FARM NOTES.

Grey River Argus, 8 June 1922, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

The value of the force of pedigree is that of true breeding from parents whose blood has been for al least, several generations kept unmixed with alien strains; it is this that gives prepotency. In other words, the basis an I the justification of pedigree breeding is expressed in the old saving that blood will tell. A pedigree animal may be, and frequently is, no better individually than a cross bred, but its value lies in the fact, that as a sire or a dr m it will exert an overwhelming influence on the next generation a.s com pared with the crossbred animal. The present rate of hank interest was characterised as “usury” by Mr F. C. iSiudkolme ns at Farmers’ Union meeting in South Canterbury tho other day. Ur said that the b; nks wore making enormous profits; yet when the farmer wanted assistance from the banks he could never get it, while the banks ‘•jumped on’’ the farmer whenever they wanted to. He urged that the Farmers’ Union should bring pressure Io bear to have the interest rate reduced. After some discussion, it was resolved on Air Studholme’s motion, seconded by Mr Hayman, that the South Canterbury Executive should consider the matter and that a remit should be forwarded on to the Dominion Con ference. When Mr Massey was in London he went to some trouble to obtain statistics which showed that the total num ber of sheep in the world had considerably decreased since pre-war years. Taking this fact into account, he foresaw the time would come when the world’s supply of wool would be much below the demand, and then fortune would smile once more on the producers. It is becoming more than ever evid (mt that the consumption of wool is out-stripping the produrt.Cvn. In the Otago district cattle have no: been sold at such cheap rates as at present since 1893, when beef suit- ble for butchers realised from 18/- to 22/per 1001 b. The prices realised for beef at la: t Wednesday’s sale at Burnside were equivalent to 17/6 to 22/- per lOojb. Then again, mutton has not been sold at such cheap rates since 1904. It then realised from 3}<l to 3’}d per lb, while at Wednesday’s sab 1 the price ranged from 2t?d "’bl P Pr lb. Mr W. .L Freeth, of North T: ranaki, is in the field with a new and plausible cure for tho beef slump. “If farmers were interested enough to take up the world’s statistics for sheep and cattle,’’ he writes to the “Dominion’’ this week, “they would find that for the last ten years cattle have increased at the rate of 1,500,000 per annum, whilst the sheep have decreased : t the rate of 6,500,000 per annum. New Zealand’s share being about 1,000,000. Co-operation and concentration are combining to prove acceptable to the American wool-grower, as is evidence.i by an assertion made in Chic' go by Mr C. <L Fawcett, Director of Wool Marketing for the American Farm Bureau Federation, who stated that 45,000 wool-growers of the Cnited States prepared their product for the market this year, and sold it on a. quality basis through wool pools directly to the tex tile mills, thereby st ving 1,000,000 dollars, without advancing the cost of the wool to th<‘ consumer. “Peas and oats furnish an excellent and safe pasture for sheep and lambs,’’ states Professor Shaw, leading American authority on animal husbandry. “It is excellent because of its marked pal atabilitv, because of the amount which it furnishes and because ot its time liness. It comes in a season when much milk is wanted for the lambs, and much milk is sure to be the outcome if the dams t re grazed upon this pasture when it is succulent. And it is safe because no ill-effects may be expected from pasturing the sheep upon it.’’ These virtues should make the mixture a capital pasture crop. Suffolk sheep are better suited to withstand the wet winters than Merinos. During the wet seasons the white hoofs of the Merino grow out very long, and if not constantly trimmed accumulate dirt, which often causes “foot-rot.’ ? On the other hand, the dark hoof of the Suffolk is apparently very much harder and very rarely needs trimming. Owing to the open face of the suffolk and constant freedom from wool on the head, in which respect it excels all Down breeds, there is little or no danger of blindness, which is originally caused by grass seeds lodging in the wool around the eyes and injuring the eyeball. The Prime Minister, the lion W. IL Massey, made some reference to the results secured by farmers, who have been using phosphates brought from Nauru Island when speaking at the Pukekohc Winter Show the other day. He said he had personally observed that on land top-dressed with other varieties of phosphates tho stock had <*aten down the feed to within three or four inches of the soil, but on land enriched with Nauru phosphates, the fee<l had been eaten down to the earth. Mr M-’ - -- Gated that Nauru could keep New Zealand supplied with, fertiliser• for the next 200 years. The Dominion was using 20,000 tons a season, and he was assured that it would pay the country to accept 150,000 tons a year.