ACROSS COOK STRAIT

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12181, 4 July 1925, Page 19

ACROSS COOK STRAIT

EXECRABLE WEATHER CHILL WINDS AND SNOW (Written for the “N.Z. Time*”) Nothing good can he said of the weather. The week gone by has been the worst yet, in a winter that has in ho way been outstanding for mildness. June was the coldest month in ninny years. It vies with that of 1904 as the coldest in Christchurch sinco thd establishment of the Meteorological Observatory in the city 25 years ago. The previous week stood out from others of June for having brought along some moderately mild days; at least they seemed mild against a background of cold, bleak weather which had gone before. It must be remembered that the wintry conditions set in eariy this year. This is so far as Canterbury is concerned. Beeiuingly the farmers of Southland were a good deal luckier, and they have had some very, fine weather though it brought a frost of lo degrees. In Canterbury the : lands are saturated. All classes are holding water, and the soil has certainly been well soaked this winter. As mentioned in this column a week ago many farmers after the few days nor’-west wind were able to drill' wheat; but the spell was not of long duration unfortunately. On Saturday afternoon rain commenced to fall, and .then there followed one of the wildest week-ends for a very long time. The storm lasted .much longer than the sou’-westers usually do, and Wednesday evening was shocking, bitterly cold and wet, with a driving rain bringing close on an inch in about an hour, Fortunately those conditions did not extend over an hour or so, or the plains would have been flooded more than they are at the present titne. All the country away from the seaboard was under snow, and in the districts with a comparatively low\elevation, such as Oxford with 780 feet, there was from three to six inches lying' for some days. The wind changed from sou’-West to sou’-east on Wednesday night, and this brought a change for tlie better though it was still wet and stormy; though without the very low temperatures which had rulpd since Sunday. In Canterbury the rainfall fir June was 4.3 inches, which happens to be 72 per oent. above the .average. . The. opening day of July helped things, along, as far as rnihfall was concerned, for the fall was 1.3 inches, and this [ brought the total for the year, up ..to [ 17.5 inches, as compared ..with. 11.5 i inches to a similar date last year, BEEF FROM THE NORTH ISLAND The first shipment ~of beef from the North Island has oeen offered ■at Addington, but the - cattle -wete. not sold and this on a market which was quite an improvement on tlie previous sales. Much beef is being quoted to prospective South Island purchasers, but. the prices are high. For instance, one man was recently offered cattle weighing 850Ibs at £l4. To make a small profit commensurate with the risk undertaken, the cattle would have to realise. £3. a IOOIbs, after allowing far wastage in weight, consequent on shipping. The best price, which was forthcoming this week for the primest of the beef was £2 2s to £2 3s. It is apparent that the price will be fairly high before the spring. No doubt the figure will run to £3 a 100lbs. There will be another consignment forward on Wednesday next, and it will be interesting to see howjit sells. Recently Canterbury graziers have made good money in buying, [fairly forward station cattle. One [Ashburton farmer this week sold cat[tle at figures which averaged out with[in a few shillings nf £l9, and it is only six weeks ago that he bought them at little over £0 a head, so that they paid well for their keep. - Some very good cattle were sold this week. One line of 12 bullocks sold on account of Mr A. J. Birdling (Halswell). made from £2O 2s 6d to £23 7s 6d, and it was interesting to note that the latter figure was paid for a pair of Friesians which would have dressed at close to 1100. The line averaged £2l 4s 7d. SOUTHDOWN EWES SELL WELL The easiest thing to self nowadays in Canterbury is Soirthdown rams. The North Island seems capable of taking an unlimited number, and many breeders have accepted or can accept‘tempting offers for rams for delivery next December and January. It is only to bo expected that there will be an accession of strength to the ranks of breeders, butr it is not easy to pick up good class Southdown ewes. Two breeders sent forward a draft to Addington salevards this week, and they made good figures and some of the buyers had travelled a long way to make purchases. Others had instructions to buy, and the prices were carried well beyond what "they were prepared to give. The flocks represented were Messrs A. W. Adams (Sheffield;, and ,T. A. Adams (Greendale), and the sheep were .sold in pens of fives. For the two and tour-toothed sheep, the prices ranged from 7gns to BJgns, and the sheep with failing-mouths sold nr from 4igns to O.Jgns. The ewes sold at the lower prices were quite devoid of teeth. More than one stock agent

who had commissions to buy for North Island buyers did not secure a single lien-. There has certainly been good money in breeding the right class of Southdowns, but the establishment of many.new studs usually has the effect of placing too many poor class sheep on the market. TRACTORS VERSUS A TEAM Tlje question as to which is the best proposition on a farm was debated by farmers at Methven recently after addresses on tho merits of tractors versus horse teams had been given by farmers wedded to the various methods of cultivating their land. At the conclusion of the discussion the chairman put some questions to the audience which had gathered for a farm school. The first was: Is this audience of opinion that the tractor is capable of eliminating the horse from all team work on a farm? The answer was decidedly in the negative by a good majority. The next query was as to whether the tractor was capable of forming the main power unit on a'farm, and on this the farmers were evenly divided. “Is the trao tor capable of forming a valuable supplementary power unit on a farm ?” was the third query, and the answer to this was - a unanimous affirmative. The general opinion was in favour of the six-horse team for the average farm with the tractor as' an auxiliary. WHEAT GROWERS ANXIOUS Naturally the growers of wheat ate becoming perturbed at the delay in connection with Wheat growing, and the last spell of bad weather will mean that remainder of the sowing will be hung up until the spring. Members of the North Canterbury executive of the Farmers’ Union the other day compared notes as to the sowings in tlieir various districts, but it was apparent that not half the wheat 'intended to be sown is yet in the ground. Provided that the spring rainfall is a moderately good one, the position will be all right, but the average weather in the spring is against spring wheat sowing. We have too many drying winds in September and October. Some optimists hoped that the sowings of wheat would show an improvement compared with last, but the weather is all against an increase in the area wjiich will go down in the cereal. This is unfortunate, espeoialiy for the poultry farmers. Wheat growers are talking of forming an organisation for the purpose of gathering information w regard to areas and prices, and sundry other, matter connected with the industry. Where will our farmers’ organisations end? WANE OF PLOUGHING MATCHES It is a regrettable fact that the ploughing match associations in Canterbury are not meeting with the support they have been accorded in previous years, and one of the oldest gatherings has had to be postponed on account of the paucity of entries received at the time of closing them. In recent years these organisations have carried out very valuable work, and the large number of competitors has often been a worry to the associations. It lias often been a great deal of trouble for paddocks to be found large enough to accommodate the number of ploughs offering. Farmers have found them decidedly beneficial, and one paddock viewed by the writer last year, after it had been used for a match and then worked up for sprin whentg demonstrated that there is a very great difference in the ploughing done by experts and the ordinary farm ploughing. The land ploughed by several of the front rankers in the competition stood out and viewed in December tho wheat looked like giving a yield of three to four bushels more on the land that had been used by the men in the champion class than the other land which had been turned over in the ordinary way by the farm team. Agriculturists should see to it that the matches are not allowed to die out, for a feature of the matches was the. interest they created among the ordinary men employed on the farm. They were keen supporters of the matches.