FARM TOPICS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1536, 7 August 1901, Page 56

FARM TOPICS

Scientific men and horseowners are divided in their opinions as to whether the shoe should be fitted "hot or cold. Both systems have been extensively and severely tested, and the result has been that cold fitting is, as a rule, only resorted to -when circumstances prevent the adoption of the other method, or when the owner of a horse, imagining that the hot shoe injures the foot, incurs the risks attending a bad fit to guard against this imaginary evil. It is my opinion (says a writer m the “Agricultural World”) that the shoe should always be fitted at a dark, red heat •uniform from heel to heel, not just hot at the toe with the heels cold, as is often the case in the “hurry-up” forge. The shoe should be kept in apposition to the bearing surface'of the hoof sufficiently long to 1 its impress on the wall right round, from heel to heel. The sole also may be included in strong feet. Instead of the hot shoe being harmful, it is decidedly beneficial, and is productive of good, as the charring or burning acts hs a preservative to the horn fibres that have been necessarily cut across in reducing the hoof to proner proportions. "It is never required that the hot shoe should be applied longer than a few seconds, if both shoe and foot are perfectly'level. # m » * w

Mr Rider Haggard, in his second article on “Back do tne Land, deals with the small holdings at Winterslow, m Hampshire, created by Major Poore for the benefit of the peasantry or small farmers. Mr Rider Haggard says that these ®mall holdings have been a snccess, and, he asms, 11 that is so, why should the same process not appear elsewhere? Major Poore it appears, has no faith in county councils, and he suggests that individual owners should follow his example in their respective districts. But, says Mr Rider Haggard, few owners have hie (Major Poore s) enterprise and energv, even if they have the capital and the time to devote to the same intricate business; whilst many iandlords for various reasons are deeply averse to the nrnciple of small holdings. Mr Haggard then asks:-"In the face of the admitted evils of rural depopulation, and the effacement of the yeoman class, is 1 not worth the while of Parliament to look into this matter?” Surely observes the “Rural World,” this matter has been looked into sufficiently by Parliament. . We do not think it is so touch Parliamentary initiative that is required as it is the disposi tion or the ability 'on tbe part of the owners of land to meet a want which, m Parliament has alreadv declared, is of tne first national importance.” * * * *

As regards enterprise organisation in stock breeding, says the Field, umber land has already given a good lead to its sister connties. Not content with the distinctive "position it now occupies, a further important and unique step is being considered, which, if decided up-on, should tend to spread the fame of the county and to improve the position of its farmers. The latest proposal is to prepare an official account of the cattle and sheep of this county and "County Durham, for circulation in foreign countries and tne colonies, and since the project has advanced to the point of appointing a committee to develop it, the movement is likely to lead to some tangible result. The proposed step would be a very fitting supplementary proceeding to a cattle-breeding scheme that has been in operation for some years.

Mr Rider Haggard, since we CR-ural World") last followed him, has been dealing with the agricultural conditions, etc., in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. Tne source of Guernsey's well-being appears to be in the enterprise and energy oi her inhabitants, “the small yeoman proprietors of the island, and in those Land Laws which prevent the aggregation of her acres into large estates. In regard to Jersey, Mr Rider Haggad was, as in the case of the other island, “amazed at the prosperity of the place." He says it is ‘/notning short of astounding that so small an area of land can produce so much wealth." The inquirer heard some grumblings and fears, but as he pertinently observes, "When on the top of them one is shown a little patch of twenty-three and a third acres of land, and is informed that it was recently sold at auction for to be used, not for building sites, but for the cultivation of potatoes, one is, perhaps, justified in draw, ing one's‘own conclusion—namel v that the industrious husbandmen of Jersey are in no danger of immediate ruin*'’ I * ■* * * »

Dairy -produce - butter, eggs, poultry, game, 'etc.-- is about to be sent direct to England under the Russian hag, but in British built and British-owned vessels. Stich, in brief, is the arrangement made with 'Messrs "Wilson, of Hull, three of whose fast steamers have been chartered for the purpose. They have been re-chris-tened with Muscovite names, and they will be manned by Russians, so as to secure port facilities in Russian territory, but they are nevertheless, it is said, to remain the property of their Hull owners. Bach steamer is fitted up with refrigerating apparatus for the better carriage of the produce in .question, which will be taken on board at Riga. To this port a through produce train will be run every week from Siberia, in connection with the steamers. Leaving “Riga each Saturday, the vessels will reach London on the following Tuesday. This will be the summer arrange ment. In winter, when Riga is blocked by ice, the service will be between Windau and London. -

