CURRENT TOPICS.

Press, 1 February 1930, Page 20

CURRENT TOPICS.

ADDINGTON MABKET. The store sheep entry on Wednesday comprised about 12,000 head, of -which about 7000 were in the lamb section. Due no doubt to the fact that fat lambs were selling well the sale showed an improvement on the preceding week for all classes of lambs. These advanced by up to Is a head, the more backward lambs participating to a less extent. The abundance of feed no doubt was the factor in this demand, the depressed wool market being an element of practicallv no importance as far as lambs for the freezer are concerned. The best rape lambs made round about 19s to 20s 7d, and secondary sorts from 17s 6d upwards. This does not leave the desired margin for fattening, based on the present export schedule, but the latter this season is not being adhered to. Feed, moreover, is more plentiful and promises better than for years. All that is now wanted is some warm weather. The adult sheep did not comprise many notable lines. A small Poverty Bav" lot of Romney cross two-tooth ewes made 26s 7d, a line of four and sixtooth halfbred 265, and a small lot of four-tooth three-quarterbreds 27s 3d. The best of the wethers sold to 24s 3d, with the bulk of decent sorts from 21s upwards. The backward wethers and aged ewes were not wanted, and the preceding week's rates for this class were maintained with difficulty. A comparison of values with the corresponding sale last year is as follows: —

The fat lamb sale was a good one, and prices all round showed an improvement of about a shilling a head. The schedule for export fixes prices for first lambs at BJd, but on Wednesday a good deal of lamb was selling at near 9d. The operations of a private export company were largely responsible for this result, and over a third of the total entry fell to this firm. The improved lamb market at Home does not make the 9d excessive, but some doubt has been expressed as to whether the improvement will hold. The companies are not likely to overstep the safety margin this season, as many balancesheets require evening up, and under the circumstances the values now offering on the hoof cannot be considered other than satisfactory. Comparisons:

A satisfactory feature of the mutton market this season is the good enquiry at Home for mutton. This has allowed quite good priees to be paid on the hoof, and ewes in particular are meeting with a very free demand from exporters. The top schedule price this year is 4|d a lb, and last season Sid. Not many ewes can be bronght under the even pound. On Wednesday the entry was the smallest for months, comprising only about 60 per cent, of a normal offering, and exporters had to extend prices to get a few odd pens. Butchers absorbed practically the whole of the entry. Comparisons:—

The beef sale was a particularly good one, the drop of the preceding week of about 3s per 1001b being recovered. There were a few pens of heavy prime cattle forward and the steer part of the entry generally comprised moderate to good class. A line of Hawke's Bay steers advertised for the sale failed to arrive in time. Beef is holding up in price remarkably well, and confirms the wisdom of the advice offered some years ago as to the future of this part of the stoekowner's activities.

THE WOOL CHEQUE. A runholder in conversation with "Straggler" mentioned, as indicating the extent to which wool-growers have their "outs" as well as their "ins," that his wool cheque last year was £14,000; this year it would be £7OOO. A second grower last season secured £I3OO, and this year, with one bale less, his return was £625. Had the wool of these vendors not been sold at the earlier sales the difference would have been much greater. LAND VA2.T7ES. As evidence of the disinclination to speculate in land a sheep property containing 1000 acres, with homestead thereon, in the South Canterbury district, was, recently sold for £3 5s an acre. The land was light, but healthy sheep country, every acre of it ploughable, and with adequate water re-' •ourcaa.

