ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6325, 27 September 1907, Page 3

ON THE LAND.

answees to cobhespondents. [We shall be glad to answer, as far as possible, all questions relating to the pastoral, agricultural. and dairying industries, beo-culturc, horticulture, poul-try-raiui/iff. etc. Inquirers must send their full name and address, as a guarantee of good faith, but may also forward L a nom de plume for purposes of reply. Iteaders are also invited to forward comment or personal experience on any points raised in these answers or on this page.— Ed. Land Page, “N.Z. Times.] fi. W, E.—Medicinal treatment is of practically no value in strlnghalfc. Occasionally operative treatment haa given good results, but even it cannot be relied upon to effect a cure. In any case you could not hope to successfully perform tbo operation, which is a delicate one. No one hut a skilled veterinarian should undertake it. HOUSE SALES. T/ednesday to Saturday.—N.Z.L. and M.A. Co., and Williams and Kettle, Waipukul run. / WELLINGTON WOOL SALES. November 15th, at 2 p.m. December 6th, at 2 p.m. January 17th. at 2 p.m. February 21st, at 2 p.m. SHOWS. ifaoawatn A. and P. Association's Spring Show.—October 30, 31, and November 1.

A FLAX EXHIBITION TO ADVANCE THE GREAT NATIVE PLANT. A SUGGESTION. In phormium tonas the Dominion r’ , rec-/v. -rvrivo p’nnt (’T[ hfj Ties. lined to become one of the principal sources of the national wealth. Even in its present primitive stage the flax industry is an important asset of the country, but it must assume vast proportions when science will have shown oroducccs low to grew and mill the thro to the greatest advantage. I’h j vast field for investigation uui experiment presented in the nrtiyp plant may bo realised when it is considered that the plant \a i 1 r. pr-ov'-t form is in much the same position as .the tobacco plant when Raleigh introduced it to our forefathers. And what has been done for the “soothing herb” may in equal measure bo accomplished for tho flax •lant. The milling of phormium i bc-nduriod without cystcm or design. To tho producer all plants are tho same, and the fax is prepared for market in tho most crude manner. Wo may leave the scientific investigation needed to the State Department, which safeguards tho interests of primary production so well, but there is a vast field before the State and the press in the education of the grower and tho miller. In this connection a lesson may well be drawn from the dairy industry. On© of the most effective means of educating the men engaged in milk production is tho special show combined with the dairy conference. At the show', dairymen—producers as well as manufacturers—have all the latest machinery and appliances designed to Improve quality and lessen cost of production brought before them; at the conference subjects pertaining to their special branch of rural industry are dealt with by authorities and dismissed from a practical standpoint; and tho occa. sion affords an excellent opportunity for much private discussion on the work in general. We believe that the holding of a'flux show, or exhibition, in the city of Wellington would afford a similar opportunity for the men engaged in this industry to improve their knowledge of the business, gain fihe latest information concerning it, and advance the standard of their work by coming in touch with one another, and so benefit by tho experiences leading to success or failure they would thus become acquainted with. The city of Wellington is suggested as the Kite for such an exhibition because it is the most central and important grading port in the Dominion as well as being the headquarters of the Flax Division of the Department of Agriculture and the seat of Government. The drillshed would be a suitable building for the purpose, even though the light is not all that may be desired; for the exhibition need not last longer than two weeks. The features of the exhibition w'ould bo bales of fibre of the different grades, with grade points attached—for we may take it the Minister and Secretary for Agriculture would support the movement—as well as the fibre of special varieties of leaf recommended by State experts for cultivation Manila hemp and other fibres could also be displayed. Agents ■.nil manufacturers of flax mill plants would no doubt exhibit their wares, and a good display could probably be iocurcd from the rope and twino nanufaotu irs. A most interesting exhibit could bo made up of fabrics manufactured from phormium or -admixtures of it. Photographs illustrative of tho different stages of the industry would lend to the attractiveness of tho general display, and these jould include several of a very instructive character. Many interesting demonstrations could be made—the effect on the fibre of incorrect treatment in the different processes, the effect of using fibre ropes against those made of tow, etc. Probably the Department of Agriculture, which has taken up exhibition work with suen unique success, would make a, display from the Weraroa Experimental Station, showing whole plants at different lures ami : ILO fibres produced from tne many varieties. With the 00-opera-t’Oi- of tho Flaxmilleis’ Association and the commercial men of the city interested in tho business a display worthy of the industry could be made. A small entrance fee could be charged, though the educative influence of tho exhibition could be considerably widtmod by admitting senior pupils of primary schools and technical school ioholars free of charge. Were State experts to bo in attendance, instructive locturottes' could bo given tho children, and oven adults, at certain hours. Not the least important part of such an exhibition would be a Plax Conference. A suitable programme for this would be a general meeting of tho Flaxmillers’ Association," with special addresses on other evenings by experts, one, say, by a Plant Pathologist, another by a State Flax Instructor, and another by either a State expert or a successful grower on the cultivation of tho plant. Discussions on tho subjects—inquiries and relation of experiences—would add to the value of the addresses. The publication of the proceedings of such a conference would be a most important contribution to the literature o» the subject.. We would ask those ef ear readerej "Who are inter**tad in the flax industry