Upon his J eraze against the Vermont breed of merino sheep, Mr T. Shaw, of the Western District of Victoria, has. been a perennial source of amusement to Australian sheep-breed-ers generally, but on no occasion more so than at the "recent sheep show in Sydney. A prominent exhibit in -he

main pavilion Vas a glass case containing three samples of wool, described under a signed statement by Mr Shaw as "No. 1 and 2 from my own sheep, and No. 3 as a sample sent to me from New South Wales as Vermont Wool.” The description further went on to state that the three samples had been duly submitted to a com petent wool judge for valuation, witn ‘tbe result that No. 1 was valued at 12id, No. 2 at iHd and No. 3 at 5d per lb respective ly The point of the joke comes in where Mr Shaw, upon being questioned as to who sent him No. 3, said he did not know, as’it came ,*».uonymously, and afterwards he was asked whether he did not know enough about wool to discover that his No. 3 exhibit was a sample of mohair, from ’tbe fleece of an Angora goat. The incident served to brighten up considerably the ordinary serious business of a sheep show, and Mr Shaw has’to his credit the fact that he owned up like a man. and wrote to the Gvdnev press certifving'that “he never =aw lovelier merino wool thn»> that on the Vermont sheep shown at Sydney.”

The sale of a selection from the herd of Red Polled cattle belonging to Lord Roths. child, at Tring Park, Hefts, resulted in an average of <£24 14s over fifty-seven head. The top prices were Mr H.G. Regnart’s 60 guineas for the three-year old heifer Charity/and his 44 guineas for the four-year-old cow Hastoe Red Rose, ancFMr Garrett Taylor's 50 guineas for the two year-old heifer Cicely, and his 44 guinea© for th© four year, old cow Grace Darling.

v « « ** ** At the dispersion of the herd of Shorthorn cattle belonging to Mr. H. Denis de Vitre, Charlton House, "Wantage, Berks, an average of .£29 7s was obtained over forty head. Amongst the best prices were Mr Holt-Needham’s 70 guineas for Belle Butterfly and her bull calf and his 57 guineas for the red roan three-year-old heifer Violet Butterfly, the Hon. W. F. D. Smith’s 61 guineas for the roan two-year-old heifer Twelfth Night, and his 4/ guineas for "the red and white three-year-old heifer March Butterfly.

* * * * ~ An extensive sale of pure_bred Berkshire pigs from the herd Of Mr Russell Swanwick took place recently at the Royal Agricultural College Farm, Cirencester. This herd has a world wide 'reputation on account both of its successful showyard career and of the remarkable sales that have periodically been held in connection with it. In 1876, 104 pigs, chiefly of the Sallie and Stumpy strains, were sold for £1358 to an American buyer. Sallie 896th pro. duced the grand young boar that was sold last year at a high figure to the Japanese Government. In recent years exportations have also -been made to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ceylon, United States, Teneriffe, Germany, Italy, and Russia.

Pigs are proverbially “all muck or ail money.” In the United States just now they appear to be all money. “The men who Taise and feed hogs,” says the "Hansas City Star,” “are enjoying their full share of the prevailing prosperity. Prices of hogs have been steadily advancing for some time past and are now

20 per cent, higher than they were a year ago, and nearly double the prices that prevailed when the depression in agriculture

was at its lowest point.

Hogs were never

before worth as much per head, when there were as many in the "country, as at the present time, and the values that prevail now make hog raising the most profitable industry of the Western farmer. The recent upward movement is due not so much to a diminution of supplies as to an in-

* creased demand for -pork products. The j fact that labour everywhere in the copntrv ! is well employed at good wages makes the consumption of meats unusuallv large, and the exports continue to keep up almost to

last year's figures, notwithstanding the

j advance in prices." w w Hr * * In spite of higher wages the agricultural labourer continues to leave tne land in

England. During the last five years the we-Kiy wages paid to this ciass in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire have increased by 3s s£d, and this state of things

is more or less general 'all over the coun-

try. In Durham the average wage paid to agricultural labourers last year, including allowances, was 22s 4d, in Northumberland zus if a, and in Derbyshire 203 6d. These

are the three counties in which wages were highest. The lowest averages were in Dorset, Oxfordshire, and Suffolk, the wages paid being 15s 4d, 15s Id, and 15s 9d respectively. These figures seem to prove that farming in -the north must be more remunerative than in the south:

