Agricultural and Pastoral Column.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 660, 5 July 1871, Page 3

Agricultural and Pastoral Column.

AGRICULTURAL GATHERING IN ENGLAND. There is no part of England or Scotland in which the double-plough is not exciting more or less attention, and strenuous are the efforts of the rival manufacturers to excel ea,eh other. At a great meeting lately held at. Kirby Thore, Westmoreland, there were no fewer than $4 entries by twelve of the leading English and Scotch makers. The ploughing quite surpassed the expectations of Westmoreland " statesmen." The first prize (ten guineas and a silver medal) was unanimously awarded to Messrs. Howard; the second prize to Mr. Starker, a local competitor; the third prize to Messrs. Howard's second man ; and the fourth prize to Messrs. Ransome, of Ipswich, whose plough was in the hands of their champion man Barker, with fine Suffolk horses, sent all the way from Ipswich, whilst Messrs. Howard's men ploughed with horses of the dis'ri t. The first prize at the great meeting at Bramham Motr, was also gained by Messrs. Howard, of Bedford. This meeting was succeeded by another at Milnethorpe in the same county. Here again the Howards .vanquished both their English and Scotch rivals, carrying off the first prize (a silver cup) with ease, their plough being held by their champion man, George Brown. The judge remarked that this work was far ahead of anything in the field. To Messrs. Gray of Uddingston, Glasgow, was awarded the second prize, the third prize to Messrs Howard's second man, B. Sims, for rectangular ploughing (a pair of horses each 23 years old were used to draw this plough); and the fourth and fifth to Stalker, a local competitor—whilst neither Messrs. Ransome (who had their champion man, Barker, and horses from Ipswich) nor Messrs. Fowler, of Leeds, were noticed in the awards. The draught of seven cr mpeting ploughs, as ascertained by Messrs- Ransome's dynamometer, was as follows : Cwt. 'qrs. lbs. Cwt qrs. lbs. [Howard ... 4 0 0 1 Gray 4 2 21 Howard ..5 4 10 | Ransome... 4 3 15 - Staiker ■...4 2 51 Fowler 5 1 20 Stalker ... 4 2 7 | Since the new double-plough competitions began, Messrs. Howard have met Messrs. Ransome in nearly all parts of England twenty five times in less than twelve months, and have won no less than fourteen first prizes against them, and a total of twenty against all comers. The extensive adoption of double ploughs (says the Melbourne Leader) will cause a great change in the system of working land but if report speaks truly, a still greater innovation on the present plan of ploughing is imminent. Much inquiry has been made of late regarding the nature of a recent English invention, called a " revolving mouldboard plough," a brief desciption of which has been extensively published. The revolving mould board is s'tnply a wheel, or disc, with concave and convex surfaces, the concave being presented to the furrow at a proper angle from the face of the land side. The advantages claimed for the implement are—first, that it has very superior pulverising power, and that stubble land requires no harrowing; second, that it does not in any circumstances compress, smooth, and glaze the surface of the land slice—a great advantage in working clayey soils. It effectually buries all weeds and manures spread upon the surface, clogging is impossible, and the diminished friction effects an immense saving in the amount of horsepower ; the draught, indeed, is said to be (xtnmely light. If such a plough as this comes into general use, the principles upon which the present matches are conducted must be abolished; indeed, what is now termed neat ploughing will become a thing of th« past. As an example of the great value of artificial grasses, a well-known grazier assures the Goulbvrn Herald that last shearing he sheared no less than 27,000 sheep from 3000 acres of land, and having now some 2000 additional acres, he expects to shear no less than 50,000. To ma",ure or lime wet lands, is to throw manure, lime, and labour away. By stabling and shedding stock during the winter, a saving of one-fourth of the food may be effected—that is, one-fourth le»s food will answer, than when such stock may be exposed to the inclemency of the weather.

