THE COUNTRYSIDE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12199, 25 July 1925, Page 19

THE COUNTRYSIDE

ACROSS COOKSTWJT . . r • V. . .j? . ' . . IMPROVEMENT AT LAST A DRYING WIND WORKS WONDERS ✓ (Written for the "Time*.”) In the past week there was a desirable improvement in the weather and the wind which blew for several days early in the week from the north-west, cleared away much surface' wuter. Ploughs and many other implements were temporarily out of commission owing to the amouut of water lying about have been set going again, and this will bd to the advantage of.tb# wheat-grower. An add shower of fain fell, but the-days were generally delightful. Still it takes moye than one swallow to make a summer,- and if ft, 'noteworthy that the warmth of the early part 'of the week has gone' out of*, the atmosphere in .the past ftwhut Oven allowing for this if is ' Kt»d winter weather, and stock are • heTding their own. What hoe been of im_ ; POrtaaee is that the drier, weather, has* ; made .the digging of potatoes, possible,?, snff there is a solid demand for the tubers at a .very good figure, which is decidedly encouraging to the small far-, mar. . Never lias there been*" so many : potatoes' still in' the ground: in Jixly' as . ii the case at present. ’ X '

STOCK PRICES SOAH aGAIN*; ;• '/DUlfUji G** past week the stock'«arhave bfeep decidedly interesting, and'the very strong de, manA.jfofi store.qheep' Which set in dur;ing the preceding week.has bqeu quite as pronounced this week, and the values have,"if -anything, shown a disposition to» rise, • ‘ Tie Addington- maron Wednesday was of more than ordinary interest 'in view of the fact that the shipments of stock from the North Island were heavy.w A big.abipment offat/cafttle Was forward from the Wairarapa, and 'there, was a large ‘ draft of ■ -breeding ewes from the Poverty Buy district. - The-fatter had-been down over a week, and they: were of the strong Romney-Lincoln typo, good, big. roomy ewes showing weU in lamb, and they' promised to give a fairly good lambjng. The sheep evidently had experienced some rough seas on their run down the coast, and they did not appear any the better for thia fact. The-first draft of'them to come under the hammer did not sell very ■ freely, but a truck made 38s 6d, and it was not long ‘ before mote of them were ■old.' lister three trucks of the same draft were submitted; and they: sold at/ from 38s Id to 38b 4d. The ewes were in lamb to Romney rama, and were due to lamb in August. Had the rams used been black faces it would have suited •the average buyer better, Romney cross lambs coming at this season; oi the year are not particularly popular.

BIG PRICES FOR THE BEST. One .of the best lines of ewes which have been told in tbe' Addington yards this season wax; a draft of Romney cross sheep from the ‘Ashburton -dis-i trict. For a breeder who inclined to the Romney cross sheep they were as. good a draft as any man would want, well-woolled, big in the bone, carrying plenty of condition, and in - lamb to Border Leicester rams with the lambing commencing in the latter part of August. There were many buyers for them, but only three men .kept at it when the price was going to close to 60s. Buying ewes' at these figures means'that a farmer has to have'substantial credits.' The bidding ceased at 48s . 64. -They were sheep out of the ordinary. The price is out of the ordinary. In the store sheep pens'there Were many other sales which made those who had not attended a market for k Week, look with, wonder. .For instance, | a couple of trucks of crossbred ewe hoggets, fairly, well grown, but nothing out of the ordinary, from the view of size or breeding, sold at 38a 6d,' which is a figure emough to make it necessary for ewe values'to be. high' next year for U buyer to make a profit on them . All'the'hogget prices were high. A pfcn Of well woolled three-quarter-bred wethers sold at 30b, and there ■were many other lines of wetber hoggets that sold at close to 30s. • Some store wetherrswhicb, when finished, would not make vdry big sheep sold at 38e.’ They were halr-breds of good quality and would clip well, but at best were only shearing sheep. MEAT PRICES MOUNTING Every week the price of fat stock on the hoof shows a decided tendency to rise, and it wiil not be long before the breakfast steak and ohop is a luxury and that we will turn towards vegetarianism as an economic "necessity. On the hoof mutton ia now wort!;. Pd a lb for wethers, and ewe mutton is. within 2dalb of it for anything of • fair quality; Bad it hot Been wat there'was a large number, of fat chttle preeenifrom the North Island the but-

