FARM NOTES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10268, 10 February 1899, Page 2

FARM NOTES.

"Weekly Press and Referee." Tm Docking of Hobses. It will be remembered that a short time ago the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, by a small majority, passed* the following resolution.- —"That at and after tbe Maidstone meeting of. 1899 no foals with docked tails will be allowed to be exhibited at the Society's country meetings ; that at and after the meeting of 1900 the same rule shall apply to yearlings as well tut foals; and that at and after the meeting of 1901 to two-year-olds also." This action of the Council raised an indignant protest from horse breeders all over the United Kingdom, and at a more recent meeting of the Council resolutions expressing disapproval of the decision and requesting a reconsideration of the matter were received from seventeen societies. Sir Walter ti_bey then moved that the Council's resolution of November 2nd should be made to anply to the hunter classes only. Mr P. A. Muritz, M.P., moved the following amendment : —"That in consequence of the strong opposition expressed in all parts of the country by agricultural and horse societies, the resolution passed by the Council excluding young docked horses from competition at the Society's meetings, sha!l not yet apply." The amendment was carried by 26 to 22 Votes, and so the resolution of the Council against docking young horses has been hung up--_.'victory for the horse breeders. The Use of Artificial Man-BES in South Ai:stba_ia. The use of artificial manures is rapidly revolutionising farming in South Australia. Professor Lowrie. of the Roseworthy Agricultural College, estimates the profits obtained from the employment of fertilisers as nearly 100 per cent. He thinks that the cost of the various kinds used last year was about £70,000, and he calculates that the harvest results will give a direct gain on the manured hinds of from £5110 to £130,000. Professor Lowrie further says : —"I take it ihat investors are satisfied that the day of exhaustion of our wheat lands has passed ; that, in the facj of adverse conditions unsurpassed, remunerative crops can be grown over the hinds subject to au average rainfall of 15in or I6in, or even less ; and that with the return of the average season of past cycles the use of artificial manures will expand the returns from the land safely and surely." Wag.vek's Pea. A Suuth Canterbury paper slates that Mr P. Thoreau, a farmer near Timaru, wrote home two years ago for a few seeds of lathyrus Sylvcstris, commonly known as Wagncr'Spex, and he has now tifty plants growing on his farm. Some of these plants cover twe square yards each, and others which have been given support are 9ft liigh. They seed prolitically, and were lately in full bloom. Sheep are said to bo very fond of the plants, and Mr Thoreau intends to sow the seeds on a small grazing run Hills. The seed of Wagner's pea was imported a few years ago by Messrs G. G-. Stead and Co,, but it did not prove a success, and does not grow to any size except when carefully cultivated, as "in a garden. It was greatly boomed at Home at one time, but has never realised what was claimed for it as a fodder plant. TnE Canadian Bacon Indtjstry. A correspondent of Hoard's Dairyman says that the bacon industry in Canada has reached unusual proportions. The marked increase in the exports of fine b*:on products to Britain in the last twelve months alone, has been enormous. Canadian bacon is fast displacing Danish and Irish, and the product "of the United States does not fetch within eleven shillings per cwt. of the Canadian product. The explanation of this is tint the Canadians have consented to cater for the requirement- of the British consumer. The packers, backed up by the Canadian press, told tho fanners that the hog, necessary to the production of fine bacon for British consumption, must not be fat in the usual sense, but must be long and deep in body—depth of aide a prominent factor; must be light in the shoulder with light head and jowl. In getting a hog like this, the good old breeds of Berkshires, Poland-China, Chesters and Jerseys had to be discarded, and the more nervous, irritable and lean breeds of Yorkshires and Tamworths, and their crosses, had to be bred instead. This was quite an abrupt change, and the fanners hesitated and squirmed a good deal to give up their old loves, and easy keepers, for those long, lean breeds. But the change cam. about wonderfully quick. The most suitable breeds demanded now by the Canadian packers are the Tamworth pure and the Yorkshire crossed. As a result, the breeding of red Tamworth hogs has assumed wonderful proportions in Canada in the last year or two. The prices of those pigs are yet quite high, but competition and increased production will, no doubt, soon haul down prices. There is at present, howover, a great outcry against the Tamworth on the part of Western hog men who have been recommended to go in for this breed if they wish to keep up with the procession of fine export and domestic bacon. The Armour Co. have recently been buying bacon hogs in Canada. With regard to their venture they write : "It has been a revelation to us to see the fine condition and splendid appearance of the Canadian hogs, and we feel sure that the Canadian system of careful breeding and feeding is the correct one. The Canadian Hbg-raiser is away ahead of* the American at present, at least so far as the English market is concerned. -The Canadian singed Wiltshire- command a very high premium and rank almost equal with the finest Danish bacon in the Londog market." A Proposed Farm School. The Eketahuna Farmers' Club, at its last meeting, discussed tae question of Californian thistle and other weeds, and it was decided to ask the co-operation of kindred societies and petition tbe Government to get some portions of the Noxious Weeds Act pawed next session. It was also reI solved to get a small portion of land for the purpose of a small farm school, with the j object of educating the children, as the dis- ! trict was the most closely settled in the ' province, and educating the children would j be the means of making- them very useful ; settlers later on. Crops is . the Waikato. I The Tuhikaramea correspondent of the Waikato Argus writes: —"Some of the wheat I and oat crops are ouite" a picture, both in field and in stook, though adverse influences I have not been altogether absent, caterpillars being rather numerous; and also, rust, the ! latter being visible in some of the oat crops. I Taken altogether, the season lias been far too wet for grain-growing, and a feeling of tliankfulness will be very general when all the crops are safely in stack. . . . Potatoes promise well, and are likely to yield better than for some yesrs past, though this I crop, also, is being subjected to the same influence as wheat, and no one is likely to make a pile out of potatoes this season. For turnips the weather has been very suitable, and good takes are the rule. So far, there has been a marked absence of injury by the fly, but a new enemy has made its appearance, in the form of the grass-eating grub, which burrows under the surface of I the soil and eats the tender skin off the I turnip roots, the top of which soon show 1 all the appearance of blight and decay. I'Jiis pest works in round patches among the i turnips, much the same as it does in grass I fields; and there does not appear to be any practical remedy, though, no doubt, the flocks of starlings that are to be seen hovernig over the turnip field? are doing good work, and probably the addition of 'kainit' i to the manure drilled N with the seed would ! also do a good deal towards keeping this and other insect pests away." j White Bonanza Oats. The Australasian has received a remarkably fine sample of white Bonanza oats, grown by Mr E. B. Cozens, Little River. This particular variety of oat gained the prize of 500dol offered by the American Agriculturist some years "ago. the competition being so keen that several thousand entries were received. The prize oat was propagated by J. A. Salzer, of New York state, and a measured acre sown with this varictv is said to have yielded 134 bushels 251b. Mr Cozens imported at considerable cost a parcel of the whito Bonanza oats direct from J. A. Salzer, and has cultivated the variety for two years. He states Ihat ne is quite satisfied that there is no oat equal to itw For ensilage it is especially good,