to consider the scheme crudely outlined above and make any suggestions they consider would assist in bringing it to fruition.

PARTURITION TROUBLES. THE SOLUTION. The considerable mortality which has taken place this season among ewes in lamb points to tho fact that growers are not giving tho attention to tho management of their flocks they should. As has already been emphasised in these columns it is nil a question of feed. Instead of tho piegnant ewe being given oucculont food—loosening to tho system in its effect—it in allowed to feed on dry, indigestible grass, which renders it unlit to pass through its parturition with eafoty. It is a common enough experience that where ewes in lamb areon txceh grass, in new bush country, practically no trouble is experienced; and the position is tho same on artificial pastures when newly laid down. Where succulent pasture is not available, green oats, rye, or Capo barley would provide tho necessary suitable fodder. True, tho ewes would have to be only allowed tho run of this for portion of tho day, but it growers desire to savo thoir sheep, and produce vigorous progeny, some caro and attention is necessary. An interesting object lesson was recently afforded one of our most successful fat lamb raisers. Ho had one lot of ewes on newly-burnt bush, country, ana another lot ou an old pasture. Lambing camo on, and ho found that while there were no losses from parturition troubles among the sheep on the fresh grass,, the mortality was heavy among those on the stale feed. Ho at once moved thn latter on to a more succulent grass, and tho trouble ceased. The lesson is jovious. To sum up the position—that grower who would produce healthy slock must provide them with wellbalanced food and handle them with some degree of care. It is ridiculous to suppose that an animal developed to an artificial typo can be left to the vagaries of nature. Success will only come to the man who realises that ho is handling a cultivated animal, and will treat it accordingly.

SETTLERS AND TRADESMEN. The Minister of Lands was asked in tho House by Mr Field whether he had received a copy of a resolution, passed by tho Horowhenua County .Council at its last meeting, protesting against the facilities alleged to exist enabling U-tweti in perpetuity by the conditions of their tenure to incur debts to timber merchants, ironmongers, and other tradesmen, without affording any hope of recovery of same in the case of unscrupulous lessees; and whether, if rascality has been and is being practised by certain lessees on tradesmen as suggested, the Minister will introduce legislation to prevent the continuance and recurrence of such a deplorable condition of things? ■ . , The Minister replied:—No copy of the resolution passed by the Horowhenua County Council has yet reached me, nor am I aware that lessees in perpetuity have such exemption as is stated, beyond lessees of village homestead allotments under section 163 of the Land Act, 1892. The ordinary lessees in perpetuity are subject to precisely the same conditions and liabilities as other tenants of Crown land, and it is only m the case of -certain village settlers who were allotted laud under special conditions, that Parliament, has protected their improvements against seizure for debt. * i

gleanings. Wo must work toward a, permanent agriculture; that is. on agriculture under which tho farms will not grow poerrar and poorer when big crops are taken from them.

"Is it a fact that you pointed out two dead sheep running with the mob. was the somewhat mysterious query directed by a solicitor to a witness at tho Wanganui Court tho other morning. A Melbourne Press cable dispatch received yesterday states that samples ot "Early Rose” potatoes placed in the Government cool stores m . February, 1906, and taken out eighty-two weeks after, were found to be in' excellent condition.

