COUNTRY NEWS AND NOTES.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13097, 23 April 1908, Page 8

COUNTRY NEWS AND NOTES.

JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS

Mr John D. Riuliie, Secretary foi Agriculture, wiio h&s returaied to W'<?lJiojrton from the iiotith Island, sa.vu prc-pcotss in t-he isouth are- fairly go-cd ior tUI classes of farmers. The prLnr oipal drawL«ck is tho bligJitcd conditimi <M ninuj-.s hi CaJi'tcrbury on'd sonic districts in Otaiio. Gxaes, however, is coming on well. Slkxv> generally appear lo bo in good earlier, so given favourable weather, they should yet through the vintei* ah right. vvhea't is uiiiny rutfhod in, especially in thtp Oamaru tifeirictj -whore excellent crops ere above the ground already.

Oi:o of ihe most practical stock bjccdtrs. in tlso AJirtmon district, iv convwtv'.tioji with a "Wairarapa Daily Junes'' ivporte-r, waxed quite eiithusi-ae-iic over good pro6ix*cts t-hero are i:-i a pjcauitul supply d grass tor tlie h intt-i , . ihi bht* IKAvI-y-towii lande t-ho coed has geriuinaiecl well,, and is umiv.ns goc-J growth in many Instances. 1j:o m<6 of a tew uicnthe siuto ai\> reporttxl to havo, in many casce, beon beiioncjal in cleariaig up areas of rough ground. fc'hcep ar« tiiiowing signs of jHeking up in condition, but it is t-ho opinion c/t cur informant tJiat tJiero will bj « 'hoavy liiortaiity among tho J:<,»ggeid during die spring montiis, as UiHiiy cf them 3iad to <so I'hrough a goaci <leal oi harucjjip during tho recent drought.

An unusual movement (telegraphed the Melbourne correspondent of tihe "Sydney Morning Hemid" on the 11th in raspecb to moving stock for feed is the &hipmonic of "starving stock" from Melbourne to Newcastle by steamer. In ordinary circumstances they would liavo gone by rail, but in New. South Waiee suelh numbers of etpek aro being removed from Riverina and Western New Souitdi Wales to the north-eastern portions of tliat State, where iced is a>bund-an,t, that all the spare trucks on the Now South Wales lin-as are booked a>hoad until t-he end of May. Over 70 trucks of sheep, cattle, and hon&cs from Northern Victoria, a-nd the main GippeJand line aire to Jeavo Melbonrno on Thursday and Friday next in a special stteamer foT When the stock are landed they will bo travelled from 60 to 80 miles by road north from Newcastle to the paddocks. The ratee for agistmer.it, it ie stated, axe reasonable, e,nd there- is aiburudance of .feed. Some pastoraiists this year in the RiTerina. and in Victoria foorc expended very large sums in agisbment fees, railway freight and incidental charges in. moving stock *o pasture. In some instances the expenditure of station owmers iv thie dastreosing work has. rim into anything from £5000 to £20,000. Starving stock rates for. the oarrjage of fodder over the Victorian lines were put into operation to-day OTor_ tifoe North - eeatern. and Goulbum Valley linies and their respective branches. Tho cha.rgG3 are one-third kss than the ordinary, rates for fodder, *

From Napier to the Rimutaka (writes the Wairarapa correspondent of the "Dominion") there is a carpet of rich new. grass, which in the bush districts is as much as four inches in length. In Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa it Is much shorter, just sprout-V ing, as it were, in tihe north, and growing to a length of about two inches, in the All the old' pastures have gone, eaten out everywhere, from beneath log andstump. Sheep are keeping in very fair condition in the Hawko's Bay district, but there, as in the Wairarapa, dairy stock are poorly.

