AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 98, 22 October 1904, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

"Victoria is the only State in Australia that does not possess an Act making it compulsory on owners to brand their stock and! register their brands," said a member of a deputation from the Stock Owners' Protection Association, which waited on the Minister for Lands. It was pointed ant that owners' suffered severe losses through the stealing of their stock. The Minister promised the deputation that he would consult his colleagues as to the advisableness of introducing a measure. — Leader. The crop and weather repoits ar© not altogether reassuring, says a Melbourne weekly. Agricultural prospects are still very uncertain, and', this, as far as the wheat crop is concerned, applies 'alike to New South Wales, South' Australia, and Victoria. So far the spring has been late and cold, but not marked by heavy rain, and the crops are very backward in the majority of the leading grain producing districts. Good rains before the middle of October would probaly en>sure fair yields, but hopes of anything like such a record wheat yield as that of last year are now very generally being abandoned. As to affairs in Melbourne, the uncertain prospecto in. the country have unfavourably influenced business to some extent, though the large supplies of dairy produce and good prices ruling for butter, together with the movements of new wool, have been oi consideiable assistance. The Duke of Devonshire recently presided over a luncheon at the Craven Agricultural Society's Show at Skipton, and in proposing the principal toast spoke of the good effect that Agricultural Societies and Exhibitions had had upon agriculture. Ho should therefore regret if for any cause such societies iiad to b^ abandoned, and) he called upon the public to give some practical assistance towards maintaining them in a state of efficiency. If the public did not, he feared that agricultural exhibitions in the near future might languish and decline. A thirty-acre section of land near Eketahuna has jusfc been sold to a Masterton syndicate at £40 per acre. Shearing commenced on Brancepeth on Thursday. There are 24 stands in this shed, and it holds 4000 sheep. The potato crop in the Forty-Mile Bush this season is likely to be a failure, much of the seed having rotted in the ground. The Wairarapa Observer states that several farmers about the Carterton district intend putting in paddocks of alfalfa this season. Dairy cattle have not wintered well in the Pongaroa district. The correspondent to the Pahiatua Herald says that the cow "frames," which are to be seen in many instances in the district, do not say much for the coming season's milk supply. ' A farmer states that in some parts of the Gladstone district noxious weeds are growing several feet in height. The only possible method of complete extermination is by dragging the weeds out by the roots. — Exchange. Mr. E. M. Bannister informed a representative of the Wairarapa Daily Times, that, while the Waipoua River has previously been much higher at Matamwi during the present winter, he cannot remember he time when there was so much storm-water. The settlers in that vicinity have been very fortunate, and no immediate damage is reported. Dairy farmers will suffer severely, and will feel the effects of the visitation for weeks. Hand-feeding had ceased, and the stock were dependent on the young grass, which was making fairly good growth. The heavy rain has partly covered the grass with mud, and it will probably be two or three weeks before it is fresh and palatable again. "In the meantime," said a well-known local dairy farmer, "the cat* tie will have to live in hope — and it takes a lot of 'hope' to fatten a cow !" Two acres of arable land is considered to be a large farm in Japan. Shearing operations will commence at Mr. A. Matthews'a Wairongomai Station on 10th November. The shearing will be done by machinery this year. Figures available indicate heavy sugar bounty payments In the Bundaberg (Queensland) district up to the 2nd of September. The tonnage claimed on is 1 6,60 d, equal to £4816, but on the same date upwards of 50,000 was entitled to the bounty, farmers not having called for the amounts due to them. It is anticipated that the quantity of white grown cane will total about 80,000 tons, or a little over a quarter qf the entire crop, and that the amount of bonus will exceed £17,000. Farmers generally express satisfaction at the way the white men have done the work of harvesting, and are confident, if the bonus continues, to be able to ca,rry on successfully ; but the uncertainty of the continuance pi the bonus is cramping their efforts. The young crop is not likely to come to anything owing to the dry weather. In some parts of the State rain is still badly needed for the crops, reports the Sydney Stock and Station Journal of 7th October. In many places the grass, too, needs reviving showers, and some people write from various portions of the outback telling of appearances that ar« inclined to indisat* more drought. In Queensland things are even worse, for in certain districts of the northern State the drought is "still on." The price of wheat is cheering enough to those who anticipate the reaping of a decent harvest,, but to the generality of farmers it is only a weak consolation, in the face of the depressing fact thai, the wheat crops are languishing, far want of the raiii;, and may not be expected to re» cover from their present set-back, even should most favourable weather conditions soon arrive. In some parts the wheat is only a few inches in height, and it is coming out in ear. We must hope for the best. A Departmental Committee of the Agricultural Office appointed by the late Mr. Hanbury to investigate the somewhat recondite subject of sheep dips, have now issued their report. After conI sideration of the evidence from our own flockowners and from the colonies, they have no hesitation in. recommending that an annual dipping of all sheep within the United Kingdom should be carried out by the local authorities, acting under regulations approved by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. They are fully aware that it is no light task to carry out effectual universal dipping, but they believe that it is the only method of eradicating sheep scab, and that its effect generally upon the sheep of the country will be entirely beneficial. The Committee discovered, in the course of their enquiry, that "most of the dips in general use are preparations of arsenic, tar distillates (carbolic acid, etc.), or tobacco." — Daily Telegraph, London. Some time ago the following paragraph went the rounds of the papers : — "Here is a farmer's mode for riddhig his premises of rats and mice: If you will sprinkle sulphur on the barn floor ana" through the corn as you gather it there will not be a rat or mouse around. I have done this several years, and have, never been bothered with rats or mice. I have some old corn in my crib, and not a rat or mouse can be found. In stacking hay or oats sprinkle it on the ground and a little through each load. A pound of sulphur will be sufficient to preserve a large barn of corn, and jt is good for stock, and will not hurt the corn for bread." A fanner in this province tried this method, with complete success He formerly lost heavily through the ravages of rats in his barn, but this year the loss h?,s been merely nominal.