Tho turnover of the, Timaru Co-opera-tire Association for last year was .£900,000, profit £32.000, dividend eight cor oent., bonus six per cent, on shareholders’ purchases and salaries and wao-es. Three hundred pounds was added to the reserve fund, which now stands at J 845,580;

•The pick of the (sections in the Eimu Gully block disposed of by ballot roccntlv, which was drawn by a cash applikiit, has (already further changed hands. It is understood the buyer has given £6OO for the section, for nearly two hundred people applied. The mice received by the Crown was about £330.

The question has been ashed; How many bushels of wheat are required to make a ton of flour, and what is the amount of pollard, bran, . and waste. rpViA Answer we are fold is; *8 bushels —that is. 28S01b made up of 20001 b of flour, 5001 b of bran, 3001 b of pollard, and 801 b of waste. With Australian wheat 43 bushels make a ton cf flour as against our 18. ' ’

The days of women mpneering: are not vet over, as far as Wairarapa is oon* eemed. Three sturdy • daughters of a hardy parent, who drew two sections in a recent hind ballot for a subdivided Wairarapa estate, are now ■assisting’ their father in clearing the land of scrub. TJnd°r the vigorous efforts of the feira e* scrub-cutter© ,the land is being very! rapidly improved. It is not often New Zealand buyers of fat cattle get the opportunity of purchasing pure-bred Highland cattle, although this class of beef is always well competed for in the markets of Gre*t Britain. At Burnside last week, says the Otago ''Daily Times/' two prime specimens of these cattle were offered on (account of Mr Wm. Patrick, from his Balmoral Farm, and under good competition were secured for the local trade. An effort has been mad© in Canterbury to bring the master farmers and the farm labourers together in conference on the question of the latter's demands as to hours and wages. Mr Bichard Evans, speaking on the proposed conference; said thev were ready tc meet a committee selected by the men from , amongst their fellow farm labourers, but that the members of the farmers' Union had decided not on any account to meet with "labour agitators/' - A Greenfield settler has exemplified what native shrewdness allied -with r good knowledge of stock can do (says a Southland correspondent), even on a see-; tion, which 'was not considered at the' time' of subdivision to be one of th* choicest. While tho slump in sheep was on a few months ago. consequent on the drought, ho mad© a trip north amt bought largelv. Tho flock wintered won the rough feed of the Greenfield farm, and three weeks ngo the settler sold o -t every Ijoof, at a net profit of £SOO. In regard to the decrease of 104,413 sheep in the Ashburton County this, year, tho Ashburton "Guardian" says:r"As wo baro pointed out, the drought to which tho Ashburton County has bcon subjected induced farmer* to materially; deweasa ikvir jl.'iak*, in View of the shortage of food during tk* wiatar months. A large ■yroportioa of the sheep thus sold ware s&eurod by dealers, who;

either railed them or had them driven to other portions of the province, an-. even farther afield, wh®ro feed was more plentiful. As a result of tho rapid growth of fed and tho comparatively carlv spring many of tho farmers in the Ashburton County are now understocked.” The question of appointing local judges to co-operate with visiting judges (says . the “Marlborough Express’) in the horec classes at the forthcoming, show, the principle of which was confirmed some weeks ago, exercised the A. and P. Committee to a groat extent on Saturday last. Several nominees were rejected because they -were not members of the association, others on the score of age. Eventually Mr Bell moved that tho ago limit be twenty-five years. This was rejected in favour of a motion by the president making the limit thirty years. It was then decided that members' sons bo eligible, and finally tho whole matter of appointing local judgeo was he;d over. Something dropped by one or two or the members about the genuineness ot judges set fire to tho never very dormant spirit of Mr Robert Allan, and ho asked leave to go, remarking that ho had a higher opinion of human nature than bo me people. There were still some honest men about. A Florida (United States) paper calls tho attention of thoee consumers who are especially fond of the butter imported to that State, directly from Holland, to tho fact that tho same country calls for more than half tho oleo-mar-ganno made in the United Statos, and shipped abroad. This oleo, which has been duly inspected and stamped before it goes abroad, may be justly suspected of being manipulated on the other side and converted into tho finest brand of genuine Dutch butter—to come back to America and find consumers at 3s a pound instead of tho 7d which it might have realised beforo it started on its journey. It is not to be denied that travel is very improving, and the experience of the packing-house oleo is a shining example of how much can be done by n sniff of salt water and association with the right kind of people in the old world.