A NEW WHEAT "DISEASE." Eeference was made the other day to the damage caused by the fierce gale of a fortnight ago to the crops in various parts of the district. The straw was broken off halfway down, leaving the heads drooping to near the ground to an extent that seriously threatened to deplete yields. It was noted that the thinner medium crops were knocked about by the gale more than the heavier ones, something of a singularity, but this is capable of an explanation. The heavy crops swayed with the wind, and so afforded a certain degree of protection to the individual stems. Where the crops were thinner the individual stalks were threshed about to past resisting point, and the breaking of the straw and the prostration from the roots of other stalks were no more than could be expected. Indeed, the marvel is that the crops stood up at all. The damage is not so heavy as at first appeared probable, and over the whole area affected the aggregate effect on the field should not reach 10 per cent., or about three bushels to the acre. The rather novel suggestion has been made in some quarters that these broken straws indicate a fungoid disease, and the services of the Government mycologist were secured to make an inspection. Whatever the result of that inspection may be practical farmers have no doubt as to the cause. The "disease," in effect, was the violent l gale. As an instance of its intensity one 50-year-old plantation in the Kirwee district had 700 trees levelled to the ground, whilst another at Highbank was destroyed to the extent of 50 per cent. Under such conditions the wheat crop came out well. SWEDE CROPS. Although the excess of rain is having j the reverse of a good effect on the grain crops, especially those which have been cut and those which are heavy and inclined to go down, it has kept the turnip and rape crops growing. It is noticeable in South Canterbury that a good few swedes are being grown this year, and many of those crops will soon be too far advanced to be attacked by the fly. The Southland practice of ridging them is now being followed in Canterbury to a considerable extent, farmers finding that it pays to go to a little extra bother i in order to ensure a better crop. Moreover, hard turnips furnish a lot more feed and keep better than soft ones. N.Z. GROWN TURNIP SEED. At one time most farmers thought that New Zealand grown turnip seed could not possibly be as good as that which they obtained from overseas, so they persisted in obtaining their supplies from England. It has been made abundantly clear, however, in recent years that New Zealand can produce good seed. On the Knocklyn estate at Woodbury, now the property of Mr R. J. McKeown, but formerly owned by the late Messrs N. and J. Campbell, some excellent turnip seed has been raised. This year on the property named turnip seed which was grown there six years ago is being used, and despite its age it is germinating well. It has been sown with rape and oats, and the turnips are already of sufficient size to provide a lot of feed. The mixture is relished by sheep. Although this six-year-old seed has retained its germinating power well, Mr McKeown did not use it for his main turnip crop, which extends over 100 acres, being afraid to risk such old seed on a large scale. However, results have shown that his fears were groundless. THE WTLDEN ESTATE. A message from Dunedin, published in Tint Punas the other day, etated that the Government is negotiating for the purchase of the Wilden Estate in South Otago. This property comprises 24,000 acres, and is part of the original Moa Flat Estate, which was subdivided privately for closer settlement nearly 30 years ago. Wilden comprises good sheep country with a proportion of agricultural land well situated for growing winter feed for the stock on the high country. It runs a good flock of halfbred and merino sheep. The estate 1b owned by Mr R. ActonAdams, and if it is acquired by the Government it will be the first hold ing of an extensive area that it has bought for the purpose of giving effect to the land for settlement policy. The subdivision of the original Moa Flat Estate was one of the most successful private subdivisions in the history of the Dominion. THE COMMEBCIAX PIG. In the course of a letter from our London correspondent it is stated that the Pig Industry Council of England and Wales recommends that the fine-boned type of Large White boar should be used as sire for the production of commercial pigs; and in making this recommendation the Council claims to be following the lead of the chief Continental countries from which the British market is at present largely supplied with bacon. It is further stated that the trend of farmer-opinion is increasing in favour of the Large White boar. This supports the policy of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board, which subsidises the Large White classes at the shows conducted by the Royal Agricultural Society. THE POTATO CROP. The abundant potato crop hag formed the theme of a good deal of talk lately, and growers were commencing to wonI der if they would get expenses out of their tubers. However, the excessive rains of the last fortnight create some doubt as to whether there will be such a bumper crop after all. It Is undoubted that a large area is under crop, but there are many scores of acres on the low-lying parts of fields, where there has been a good deal of drowning out. Some most promising crops in the Kaiapoi district have been badly affected in thiß respect, and as top growth is very heavy conditions are favourable for blight setting In should a stretch of summer weather ! eventuate. Above the ground appearances, a month or more before digging commences, are not always a reliable guide to the weight of the eventual crop, and it would, therefore, be simply guess-work to suggest probable yields, but it is quite probable that the bumper crops forecasted a few weeks ago will not materialise. One grower to whom "Straggler" spoke during the week, was quite philosophic about this possibility. "Half the crop will be all the better," he remarked; "we will get double the price." However, there will be more than a half, or even a three-quarter croj.