According to the “North-Western Miller" (U.S.A.), the mills of Argentina could turn out somewhat over 10,000,000 barrels of flour per year, if they were to fun full time; but home consumption and the Brazilian trade take only -about half that owamount. Our contemporary notes that “Argentina practically has no other export flour trade, but the millers are becoming restless under their limited trade facilities, and with so much milling capacity going to waste. Norwill they be satisfied until they find a market, in Europe, -for something like .£5,000,000 barrels of flour per ■year. As most of "this amount will probably eventually go to Great Britain, and as making this extra amount of dlour in Argentina will reduce the exportable amount of wheat nearly 25,000,000 bushels, the millers of Great Britain will have another terrible (South) American competitor, who will not only put flour into their markets, but keep wheat out. * * *- * *

Mr W. Hammond, manager of Hughenden Station, North Queensland, states that the returns forwarded to the registrar-gen-eral at the beginning of the year by the pastoralists did not represent the extent of the losses by any means. He instances that Cambridge Downs, which returned 142,000 sheep, allowing 45 per cent, for losse:-;, is now able to shear only 10.000. Another station, which returned 120,000, is able to muster only 25,000. Hughenden Station returned 50,000 but now find they

have only 30,000. In most cases the sheer) have been 'away on agistment, and the season has not yet been good enough to justify their owners returning them to -*the runs. Many paddocks which had runs are full of weeds, but "are; destitute of grass, the fact being that there was no serviceable rain last year. The impoverished country is of such extent that a remarkable rainfall is required to it to recover. Some cattle men have had somewhat similar experience. The country in the vicinity 'of Winton looks splendid, but no stock is available to ’eat the grass.

At a conference of the fat stock salesmen of Sydney and country agents, it was agreed that the "rates of commission on the sale of property should be as follows: —-Under £SOO 5 per cent.; over £SOO and under £IOOO 2* per cent.; <£sooo to <£lo,ooo 2 per cent.; £IO,OOO to 15,000, H per cent.; *£ls,000 to £20,000 li per cent.; over £2O,OUU 1 per cent. The opinion was expressed by resolution that J it was desirable that the Government abattoirs should be established near the Homebush saie.Tar<k; * *

Russia is the greatest horse-producing country in the world. Then come the United. States, Argentina, Austro-Hun-gary, and Britain, but, notwithstanding this fact, breeders are constantly changing blood, and mating for some features not possessed by native horses. The Germans now find that the Oregon horses they imported for -remounts are inferior to the Australians, and are more unruly and difficult to train. And Russia is not satisfied* with her equine stock. Baron Paul Vietinhoff, of St. Petersburg, is now in the States picking up 1000 horses for shipment, and he-is anxious to breed a horse which shall unite the speed of an American thoroughbred and tbe form of a Russian or Cossack steed; He would like to amalgamate the two breeds and overcome climatic conditions, but he has not yet discovered the neutral ground where speed, power and form can be built up. • ♦ • • *

The Convention of Stock Boards of New South Wales was concluded on July 3rd. Resolutions were adopted that the stock boards be empowered to lay poison on half the width of travelling stock reserves on due ■'notice being given at tbe end of each section; in favour of a reduction of the railway freight on live stock; protesting against the arbitrary “manner of assessing sheep, and expressing the opinion that a registration fee J should be placed, on all stations in the State.

The value of salt for sheep is shown by an experiment in France, where of three lots'of animals fed alike on hay, straw, potatoes and beans for 124 days, one lot had no salt, one had ioz of salt each every day, and the other had three-fourths of an ounce. Those that had Joz gained 4ilb each more than those that had no salt, and l{-lb ‘more than those which had more than a So it seems that too much salt can be given as well as too little. The salted sheep had lslb more of wool, and a better fleece than those that had no salt, showing better results in the wool, that is larger profits than in the flesh.

The London “Daily Express" has commissioned Mr Rider Haggard to tour the country-districts of England, and to write a series of articles upon the agricultural affairs of to day. In his first article on the “State and Outlook of the English Countryside," he deals with the Salisbury Plain district. He mentions a farm of 700 acres, which in 1812 was "sold for ~£27,000. It was again sold in 1892 for £7ooo—an enormous drop. When the present tenant hired it 27 years ago, he paid ,£6OO a year rent, and ‘£l96 a year tithe, whereas at the present time he pays ,£250 a vear rent, and the ■‘landlord pays che tithe. This is the case, says the “Rural World," where the tenant, we imagine, receives a greater income from the property than the owner of it, the former of whom, we should add, has also had built for him by the owner a new house. The farmer, nevertheless, willingly stated that he himself made more money out of the farm when he paid about £BOO a year than whan he pays only <£2so.