Our Coalgate correspondent reporta that heavy rain commenced to fall there late on Tuesday nightj and was still falling at the time of writing, with every appearance of continuing. The weather for the past week in the Coalgate district has ; been very mixed, heavy, rain alternating with bright sunshine and misty drizzle. Feed is fairly plentiful, and autumn-sown oats are coming away splendidly, paddocks sown down three weeks ago being now quite green. Large numbers of sheep are being Tailed to various places, nearly 100 trucks leaving the station during test week, two special trains vrith over 50 trucks between them leaving on Thursday last.,

Considerable general interest is being felt among dairymen in the Commonwealth in tJfo srfheme being drawn up by the Victorian Co-operative Butter- and Cheese Factories' Association for the compulsory gradiag of cream, a.nd which will he discussed at the conference of factory managers to be held nest month. The proposal is meeting with support, not only among co-oper-ative factory managers, the majority of. whom were practically certain> to favour it, but also among farmers, who appear t» have at last .grasped the essential features of the situation. A large proportion of dairy farmers consider that , they are posers both indirectly and directly through the need of legislation to prevent the mixture of good and bad cream an one churning- ■•■'■,•

A very serious state of affairs prevails in New South Wales at the- present time (says the April issue of the "Australian! Me»fc Trades , Journal") A large area of the State is absolutely bare of feed, and, though plenty of good grass-country is available in the north, s-tockcwaiers cannot move their cheep to it, for ifoe simple reason that there are no trucks available. They can only sit down and wait for trucks, watching 'tih-ear stock die in the meantime. "Wβ h-avo. heard of cm* man who expects to lose nil hie owes (some 18.000), just .'because ihe cannot pet trucks to take them <to grass. T3io en-e-s are due to Jamb early in May; arA he cannot get any trucks till the middle 1 of that mon-ilh-. so that the lambs will be droppinc when trucks are available, and it will .be impossible to shift the ewes. Then, if the drougJi-t continues, it only means a few weeks or month? bef-ore they are all wiped cut. This sort of thinr» is operating in "n-ores of iiist-ancos, and if it contuses, the losses at the end of the v<«,r must, abrogate a formidable total. "Hho railways, nt a crisis Like the present, could render assistance, hut it app?.Tr3 tJiat they h,ive failed entirely. Tlie ComroxVioners should at least, t-ator for normal reqnire.ami as, taking tho Stato as a "•hole, there are more lean: years tha.u fit- years, t.hpy should )* ' i>renared for an emergency like th~ prcwut.

"TliPTo i« -rmo <I : re-r.'itv cf opin.bn on rho prod-ic-tion that fhcro is coin<r a '-I t. 1 :? prirp of land " V?* 5 ,VT fxrrrpsnonde/vf '•■ ii« ''DrtiunjAn." "Amon.c husnw ')M».J<» rrd J-im-1 a.a<"i'e <-.s far Nanipr. it. i<; mjr«»«.rv«Hily slat*' f!, Jv- rm ls, ;* l ' h w I<,P4: ? k™ o 4 •> firtiTictTs r.iluc. pri.»cipai:T own t■(v lnah nricr. nf tvool. nnd fha.t. new •lit tJi«rr» lias l>r>->-;i « f n i| j n t^>r of ih-i.t ronwrvVtr, thoro nui"' >p a cor— in inrV l -ilum. T-li-. fill i n th* r,, r iV. Q of i.t prwni *ncaru3 pnar-ticnllv 2t rw ■v*r o n countr»-. f},:.--

■nrrsiTs -n por ,-hto intorost. whicS r~ mi*.-] to th* e*font of f~ H« fl fnll :n ordirnr- «oy>ep kind i. £.-i an n<T«-. The fnrnwrs naturaJl- +»>.« flwiur*. s «n. ard print oh' that it would !>p ridicntaim for tlv~ *o necon* proposition--; rf tKs tWxr-ir. "ion*. Tli"v further ?*vjt/» t)>ot mi fi<v "1W? in Xov Zoalnnd <1 j<l Jand roarl -•teh a price tlm it was not 'jrarin'4. antl that now is ?" roasoii for tliem to lower tfioir laiit!

: ■...■■. 'i<-m values simply on account of a falliuill iivs price <v wooi, which in all proba- S biiity will be only of a temporarfif nature. There is, no doubt, a great* d>.U to bo &.iid in favour of this tentioii. Your corrc3pandent formed of a Hawke'ti bay station uponsf vhich two successive owners made each £25,000 pri'fit en thc-ir capital. Thi%i return must have lit-on close upon "20$ per cent. I,n Wairarapa there -hax% hovn equally good farm business oa|?i sheep lands, and much more so dairying, while in agriculture the turns have brought t,.0 capital vafcfeS? of the l«nd up to £40 per acre. seems every likelihood, 'however, thet'V m l:iml busimso. tor some time; lea*t vondors will be as>kiug for mor» ; 3 caeh." '~\-. i ?f