in the manufacture of extract in the near future. .

Of late years, says the Sydney Wool and Produce Journal, a trade has sprung up between New Zealand and Sydney in mutton tallow, the best New| Zealand being decidedly the finest tallow produced in Australasia. Its perfect whiteness renders Australian tallow yellow in comparison, a superiority due in some degree, to extra care in preparation for market. The cooler climate, moreover, gives it greater density and strength. A sample recently shown us in a glass bottle had shrunk somewhat,: but instead of turning to oil, or crumbling, a clean fissure from one end of the phial to the other was observable. The tallow might from its appearance in fracture,-have been trachyte. »In the London quotations for New Zealand tallow, such New Zealand marks as Three Crowns, Gear, Al, and BTin diamond, from Wellington and Christchurch, stand easily first, being now quoted at up to £22 10s per ton.

The London cerrespondent of the Pastoralists' Review writes:—" With regard to New Zealand mutton, the continued and persistent cry is for small sheep; every salesman butcher reiterates it. At this time last year heavy sheep were in small supply; now it is the other way about. Stocks of 681b sheep and over have accumulated', and have to Oβ sold at 3d in order to clear. Salesmen find it difficult to get rid of the heavy sheep, and try all they can to get the buyers of small carcases to take some Heavy ones with them; 701b Canterbury sheep are sold at 2|d per lb, and that not easily. There is leaa and less demand for sheep over 701b. Look at these figures (prices- on Bth March):—Plate sheep Is 10d, fat Canterbury's Is 9d, North. Island Is Bd. Much of the New, Zealand meat to hand lately has not possessed the bright appearance which -we all like to see, and I hear from butchers of complaints from their customers of the meat being 'dry and tasteless.' One case, that of Lady E , came to my notice; she has taken Canterbury mutton for her household for years, and been one of the greatest advocates for its use; she now writes that she has been obliged to discontinue it on account of the faults to which I have alluded. The fact that this line has not seen an advance is accounted for by the heavy sheep not going off; this has kept down average prices. These sheep are quite useless for the country, and slow of sale in London. However, these goods, as well as sundry parcels of damaged sheep, are moving off, and there seems every prospect that we shall see better times at Easter. Lent, of course, is a dull season. North Island mutton has been weak during the month; 2£d for heavy, and 2?d per lb for sizeable carcases. Small Southlands and Dunedins have sold up to 3d and 3£d."

The same writer reports on March 11th that (witu the arrival of the Delphic and the continuance of sharp weather, a fall in the price of New Zealand lamb took place. He goes. on. to' gay that:—"As far as I can gather the quality of the lambs to' hand is of average merit, the early small arrivals were plain and poor, and contained many small carcases under 201bs; on the whole, the quality of the Canterbury lambs is not quite up to normal mark. For the first time for years the Smithfield market was abwlately bare of frozen lambs, a fact which of course was responsible for the fancy price given in my last. Some people want iamb all the year round, and it is well to bear this in mind. There was quite a race with con*

signees to get their lambs out of the vessels which brought them. Australian lambs made 5d and 6&d per lb, and the best touched 6d, a very encouraging point for Australian growers to note. Gulf of Taranto lambs sold at 5d to s|d per lb. Messrs Fitter point out that the market is entirely free of stale lambs, and that the demand for New Zealand lambs is remarkably good. I saw in the market the other day a lamb weighing 191bs; it is not desirable to send many poor carcases, as the effect will be to lower the average price."

The Reviews' London correspondent also gives the following interesting item of news: —"Mr R. Galloway, the representative of the Christchurch Meat Company, has established himself at 4 Bishopsgate street. He tells mc that the lambs brought over for presentation to M. E. Tisserand, the Director of Agriculture in Paris, have been duly forwarded, received, eaten, and acknowledged. M. Tisserand wrote a full lettor, reporting that the lambs had been tried in various French cookery ways, and had f answered well to all tests. The certificate furnished . by Mr Gilruth proved of use in passing * through the present, especially as two of the lambs were without the pluck, &c, de« manded by the French regulations. A. M. de la Croix also helped forward the experiment. One of the. New Zealand lambs went , a-missing in London. Amiable exchanges •/ of meat and polite acknowledgements do no harm, bflt neither M. Tisserand nor any ' other French official has the slightest intention of relaxing the severity of the regulations which at present practically bar the entrance of frozen meat into One *•*■ cannot read papers and blue-books, and study international commercial relations without being thoroughly, convinced that— . < (1) the policy of France is thoroughly pro- . i tective of her agricultural interests; ana (2). that there are no indications whatever that she intends to relax in the slightest degree. The Sansinena Company have not sent any mutton to, France for months. Had Mr Qilruth made a longer stay in France, and ■ , •'.- studied the question of her attitude in these • . matters, he would have come to the satne conclusion , ;" - '-' A-stranger visiting the Sydney Agri- •j | cultural Society's Show this year (says an exchange) would not form a very favourable opinion of the fattening properties of the New South Wales pastures, if he judged bj, . ' the specimens of fat cattle exhibited. Sonw of the cattle slunvn—a small proportion—were really weighty bullocks, Wt the majority were not fat cattle.at all, and then there were only two competitors. One would #. •? think that in such a colony as New South d . Wales the show of prime fat cattle-would be, more truly representative. Tfad only ex- '> planation of the small amount of interest . , apparently taken in this class by the pro-, ducers of fat cattle seems to be that the inducement is not sufficiently large to tempt ' . the fatteners to send their prime cattle to the show. The expenses are neavy, and the cattle, notwithstanding the care bestowed \ upon them while they are at the show, do not improve; in fact, they must fall away considerably, and there is no doubt that if an owner sent half a mob to the show and half to the yards, those sent direct to the yards would net him considerably more per head than the others, when sold. The show of sheep was, of course, also most unrepresentative, but for this there is the excuse of the jqiec'ial sheep show hi the last week of June. * ' ■"■■-. '■