H -tt- * Under encouragement of the Russian Government it is said that Siberia is gaining 20,000 farmers per year. Among its exports are cereals, butter, wool, leather, and dried and preserved meats. Already this remote country, which the popular imagination is apt to picture as a vast waste, the abode of frost and snow anti misery, is becoming talked of as a possible competitor with the well known cerealproducing countries of the world. •x -» * *■ * '

Fourteen steamers landed cattle, sheep, mutton carcases, and fresh beef at Liverpool during one week from the various North and South American and Canadian ports. The total importation amounted to 6001 cattle, 8470 slieep, 28,850 mutton carcases, and 39,851 quarters of beef. Compared with the arrivals of the preceding week these figures show an increase of 650 cattle, 3386 sheep, and 12,647 quarters of beef, and a decrease of 22,855 mutton capcases. , » * * * *

In France the spell of fine weather has brought about an improvement in the appearance of the crops on the stronger classes of soil, but on the light lands the cereals have suffered from drought. Reports from the agricultural districts are accordingly very variable' in tone. In Normandy and Brittany the prospects are hopeful, but in Champagne, Beauce, Brie, and the midland ‘districts they are less encouraging.

The Wopdville works of the North Island Co-operative Bacon Company are said to be the most complete of their kind in Australasia. The plant is capable of dealing with 50,000 pigs a “week, and at the present time five men get through the work of killing and dressing 200 pigs a day. It is satisfactory to know that, although farmers are not yet

educated to the proper feeding of «i baconer, stock is being bred on the right; lines. According to Mr C. Anderson, chairman of directors of the company, and a noted authority on pig breeding, the colony is better off for pure bred pigs than for any other class of stock. New Zealand pig breeders, he says, have some of the finest stock in Australasia, and as fine as could be had anywhere. Mr Anderson lays down th© following principles from which the development of a baconer should be formed: As the barooner is meant to develop flesh —purely flesh —he should have an abundance of food and pure air, and there is no better time than the suckling period of a pig’® life to develop th© flesh-forming char* acteristics. Let the suckling have as much food as he can eat, with exercise and fresh air, and he will be fit for the market in six months. If, however, there is a period of three months in his young life when he is turned out, that three months is practically lost, and, instead of being fit for killing in six months, it will be nine months before he is fit to b e turned into bacon. If be has a five months’ rest, it will be a year before he is fit for the curing-room. If the baconer is not matured sufficiently by six months he is too big for the market, being too heavy and coarse, he is also too big in the bone ; and consequently gives great waste in curing. Thes® facts regarding the baconer are being but slowly realised by breeders, but aa the bacon industry grows and flourishes, they must come to be recognised.

An important advance in the method of packing butter for export was advocated at th© recent dairying conference promoted by the National Dairy Association at Palmerston North. This method is to coat the inside of the boxes with paraffin wax. At present the but-ter-boxes ar e lined with a heavy-weight parchment paper, but that does not pre_ vent the edges of the butter being tainted by the wood. On the other hand, boxes coated with paraffin wax (a perfectly odourless but effective protection and quite impervious to moisture) har® been proved to hold the butter free from the slightest taint: Another advantage claimed for the method is that the paraffin wax would save the loss of moisture which is now often absorbed by the wood of the box, and w'hich decreases th® edin factory of the Taieri and Peninsula considerable friction between buyers and sellers. A shrinkage would still fake place, of course, but the degree could be controlled, as th© weight of butter when unpacked in London would be th® same weight as when packed in th© colony. The cost of the process is only between a half-penny and a penny per box. The advantages of freedom from taint, saving in weight and general reputation, would more than counterbalance this trifling outlay. The system has been in vogue for some time in. Canada, and has been adopted at tb® leading factory in the colony—-the Dun. edin factory of th© Taieri and Peninsula" Milk Supply Company. Messrs J. Nathan and Co., of this city, are introducing the system to the North Island, having made arrangements to instal the necessary plant in their factories. Tb® benefits of th© syst©m are so patent that in a very short time no butter factory plant will be considered complete without a paraffining plant.