THE HABVEST. It does not take long for harvest conditions to improve in Canterbury. On Tuesdav the rain—to many farmers in North Canterbury—looked like the proverbial straw that upset the camel, but on Thursday afternoon, or within 48 hours, cutting was taking place or. quite a number of the lighter land crops. A run through the Clarkville, Swannanoa, West Eyrcton, Horrelvillc, Bennett's, Oxford, and East Eyreton districts on Thursday indicated that a decided improvement had taken place in the appearance of crops since the New Y<?ar. A number of wheat crops in the Swannanoa district are light and thin, and where they are in stook the rows have a good belt of country between them. In Horrelville district there are some excellent crops, one in stook, noted in a former artiek) as likely to "go" 60 bushels, fully confirming this estimate. Another of Hunters, close by, should reach 50-55 bushels. Cutting" i'.i the district was in progress on Thursday. In the Bennetts district the effects of the gale of a fortnight ago are apparent, there being a heavy proportion of broken and bent straws in some fields. Other paddocks, again, appear to have escaped lightly. On the top end of the Harewood road some nice even crops are to be seen, whieh, though not heavy, should threah quite well. However, on the lighter land towards East Eyreton, most of them are very thin, and results here will be disappointing. However, over the whole of the districts mentioned the later crops have benefited markedly during the last month —to an ex- | tent probably that will more than compensate for the damage done nearer the hills by the gale of 12 days ago. LEICESTEBS FOB HAWKE'S BAY. There was a time wli?n English Leicesters took quite a place in the sheep breeds of the Hawke's Bay province. The Eomney in recent years, however, has steadily supplanted them and to-day in the whole of the North Island there are only four or five breeders of purebred Leicesters. On the drier parts of Hawke's Bay a few of the Eomney flocks are tending to become too fine in the wool and with the object of remedying this trouble, and at the same time improving lamb quality, a few flockowners have decided to introduce some English Leicester blood into a section of their flocks. During the week Messrs J. Miller (Otane), C. A. Williams (Pukehou), and S. R. Williams (Otane) visited Canterbury, and purchased from Mr E. S. Taylor (Waipara) 17 English Leicester rams, which were shipped north to the properties of the Messrs Williams.

At the next session of the Queensland Parliament a Bill will be submitted having for its object the promotion of the organisation of the grazing industry in Queensland. The Bill provides for the formation of an organisation known as the Graziers' Association of Queensland, to consist of all graziers owning more than GOO cattle and horses or more than 2000 sheep. The State is to be divided into districts, each of which will be controlled by a district council, consisting of a chairman and 20 members, who will be elected annually by ballot. The Bill proposes that power shall be given to make a general levy on graziers for administration purposes, but not exceeding £i per 10Q head of cattle and horses, or 4s per 100 *beej>, in any •»• ye*n,

Jan. 31, Jan. 39, 1990. 1 930. Ewea— i. ■• «, a. Best 3-tooih Roronay xbd to 39) — "~ Good 4, 6, and 8-th Rom. to 36) — — Med. 4, 6, and 8-th Rom. — — — to 25} Two-tooth i-bd ew*§ 31i to 84 — — Two-th ibd Ord. 2-th )bd to 34) — to 27j — — — to 24) Ord. 4. 6, and 8-tfei Ibd 26 to 28} — to 34) Inferior a.m. i-bd 23 to 34) — to 16| Good 4, 6, and 8-th ibd to 331 — — Ord. 4. 6, and 8-tk xbd to 27 — to 21) Ord. i.m. 28 to 36 — to 30 Aged IVethera— .. to 181 — to 10) Good i-bd to 37 33 to 24| Ordinary .. 38 to 95 — to 21i Backward to 30 — to 15 LambsForward rape 38) to 37) — to 30) Medium 33 to 25 17) to lot Good m.a. .. 24 to 38 20 to 21* Medium 21i to 33 144 to I 6 Inferior wether 18 to 20) 13 to IS Cull 14 to 17 — to 13 Good ew* to 29) — —

Jan. SI, Jan. 99, 1999. 1980. a. •■ •. ■• Extra prim* to 37 _ to 81 Prim* .. SI to 84 27 to 29 Medium .. 98} to 80* 38 to 96 Light .. 96 to 38 90 to 33

Jan. 31, Jan. 29, 1929. 1930. «. a. 8. 8. Wethert Ex. prime to 371 — to 35 Prime .. 8Q to 35 80 to 3C1 Medina .. 99 to 31f 364 to 29} Light .. 25J to 98} 231 to 26 Eweg— Ex. prim* .. 33 to 34| — to 30* Prime 27 to 31J 25 to 29 Medium .. 2SJ to 261 20 to 24 Light .. 19 to 23 164 to 19

Jan. 31, Jan. 29, 1929. 1930. £ £ £ £ 3teari— Extra prijo* to 31J — to 24 Prime .. 17J to 19| 18 to 21} Medium weight Medium quality .. 16J to 16J 17 to J9 .. 13* to 16 13 to 18 Light .. 11 to 13 10} to 12$ HeifersExtra prime to 17J — to 16 Prim* . 13 lo 15 13) to 15 Medium .. 11 to 13! 11 to 18 Light . ?i to 10} 7| to 10J Co"w«— Extra prim© to 15} — to 15* 'Prim* . 11J to 14 13 to 14J Medium 9J to llj 10 to 12J Light .. 7 to 9 7 to 9J