chers of Canterbury, and indeed further afield than Canterbury, would have gone short. tor there' \?ere ; many trficks of both sheep and cattle bought {for Westport winch entails ’a johinbyltty road and rail extending over several days. A shipment of cattle,, well over 100 head, arrived from the North Island and they were good sorts, but the owner; was. unfortunate in that the trip dowp whs rough and the losses were unduly heavy, so that tbe'chahces are that the venture would prove very expensive for him. The casualties were over. 10 ,per cent., which is unusual. From £ls 12* (id to £l7 17s 6dw»s obtained for 101 head of the steers, ana the figures worked out at £l6 2s 6d. The cost of shipping the cattle ffrort the Wairarapa is about £4 a head, and the price of them in the north meant n certain loss. The Canterbury, feed Company, J.td tt.oofW.on) sold three steers at £2O 2s 6d., which was the best price of the day. The best of the beef •old at 455: . What was. rtmafkabk* was the price of coy- beef. The supply of ibis clqes has fallen Sway cohsulerpVilv. and there sre butchers who 'pin their faith to this description of beef with an abiding faith. Often in the ■winter and spring thev oan buy steer boef at a relatively cheaper rate, but still they prefer cows, and cows they will have. Probably the teeth of their customers are used to cow beef, and they think it wise to not vary the

quality. For most of the year they nave the salesmen under the whip as it were, and can pay almost any price they • like for it. ,On Wednesday; the other ifian had the whip and he used it effectively, with the result that coW beef prices jumped tremendously, and there, was a scramble for . the cows. Samp of the dearest beef-sold were the cows which, made from £lO to£l2. THE COMING NATIONAL MARKET Each year at the time of the Grand National races the butchers of Christchurch east the ordinary commercial' ism to the winds, and they buy for display purposes. The result is something in the natureof a fat stock show the cattle being drawn from all over New Zealand,, and sheep too are -often forward from the North, and all over the South Island. The resultant collection of stocky is really well worth travelling a lung why to . see, and- this year it promises to be as striking as usual. With Brices already: high it is certainly likely that, some tall, figures will bn recorded this year. The. record ia something over £7 for wethers end £205 for a steer. Advertising and display purposes are "t the basis of such figures as'these. They are widely'di'vorced from commercial values for. the ordinary shop,purposes. -Manv lines; of wethers sold at over 60s this week at Addington, and one line of Cwes frdm. Orati sold at from 4.7 s 4d to 52s Id for 58. A 'pen of 11 made the top price, and: jienerof 15 of them realised 51s 7d and,6os lOd. Big money to receive for cast ewes, THE RAILWAY TARIFF, ■ It need to he said that the hardest thing to pnt through the ,-House of Representatives . was a Customs tariff, but it appears likely that thp.npw failway tariff will give the powers, that be some -sleepless nights. ere it is finally brought into foroe. Already farmers’ organisations are not at- all,- happy about some of the new previsions,' and at the i Farmers’ Union meeting ■ in Christchurch this week there was some dissatisfaction ‘expressed With' the new scale -relating .to the carriagfeiof wheat The freight on wheat is increased by Id - a bushel, and this will fall upon the growers,'so'the farmers say. The chairman fMr J.' D. Halll'-ggye- it .as his opinion that the Government ib S.ng on to any individual, who is. e to get away,from dhe railways.

