AGRICULTURAL

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 92, 16 October 1915, Page 10

AGRICULTURAL

CATTLE FBOM FIJI. Something in the way of a novelty in beef supplies to Sydney was presented last week (says the Australasian), whea 50 bullocks from Fiji were disposed of. They were described as prime and heavy, and realised an average of £24 per head, one bullock bringing £30 15s. This is the first importation of meat to Sydney since 1903, when numbers of sheep were brought over from New Zealand. It was 6aid that most of these Fiji bullocks were workers; but they seem to have dressed very weil,_ and there is no doubt that if further shipments are made they will find a ready market. The trade, however, is not likely to be a very large one, as there are only about 50,000 head of cattle in the Fiji group. A news telegram from Suva says that there was excitement amongst commercial people in Fiji ovttr the opening of the trade, and lie shipment will be followed by others. According to this account, cattle-breeding could be much more extensively carried on, and there ie likely to be come activity in this direction in future. Messrs. Foulis and Marsh, of South Australia, have acquired a large estate in Fiji, and are introducing some well-bred stock, including Durban? bulls, merino rams, some draught mares, and a. Clydesdale stallion. Meat is welcome from anywhere in Sydney at present, and New South Wales cattle-breeders are not likely to be disturbed by any fear of the effects of competition with Fiji. Cattle are as strong ac ever in the Homebush max-ket ; but the level of vaJue shifts oonsiderably, very high prices being reported one week and a drop to more moderate values the next. But the market is still short supplied, and seems likely to continue ao. Ayrshires are showing up in butter tests in America as in AustraJia- At the age of fourteen years the Ayrshire cow, Jean Armour, made a twelve-monthe' record of 18,3821b milk, containing 7161b butter-fat; while one of her progeny, Jean Armour 3rd, as a two-year-old, produced 14,9871b milk, 6001b fat. The two-year-old championship of the world is claimed for Dairy Gem, an Ayrshire, with a record of 17,9241b milk, 7381b butter-fat, 4.11 t96t. This cow is bred from tested animals for several generations. The fattening-off of 4700 lambs from 80 acres of land may seem a tail story until analysed, when At appears quite feasible. Off 50 .acres of lucerne 300 tons of hay were produced in five cuttings. Three hundred tons of sorghum' silage were cut from 20 acres of land. There were purchased 3800 bushels of maize for feed at 2s 6d per bushel, and £200 was paid for oottoji-ssed meal. The lambs were given a daily ration of 21b of silage each, Uh of lucerne hay, and one-sixth of a. pound of ootton-«eecl meal, to which was added lib of maize each during the latter part of the feeding. The lambs paid £3 a ton for the lucerne hay and 30s a ton for the ensilage. This is considered a reasonable profit in Kansas, U.S.A., where these lambs were fattened and marketed (according to the Country Gentleman) in from 60 to 120 days. "The Argentine . Ministry of Agriculture" («ays the Review of the River Plate), "is at present engaged on. the formulation of a project^ or law having for its object^ the prohibition of the export of breeding cows and the restriction or prohibition of their slaughter. The indications thai the present demand for Argentine meat will increase substantially in the near future are unmistakable. The entry o£ France into the Argentine meat consuming market, is an accomplished fact." A substantial tax on every calf killed has proved useful in the Argentine ac a check on their indiscriminate slaughter. ' Prices for stock in Australia^ continue to Irule very high. A firm of Victorian auctioneers report that they sold during the month of August^ at Flemington, 4529 head of cattle, of which '3203 bullocks and steers averaged £20 14e 7d ; their highest average for a single consignment' being £39 7b 3d realised for 29 bullocks. They also sold 1144 cows and heifers at an allround average of £12 9s lOd. The Japanese Government has again purchased stud sheep in Australia — a stud ! merino ram and ten owes and five Romney ewes. About fifteen years ago, some sheep were bought in the Commonwealth for Japan, but little development in the sheep industry has taken place, as in all there are only between two and three thousand sheep in the country. It is stated that the shipment of 17,000 crates of rabbits which the Arawa will take away to London \is the largest ever despatched from Port Chalmers. There are from 24 to 30 _ rabbits to the crate, so that the shipment (says the Dunedin correspondent of the 1/yfctelton Times) amounts to from 408,000 to 510,000 carcases. Shearing has commenced at early stations on tbe East Coast of the North Island. As yet, the shortage of hande is not aausing a great deal of inconvenience, but it is thought that sheds which commence operations when the busy season is on will have difficulty in securing all the _ men they require. Poverty Bay Native shearers have refused to start work at the old rate of £1 per hundred. The Shearers' Union is stated to be doing all in its power to avert trouble, but it is thought that the season will not pass withoat individual demands for a higher rate. Some of the men argue that employers who have Bold their wool at excellent prices should not now object to a small increase in the shearing rate to meet the advance in the cost of living. A point in. connection with the increase of agricultural production in the United States is brought out in the annual report of_ the Secreta.ry for Agriculture at Washington. During the past fifteen years, Mr._ Houston, says, the population of the United States has increased by 23,000,000, but of this increase less than 6,000,000 has been in rural districts, and more than 17,000,000 in towns, cities, and urban centres. The moral d<ra.wn is that "nothing short of a comprehensive attempt to make rural life profitable, healthful, comfortable, and 'attractive will solve the problems" of agriculture. There are several reasons _ why deep ploughing and thorough cultivation, are the best means for eradicating weeds: — 1. Some seeds of weeds rot when deeply buried for a. time. 2. Most weeds are killed when deeply ploughed under. 3. Well-cultivated, deep, open soils are most easily freed from the roots of troublesome weeds. 4. The seeds 'of weeds most I readily germinate in an easy -working I soil with good tilth, so that the seedlings can the more quickly be killed by repeated workings, etc._ 5. The seeds of a cultivated crop germinate more quickly, and the crop grows more rapidly and vigorously, thus being 1 able the more successfully to overcome the competition of weeds. The following is an extract from the Sydney Stock and Station Journal of 14th I September: — "Cattle: Another aviation market ; supply light, quality plain, values up in the sky. Buyers were out for excitement to-day. Dear as beef has been this year, afl previous records were broken. It was beautiful weather, and almost every buyer went on a successful aeroplane trip. They go up very high, too. It was not safe to anticipate values. Now and again a salesman tried a 'loop the loop,' but suitable as the day was for aeroplanang thoy invariably came to grass and started afresh. It was exciting to watch, and must have been to operate in. The £5 peT 100 Tato for beef was reached several times during th© day for prime young- cattle, «nd the majority of these [ must have been fully 80s to 85s per 100. I The supply was altogether inadequate, and to make _ matters worse tbo quality •was very plain. Bayers of prime beef found ifc very bard to locate same, and when they did it was up in the sky. The buying power was very strong. With only 1136 cattle forward ifc may easily be imagined what values were Efee. It. vras the «arvival of the fittest, many being L kmm&^xSLoi fin market."-