MISCELLANEOUS. A return, compiled by Mr W. Logie, Chief Inspector, showing the number of sheep in the Province for the year 30th September, 1870, has been laid on the table of the Provincial Council. Mr Logie prefaces the return with the following remarks, dated 12th June:— " The accompanying list shows a total of 2,479,525 sheep above six months old, of which number 1,589,015 are returned as depasturing on runs, 798,813 on freehold, 75,G50 on Goldfields, and 16,074 on Hundreds. The number 41,650 appearing in the return as diseased were confined in a corner of the Waitahuna district, with the exception of 1100 in a paddock at Lovell's Flat On last inspection in May, I found the disease so far reduced that no symptoms of scab could be noticedjamongst any ]of the flocks; but a few months must elapse' before they can be pronounced clean. By careful monthly inspections which I propose making, I am sanguine of being able soon to report that all the sheep in the province are free from disease." The Press confirms the statement that there will be no Hansard published during the next session of Parliament. It deprecates the change, and hints unmistakeably as to the reason. No newspaper can afford to report their debates in full, 'and some in? their j|own interests will not dare to do so. If this is*the way the Government are about to show their economy, we can tell them that it will net' e approved of by the colonists. *We cannot afford to dispense with a true record of theJsayings and doiugs of our representatives in these days of change and wild schemes. At Timaru, before Judge Ward, an action was brought against a blacksmith named Tate, for pricking, and thereby causing the death of a horse whilst shoeing it His honor held that unless in the case of malformation of the hoof, the prick showed unskilful shoeing, and the blacksraithpiad to pay £25, value of the animal, and £ll, veterinary surgeon's fee. Dr Hector* (says the Wanrjanui Herald) in the course of his examination last year before the select committee on colonial industries, is reported to have said, " the chief peculiarity of the Colville (Thames) goldfields is the large percentage of silver which the gold contains; in other countries this has been the frequent indication that, the mines will eventually turn intojsilver mines at a greater depth." It is said that owing to the wonderful yield from the Caledonian mine, it is the'intention of certain mining capitalists to sink much deeper in search of gold. If so, should Dr Hector's ideas prove true,'the result may be "a frightful selL" It would be interesting to watch the faces of certain* well-kown speculators on receiving the news that after sinking six hundred feet they had come upon a magnificent vein of—silver, not gold. The deficiency of last season's crop of wheat (says a Melbourne paper) is now beginning to be felt, and unless a large importation takes place, a considerable rise will be experienced during the spring and winter months, as most of the farmers have disposed of their produce, very few having stored their grain. The demand in France and England will be very extensive, especially in the former place, as thousands of acres of grain were destroyed during the war. Tne yield in Adelaide was also deficient, and but comparatively little exportation can take place from that colony. The exportations from California will it is'expected, be directed to Europe, unless prices of wheat rise very high in these colonies. Farmers, therefore, who have held thsir grain may expect to reap a good profit The Maories at the Bay 'of Islands have recently been to Hokianga, to scrape the bones of Tamati Waka's brother. No less than 300 gallons of grog were, it is stated, consumed on the occasion.

The impecunious position to which the Province of Marlborough is reduced is amusingly exemplified by a newspaper dispute which has recently arisen. The Express, in noticing the population returns of the late census, mentioned the fact that on the night the census was taken the Rangitoto was ashore in Picton harbour, and her crew and passengers were accordingly credited to the Province. On this a correspondent indignantly writes to the Press complaining " that if the General Government get hold of the information so gratuitously given, it will probably object to paying the capitation allowance for the extra number that this accidental detention gave to Marlborough. Should such be the result, the Pro\ ince will have to thank the Express for the loss of a considerable annuity." Wretched, j indeed, must be the state of a Province when a capitation allowance of £2 on the crew and passengers of the Rangitoto is deemed a considerable amount Shaking of telegraphic communication being established between England and Australia by the end of the year, the Launceston Examiner says :—" In a letter received by Mr W. Warren, the superintendent of the Tasmanian and Victorian Submarine Telegraph at Georgetown, the writer says : ' The charge on telegrams from England to Australia is not yet decided; but I think it will be about £9 for a message of twenty words.' " A correspondent of the Nelson Examiner says:—Can this additional taxation be borne by the colonists in these islands? Are they not already taxed higher than any other people in the world? Are the taxes not now more than they can struggle under ? Is not taxation now keeping away all capitalists? Are not all ]>ersons who are not quite ruined talking about realising and going away ? And are not all intelligent men looking with fear and trembling to the. news that would inform them that any portion of the proposed loan had been taken up ? When we read such speeches as that of Mr David Munro, do we not all tremble with him at the rash spending of so much money, that " may be a success, and may be failure ?" May be a failure ! It will be a failure! It can only be a failure ! It must be a failure, on its very merits, if ever so judiciously spent on " immigration " on " cheap railways," on * narrow guage," and the " Fairlie engine."