Tho value of toj} soil as compared with subsoil is not understood as it ought to be. If tho groat contrast between the two was sufficiently impressed on, tho .many, they would uee every reasonable effort to keep surface soil in place. It may be carried, away by wind or water, especially the latter. This explains why in so many eoils --the low places arc so much more productive than the higher Land. Soil and humus have been carried downward, leaving the highlands comparatively unproductive. Such denudation may be checked materially, if not entirely prevented, by ploughing along the slope, rather than up and down it, by keeping the land well stocked with grass loots, and by refraining from working the land as far as this may be possible during tho season when denudation is most likely to occur. Many side hills should not bo broken at all because of the extent to which denudation follows.

Few among the staple industries of the district are making more rapid headway than that of fruit growing (says the Nelson “Colonist’'). In riding through the country districts one notices on every hand new plantations of fruit trees, not only adjacent to tho railway line, but olso in man/ of the valleys. However, it is along the fine alluvial flats around Motueka and Riwaka that the industry is being most rapidly extended. Here, during the recent planting season, many acres of new gardens were set out, and tho fact that one shipment of tree®' that passed over the Motueka wharf this reason reached close on forty tons, is suflicent evidence that settlers have confidence in tho future prospects of fruitgrowing. Apparently a largo proportion of the young trees are apples, and if is evident that* in a few years the supply will exceed the demand so fax as the markets in the chief centres of tho Dominion are concerned. Already at Motueka the output in individual pardons exceeds ton thousand cases, so that in a few years stops must .be, taken to secure a share of tho Horae trade which is now practically monopolised by Tasmanian growers.

SHIPMENT OF. BUTTER. PRESS ASSOCIATION. AUCKLAND, September 26. The total shipment of butter from Auckland for the month was 3G04 boxes., as against 8204 boxes in the corresponding month of last year. AUCKLAND FREEZING COMPANY. AUCKLAND, September 26. At tho annual meeting of the Auckland Farmers* Freezing Company yesterday a dividend at the rdte of 6 per cept. was declared, absorbing .£2351. The sum of .£2OOO was transferred to the reserve fund, and £1383 carried forward after full allowance had been made for depreciation. The chairman, in his address, referred to the fact that this was only tho third annual meeting, and that the company had acquired big freezing works in Auckland in addition to their works in Onehunga. They contemplated going in for freezing "porkers" for the ' London market, and anticipated a large increase in the lamb export trade owing to the very large influx of breeding ewes in the province. At the end of last year the prices realised in. London for lambs sent Homo by the company had equalled the prices for best Canterbury.

THE MARKETS.'; UPPER HUTT STOCK SALE. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., held their fortnightly sale at Upper Hntt yesterday. Cattle were represented by dairy stock, of which there was a very fair entry. Bidding was not spirited, but the majority of lines found purchasers under the hammer •or subsequently. - Small yearling heifers sold at 225,. 18-month and 2-year empty heifers. 33s to 445, springing heifers '£2 17e ’6d to £4 ss, springing cows £3 'to ■ £4, store cows £2 ss, aged bull £1 15s. Abraham and Williams, Ltd., report that the recent boisterous weather and flooded state of the' country prevented most of the advertised lines • of' sheep from coming forward, and only a few small line® were offered. Cattle were well represented, and several pens of primo fat cows excited keen competition, and made good, prices. Quotations: Fat and forward wethers 21s fid, fat ewes 18s to 19s fid, two-tooth ewes 18s fid. forward ewes 14s, hoggets ■ 14js, prime fat cows £7 7s fid, £7 17s, .£8 4s, and £8 ss, others £4 10s to £5, springing cows £4 10s, yearling steers .£2 to £2 Vs fid, • 18-months heifers SOs to. 85s, forward cows £2 9s to £3 la.

At Mr Petersen's sale of dairy stock at Fitzherbert on Wednesday good prices were realised. The cows were mostly Holstein and Holstein cross, and the highest price was .£lO ss. The whole herd averaged £fi 9s. Messrs Abraham and Williams also sold, on account of Mr &. R. Lancaster, thirty cows at £o ss.