LIFE ON A SHEEP RUN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 298, 18 December 1909, Page 7

LIFE ON A SHEEP RUN.

Mr Lionel Graham, who has returned to Tiinaru after spending four or five years in charge of an_Argentine/ sheep station 400 miles "from Buenos Aires, naturally has some interesting things to say about that vast country. First and foremost is the fact that it is so large that one person can really see but very little of it, unless he has a mania for travelling, and keeps on the move for years. Most of his time was spent oik Gibson Bros.' sheep ranches, of one of which he was in charge. This had never been under the plough, but by surface sowing, and the spread of seed by stock, the native pasture had been smothered by English ryegrass and clover, and this was the condition of most of the older occupied runs. There are natives shrubs too, and these are a last resort for the stock in time of drought. A great drought —one of the worst within living memory—afflicted Argentina last summer and into the winter, the worst, because whereas droughts are not uncommon, they are usually regional or patchy, whereas in this case the whole country was affected. There was a great loss of stock, and prices slumped tremendpusly, because many pea-! pie must either sell or kill for the mere skins. These droughts make Argentina, no country for a small man. The sheep most favoured are the Lincoln # and the Rambouillet merino. It is found necessary to continually import fresh blood to keep up the quality of the wool, and the size of the carcase. Sheep are afflicted with many diseases. Scab is prevalent, and lung worm is a scourge among lambs, and, as cattle do better, this stock is most in favor.

Nevertheless the stock oi^heep as ammensfij &etaing\on;for ?Q millions, as iniich of the interior is too dry for cattle. The station work is done very much as in New Zealand. Fences .are the same—wire fences and droppers (German wire mostly). The shearing season is the same as in New Zealand, and many machines are now in use. The native shearer is not so quick as the New Zealander, but he is more careful. Mr Graham says he found these people very good to get on with. The haulage is done by horses or mules, the sheep country being too poor for oxen; and one of the novelties, of the country is the vehicle, a waggon with wheels 10 ft. in diameter. Within a long radius of the port,_a good deal of the land is now devoted to wheat (his brother has 1200 acres this year), and an enormous totaVis grown. The cattle country is chiefly in_the north, where there is more moisture, and a very good stamp of cattle is now common. The rich stock-breeders think little of giving thousands for a good "bull, Shorthoirn or Hereford, the former the most favoured. The^ annual agricultural show at Buenos Aires is a big thing, but it is chiefly a bull show—as many as 800 bulls have been shown at once. Reverting to sheep for a moment, Mr Graham says that Argentina will never be able to compete tyitli New Zealand in fat lambs; the climate is against her. They cannot grow turnips, the heat of summer T>eing too great, and an experiment with pumpkins as an alternative, made "by Mr Gibson, proved a failure. As a country Argentina may be likened to Canterbury, enormously magnified. There is the western snow-capped range, the Andes, a broad ibelt of lower ranges, a belt of shingly plain at the foot of these, more or less well watered by streams from the mountains which at last sink into the ground; and then, eastward of this the pampas, an enormous area of deep soil like river silt, where, as a saying goes, one can't be a shepherd because there isn't a stone to throw at a dog. An idea of the breadth of the country may be gained from Mr Graham's statement tnat he accompanied his boss, Mr Gibson, on a trip to the Mendoza country, at the foot, of the frontal ranges, and it took 28 hours of railing, on the straightest long railroad in the world, to get there- This trip was a revelation to him. with the pampa country. Mendoza is a garden of Eden all through irrigation. Vines, vines, vines, hundreds of acres of them, the best yielding 100 galons an acre, and fruit orchards are fast becoming as extensive. Unfortunately there is no water available for the ir-

rigation of the pampas. As a matter of fact, it would only be needed in seasons of drought. At other" times drainage would be of more service. Take it all in all, Mr Graham thinks, there's no place like New Zealand.