AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 47, 24 February 1906, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

♦ A Beekeepers' Association has been formed in Southland. Soino of the oat crops in the Mnslurton district are estimated to yield 00 bushd« to the a<;re. It is expected that tho export trade of New South Wales in frozen mutton this year will be latger than for wry previous year. It is now apparent (suys tho Tnpnnui Lourier) that tho grain harvest wf.l be fully a month kle, nnd early cutting will not start until March. Grass seed cutting is finished, and threshing lias commenced. It is very noticeable this season that tho fat-sheep buyers nro giving pikos moro in accord with tho quality oi tho sheep and the lamb than in founcr years Up to the present tho Ashburlon County Council has purchased 2*46,000 "™? rgg" «nd heads, and has paid <,nt £<M 6to small boys and other ool.cetotra. iho oat crops nro vory disappointing throughout the Gore district this year (bays tho Southern Standard), and tlio yields will bo considerably below tho usual (standard. Ono of tho flnost crops of wheat in tho Gore Otngo) distilct is to bo Been on Mr. h. Butler's farm, Wverdnlo. Experts consider that tho crop should yield lrom 60 to 70 bushels per ncro. Tho Argentino Government, to oncourage tho export trade, exempt from nil duties machinery whioh is introduced into tho country for tho purposo of establishing frcccing chambers for tho preservation of moat, fowl, vcgotublos, fruit, and other food product*. A rough ostimato of tho cost of cutting noxious weeds on native and Crown lands and unoccupied reset yes in tho Marlborough, Nelson, nnd Wcstlnnd dis. trlcts for tho season, is J333,600, During the present selling season about £13,000,000 worth of wool lms been sold in tho auction looms of Australia., Moro than half the amount was realised in the Sydney market, Tho crops in tho vicinity of Whokiitone nro looking remarkably well, says tho Auckland News, Very few of the maize cropa hnvo been touched by frost, and tho recent favourablo weather has caused vigorous growth. Tho native* at Poroporo havo nn exceptionally fine crop. Tho area sown with wheat on tbe proposed line of railway from Mudgue to Cobbornh, Now South Wnlcs, increased from 10,000 now* in 1896 to 39,719 acres in 1905, and the average yield for 10 years was 17.73 bushels por acre. There is likely to be «, shortage of turnips in Shag Valley (Otego) this season (says the Palmewton Times). Ihb fly has attacked a number of crops, ond even in the most fertile ground large bare patches are to be seen. Gross is, however, plentiful, and stock should oommenco the winter in fair condition. The wheat farmers of Washington (U.S.A.) found 1905 a most prosperous year, tho * crop of the State reaching over 32,000,000 bushels, only a littlo less than the "bumper" crop of 1901. Other crops were equally good. A good deal of virgin land has recently been coming into cultivation in Washington, nnd tho very large crops are likely to continue quite a number of years. The Milton Mirror slates that at a meeting of the Tokomnirlro Farmer*' Club it was decided by 10 votes to 9 not to lake part in the competition for county bays at tho Dunedin Wlntei Show. It Was ftlso resolved by 10 votos to 8 to ,di»pcnso with tho Winter Show at Milton, The O&nmru Mall reported that tbo crops on tho Mnerowhenua settlement were a flit© even lot, nnd did not evidence nny bad effects from tho recont unfavourable weather. It was estimated that there Mould be an avorago return of about 40 bußhels of wheat nnd 1 60 to 70 bushels of oats to tho aero over the whole settlement. A record yield of onions is reported from Edenhope (Victoria). Tho onions nre an exceptionally splendid specimen, known as the Hunter River Brown Spanish. No artificial nunurea were used, Mr, Beckwith, the Head Teacher of the Stato School, mado ri calculation, which showed the yield to bo at tb» rato of nearly 32 tons to tho acr«, For onoe the dairymen who nro supplying factories that sold Uiclr butter in the early part of the aeiwun nve better off than those who have shipped on consignment (says th» Auckland Weekly News). It is reported, however, that most of tho factories in tho districts took advantage of thu good priuns offering at the beginning of Iho senson to dispose of their output, and so lose nothing by tho fall in prices. Still, theso districts are nob quite the whole of Now Zealand. Mr. W. F. Buckland, of the Waikato, is giving the Farmers' Union tho benefit of his experiments In tho growing of grasses. Here nvo his latest notes sent to Mr. J. G. Wilson i -""The Agron> tis Brownil is not good except on waste lands, nnd tho trifolium fragifcra doe» not stand frost well. Thu pnspaluni dllalum also suffers from frost, It is a grnsa I nm by no menus quito. euro of, 1 am trying it still, but it is evidently a tropical grnss, and if onco estflb.ished would, I think, mnko cropping difficult.' Although tho Crown tenants of Ilaukos Bay hnvo done bo well these last few years (says a wrllor In tho Farmers' Union Advocate), with genial seasons and good prices, writes a member. 1 hnvo seen tho timo when the rural outlook in that part of the country was very blnrk indoed, when for eight or ten years there wns moro or less of n drought, nnd landowners had n, very trying time—disastrous in somo cases, Should theso dry Bensoiw recur tho question ib— will tho men on small areas bo nblo to withstand thoin? Tho Italian nation long Ago pasted laws regulating tho forestry of tho country. In 1877, by permission of the legislature, about 4,000,000 acres of forest woro withdrawn from tho operation of tho forest laws in Italy, nnd about 1,000,000 acres moro in Sidly and Sardinia. Thero has since tlint 'timo been a reckless destruction of forests, nnd it now seems evident that tho Government must again step in and pass laws to save tho forest* still remaining, nnd to seuuro tho ir wtlng of the cut-over areas. Karly in 1904, Messrs. Williamson Bros., of Wards Rook, Dandalon, N.8.W., sowed flvo acres of land with onts, using two bags of grain. Lnsl veur (says Iho Trnngie Advocate, 4ft bags of oats wore harvested from the five acres, and this season 71 b,igs were garnered from the same land, whioh was self-sown. Tho average wns slightly over 14 bags to the ncre, a splendid return from a nelf-Bown crop The owners huvu now had (he excellent return of 116 bans of oats from two htgs of Boed on the *im»ll men of live lu'i'oi "Tho whole socrct of spraying potatoes," says Mr, Boucher, New Heilimd'a Government expert "is tho ninnncr In which the xptwylug is done To he effectual, It must be thoroughly and rnicfully carried out several times, If the Work is only lmlf done, it is useless. I have in tho course of my duties travelled over a large pottinn nt the Auckland province, and I havo lied clear poof that when carried nut ns it should be, Apinylnh is nbwlutcly ffleeiive in keeping the crops clear cf diseases. It has been unlveri-nlly varying, however, in degree 1 . accordir^Mo climatic condilU«t.'<