TUSSOCK AND FURROW.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13909, 7 December 1910, Page 6

TUSSOCK AND FURROW.

("Weekly Press and Referee.")

Mr J. E. Davenport, who flas recently returned to the Dominion from the Argentine, after acting as I judge at tho big Centennial Show held there in June last, brought back a Catalogue of the exhibits with him,, which I had the privilege of seeing. It is an excellent publication, run on lines" very different to the show catalogues; one generally sees in the Dominion. It is a handy size for the pocket, being (j, x 4 inches, and about one inch thick; the numbers of the exhibits are given first in big, black figures, then follows the name of the animal, with its stud book number and pedigree and particulars as to whether it is for sale, with the name of the firm who are acting as agents. The name and addressof tho exhibitor come last, and it is amusing to gee, in the case of British exhibitors, their names done into Spanish of a sort, such as Arturo Tomaso Bell, Eduardo Healy, Frederico Miller, Alberto y Carlos Brown, Archibaldo Bell, Antonio R. Duffy, etc. Another interesting point "that is noticed is that quite 80 per cent., if not more, of the stock's names are English, tienoting that they were bred in England, or under the British flag at any rato.

Speaking to a friend, who was iecently on a sheep station in Hawke's Bay, I heard of rather an unusual occurrence. Ho said that one of the shepherds on the- place had occasion to tie up his sheepdog to a fence, and leave it there for a time while its owner went away to do some job or other. When he returned he found his unfortunate dog nearly at its last gasp, and fighting feebly against tho attacks of a big swarm of bees. The dog's owner had a hard task to get the poor brute rescued from the bees, and though he ultimately did manage to do it, yet the animal succumbed to tho horrible stinging it had received, and died within an hour or so. Another queer thing that happened in the same district was this. A pony mare had a foal in a paddock on tho station; there was another hack mare in the paddock with the mare and foal, and when the owner went round to see them 6ome days later, ho found tlie dry mare had taken forcible possession of the foal, and was keeping its mother off and not allowing her to go near her offspring. Evidently the dry mare had been ft the game for a good long time, for the poor little foal "was just about dying from starvation, and • ultimately did die, although all the time its anxions mother was ready and eager to take charge of it.

It may be that in the near future we may see American breeders actually taking Clydesdale championships in the homo of the breed. Th e Sire Stock Journal says that some notable accessions are expected among the ranks of Clydesdale breeders in America. Several men of large capital have been enquiring' into the merits of the breed and the possibilities of founding studs on a firm basis. Seventeen years ago Mr R. B. Ogilvie exhibited youngsters

of his own breeding that were freely acknowledged by Scotch breeders to excel anything the Old Country had produced, and Mr Robert Holloway bred some good enough for export to Scotland.

The news, that Lord de la Warr is going to sell his property at Buckhurst, though it has been in the possession of his.family since the Norman, Conquest, has caused the Home papers to come out with frenzied articles about the new land taxation and the Budget. Lord de la Warr, however, says that that us not the cause, and that the hew land taxes do not affect agricultural land, and it has not even been suggested that any further burdens rre to be imposed upon agriculturists; therefore sales of agricultural estates cannot be directly attributed to any action on the part of tho Government. "My chief reason for selling now, and I imagine other landowners have been and are being actuated by the samo reason, is that owing to improved agricultural prospects in this country the demand for farms has increased, > causing a natural rise in'the (price or land, and thereis how an opportunity, perhaps, of selling which has not existed hitherto, at, any rate for many years." His Lordship goes on to say, "Personally, I have contemplated selling my farms for some time past. I have always been in favour of a man owing his "farm; from every point c.f view it is better that he should do so. Ownership creates a natural desire to improve property, and in the case of i agriculture that imjproveraent is a national benefit. If a large landowner! has no income other than that derived i from his land, he cannot do justice to his estate or to his tenants, and it is, I in my opinion, far better that heshould sell it and give individual \ owners the opportunity of doing what '• he is unable to do himself." !

A writer who contributes his articles under the norn de plume of "Bendleby" to an Australian exenange, says .that a subject which frequently finds show judges at variance is whether some ewe on exhibition has over had a lamb, and, if so, whether she has ever reared it. Many can easily determine tho point as to whether a owe has reared a lamb by an examination of the udder and of the condition of tho teats. The latter may, however, be in a thoroughly normal condition of maidenhood, and yet the ewe may have given birth to a lamb. This is where many a judge is completely bewildered, and where, in the absence of any chanco of making special enquiry from the owner, he may give the wrong decision. This difficulty can, however, lie readily; and easily solved by the following instructions cf a veteran slieepbreeder, ono who all 1 is life has been a keen student of Nature. Up-end the ewe, and draw the crooked fingers through the wool down the inside of each hind leg from the fpot to the udder coupling. If the ewe has had a lamb during the season, tho wool will readily be dragged away from the skin and adhere to the fingers. Tho explanation rests in the fact that tho process of milk formation in the udder generates a fever which spreads down the inside of each hind leg; this fever checks the wool growth at the skin, and causes it to come away when pulled just as though it were sweated off. It is very desirable that no ewe should ever be allowed to carry off champion-

ship honours at any show unless ah-fluaf* displayed her .future usofulncsa ap-ll,' breeder. Some societies insert a chuw in , their regulations to this , (fm t l whilst others make a bold dec-aratiq§fe for "either visibly in lamb, Ojr lamj>"»| foot." Each of these condition-. jn*f| be dodged by the unscrupulous, tojjwer deception of. a ,moderatdy-4Kpeafoeg& judge, but there is no j judge armed with the above- tieqt 'if.' practical knowledge regarding dft£S ( * B '*- dition of the wool inside the -tj-nd^l' of ewes which have given birth' fa lambs since the previous shearing.

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