the fine, broad leaves and the vigorous i rapid growth producing- abundance of I fodder: for hay it is also excellent, a good* l crop being obtaii#d when other varieties fail, while the grain is plump, heavy, I bright in colour, and splendid for eithei 1 milling purposes or feed. Sorting Potatoes vor the Market. The following from the pen of the New . South Wales correspondent of the Austra- , lasian should be read by New Zealand potato growers, the bulk of whose surplus crop gees to Sydney:—"Although potatoes are still bringing gcod prices, there has been a decline t in values in the Sydney market during the • past fortnight, and as a consequence growers [ are sending forward larger supplies than usual. At the Windsor railway station a few , days ago more bags were brought to the plati form than there were trucks obtainable to > convey tho produce to market. On the whole, the quality of the potatoes is satisfactory, and there-is very little disease of ■ any kind present, but from some of the samples I have inspected it is evident that in-. sufficient time and care have been bestowed ' on picking and grading the tubers for market. It has been a standing complaint for years by merchants that the local-grown potatoes cannot bo sent direct from the grower to the retailer or consumer unless they are re-sorted, the small and inferior ones rejected, along with a quantity of the soil of the district, which almost invariably accompariios each consignment. Potatoes imported to Sydney from Tasmania and Victoria are much better graded, and it is for this reason chiefly—not because they are of superior quality—that they bring a considerably higher price in the market. Farmers are blind to their own interests in neglecting to exercise due care in sorting their potatoes, for if the work has to be doge by the merchants it only means a smaller price to the grower. A few small or unssund tubers . depreciate the value of the whole consignment, and in addition a large quantity of food which could be profitably consumed on the farm by pigs and other stock is lost, without any compensating advantage being obtained. This matter certainly needs attention at the hands of our kcal growers, and if carried on generally the result would be, a buyer informs mc, that New South Wales potatoes would bring as much as prime Tasmanian Circulars, which are just now fetching in Sydney £2 a ton above those grown in this colony. Nearly the whole of this sum might be gained by the local farmer were he to exercisa a little more care in picking and grading his potatoes before bagging them for market." House BreedLvo in* Victoria. A useful pamphlet on horse breeding, written by Mr G. Pentland, chief inspector of stock in Victoria, has been issued by the Agricultural Department. After pointing out the good demand which exists locally for draught horses, he states that breeders require to observe the principles of breeding and feeding, otherwise there can be nothing biit unprofitable results. The suitability of the climate of Victoria for horse breeding is referred to, and a word of caution is given about the use of inferior stallions. The advantage of crossbreeding thoroughbreds and Clydesdales is set forth,_ and the room which exists for an expansion in the export trade of horses of a good type is touched upon. He says:—"Th's export trade has been going on for many years, and can readily be increased if breeders generally raise the quality of their stock. The time has now come for decided action in the matter of raising the value of our horse export trade, which can easily enough be done. When we send home such horsesas Carbine and Carnage, bringing 13,000 and 10,000 guineas respectively, we should .have no fear of success, and it appears to mc that the time is near at hand when the military powers of the world will only be too glad to get our valuable horses at such rates as will pay them to become our customers and pay the breeder. Breeders will do well to utilise the bloodhorses of good bone and substance."