FARM TOPICS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1695, 24 August 1904, Page 69

FARM TOPICS

It was announced some time ago that the British War office authorities had consented to give Victorian producers a chance of tendering for the supply of meat to the troops at Malta. On July 6 the Agricultural Department received, through the Federal Government, a number of tender-forms for this purpose. These forms, along with the conditions of tender, may be inspected on application to the Secretary for Agriculture.

“'The Times” has issued its special report on the condition of the British wheat crops, as at July 1. The condition is described by percentages, the standai’d cf perfect, healthfulness and exemption from injury, with average growth and development for the time of the year, being reckoned as 100. On this basis it is cabled that the average condition of the wheat crops in Great Britain is 82 per which compares with 88 per cent, on j'ulv 1. 1908, and 94 per cent, on July. 1902. The present condition is much below the average at this time of the year, and as there is reason to believe that the area under wheat this season is small, it can only be expected that the total yield will be moderate, and that importation into the United Kingdom dining the forthcoming season will be on a full scale.

Currency has been given (says the “Daily Express”) to the startling theory that “half the pigs killed for food have cancer.” An eminent surgeon, closely connected with the Cancer Research Fund, told an “Express” representative that the statement was “beneath notice.” “Every known animal species is liable to cancer,” he said, “but a great deal of nonsense has been talked about foods which produce cancer. People who lived on salt fish diet were said to be immune from cancer ; certain vegetables were also regarded as liable to create cancer, and so on. The investigations have proved conclusively that mammals, birds, reptiles, salt and fresh water fish and every kind of food are all equally liable to cancer.”

Abraham and Williams, Ltd., conducted a clearing sale of Mr YV. K. Preston’s stock recently, and despite the large number of cows oifering at tue present time exceptionally good prices were obtained, not only for the cattle, but horses and sheep as well- I'he attendance was good and all lines were sold at following quotationstiows a\ tinged £B, toe bet; realising £l3. Draught horses brought £27 to £55, hacks £ll 10s to £l6, spring carters, £lO to £2O, ewes in lamb 14s lid to 15s.

Recently an unusually heavy bullock was put under the hammer at the Addington saleyards. and bought by a butcher. A discussion arose as to its weight, and finally closed in the acceptance of a wager as to the ability of a well-known dealer to carry a forequarter unaided, from the lorry to the shop. The wager was settled, and the dealer aocomolished the task. The forequaiter scaled*47olb. The merit of the feat lies in the awkwardness of the quarter for a lift, and the difficulty of balance.

Commenting on the increase in the price of wool, the “Poverty Bay Herald” observes: —“With wool and meat at such satisfactory prices, a check will probably bo given to some extent to the development of dairying. A pound of crossbred wool is at the present moment of greater intrinsic value than a pound of butter fat. and that being so it is not surprising if pastoralists who have been thinking of turning their sheep farms into dairy runs decide for the present to continue the growth of wool and mutton. There is room, however, in the country for the two great industries. Dairying, even at present prices is profitable, and will attract the men with small means and large families and'provide for them, as the result of their industry, a thoroughly comfortable living. * * * * *

Poultry fanning will pay anvone who manages properly, says Mr Gordon, the American expert, but the man who wants to throw them a handful of grain and smoke the rest of the day had better leave poultry-farming alone. People is this colony do not. as a rule, guard sufficiently against draught in the houses, which is the most deadly enemy of egg production, nor do they lay enough stress on cleanliness and pure water; and last, but not least, even poultry-farmers in New Zealand, if Shown a bag of bran, pollard, oats, wheat or maize, cannot tell you their food value for egg production. The consequence is that while many feed food which, being concentrated, goes to fat instead of egg, there are just as many

enough, and then both wonder why their birds wdll not lay. Let everyone who starts in poultry follow out the principles of cleanliness, punctuality, attention to details, and also learn the properties of the various foods fed to his birds, and what the birds require, especially the' laying birds. If to these things he adds an intelligent use of the •trap nest he will get a far greater return per acre from poultry than from any other branch he may go in for.

Some time ago (remarks the “Sydney Mail”) £SOOO worth of weevily Argentine maize that was unsaleable on the Sydney market was sold for export to Liverpool at a loss of £3OOO. When the shipment arrived arbitration cases were instituted, the result being a further claim for £I2OO, thus leaving the unhappy importer with £SOO as representing his original outlay of £SOOO. The speculators lot is not always a* happy one.

Dairy cows sold by Messrs Gorton and Son. at Feilding recently for Mr Ernest Short, brought from about £3 10s to £9. This and other recent sales indicate a fall in the value of dairy cows. * # -x. tr «

Fancy prices are being offered for dairy cows just now in parts of Taranaki. A Normanby road dairyman has just refused £l2 10s a head for a herd of forty animals. The same cows earned for this past season 4s Gd short of £l4 per head.