HOSPITAL BOARD'S FARM HIGH PRICED LAND A PROFIT SHOWN ON OPERATIONS i (Written for the "Time*” by “Aw®”) It will come as a shock to many who contend that land in. New Zealand is in no 'case worth more than about £6O an acre for ‘farming purposes, to know that the Gisborne Hospital Bparq has successfully farmed, for the past four and a half years, an area of land at Mangapapa, which cost them £165 an acre, vlt must however, be admitted that the circumstances of the cast) are. unusual and that under pri-' vnte ownership such a result could never have been obtained,, the differMice; between success and failure in ' .this particular instanoe lying in the fast that the Hospital Board is assured all the year round of: a market forthe disposal; of,all the, products of the farm at > ruling prices, whereas a r private owner < might 'liave : to sell some at least of his farm produce at a price less than the average. The history ot the board’s enterprise is, however, sufficiently Interesting to the,farmer ta giye. sonio details, as it shows what can be accomplished by means of efficient management, combined- with- the \ necessary '; 'finance.' Throughout tire four* and a half years of - a stormy ’tbe farm has managed to and : also to pay s small amount of interest op the capital invested, in it. The purchase was bitterly opposed by a section of the board, and right up to thfe present , opposition, has boen maintained, ' despite ,the ifpet: that frqm the health viewpoint alone, the purchase has been more than' justified. - . . ' ■ Tpae reason behind the/ puachase lay in the difficulty’experienced by the board in' obtaining sufficient milk to meet its requirements during the winter months. Not only did the milk received at the institution cost more than it" should,have done 7 But the quality'-was not always such as should have been received by a hospital. The board therefore, decided, .after some opposition, to purchase a farm -at' hfangapdpa', some two , milesfrom the hospital itself. The farm when purchased. comprised some 74 - acres of : leasehold land, but the board- had the right of purchaae, a, right of : 'which they availed themselves soon 'after the purchase was completed..- The-total cost of the land was £165 per acre. ,ft ■ was then estimated -that the . annual : expenditure would be £1220 and that , the returns would be about £lp7s. • It is interesting to note that despite the .

slump which wag later experienced,'the returns hare never been below the estimate; ; The price which was paid was recognised as being very high, even in a time when values were inflated, and this accentuated hy reason of' the fact that the farm itself was in a very neglected state, badly drained, and fwith the fences in need of repair. During the first few months after the board assumed control of the farm, a Very, dry' spell was experienced, the stock went down in condition, and the farm itself went from bad to Worse until at last those who were originally opposed to the purchase demanded, and were successful in getting, an investigation of the farm made by a special committee. The report . laid down by the committee set ont that the farm was, undoubtedly in a very bad way, that it would need a-' groat l deal of money spent on it, and that later, when Gisborne grew,/it. would, be much too valuable- fbr farming. fiTJie "report in effect, recommended that. {M farm should be sold, Although it did not do so in so many words,, - It : ft probable that this would hate '' .been carried into effect hdd It not "been for the fact that one ot this members who had been responsible for the purchase, after contending that the - farm could be made to pay ,-offered to find - a buyer at the price -paid -by- .the board;’This offer carried the dny, and the board, thinking that-the farm must be worth at least as much to them as to anyone else, decided. to carry on. • * ■■ ♦ *

_During the year -1922 an additional 67 acres of . leasehold was-added to the original farm, this land being required for the grazing of the young stock which were reared on the farm. From the outset -lie, board adopted a wise policy with regard to their stock, for in addition to. purchasing some good quality cows, they bought a pedigree Jersey hull .which has given them some ‘ excellent stock. Hie revenue from the farm since its inception has been: 1921 ' £lBlO 1922.; £1590 1923 £1677 1924 £lß6l The returns for 1924 show that the receipts 1 were £306 ahead of the expenditure after allowing for interest, thus demonstrating that the farm is a commercial proposition. By means of the farm, however, the board has done a great, deal - more than ‘ merely assure itself of a pure milk supply, for it is now the owner of the model -dairy farm of Poverty Bay, a farjn complete with every conceivable convenience, including the only Concrete silo in the district. By spreading out the expenditure .over the four and a half years during which it 'has owned the farm",'the board has been able to ins tal a model - milking plant, erect splendid bails and mijic-mg-sheds, and generally conduct a farm which is unrivalled for the efficiency of the methods adopted. The: concrete silo.-has attracted a very great deal- Uf interest amongst fanners throughout Poverty Bay, very tew of whom had ever attempted: the ifia-Tcing" 8f "ensilage ‘ prior to its' installation. The silo -which cost £154 tq erect is made of concrete and is 15 Iqr 25 by -12 feet. It holds 166 cubic yards of green feed, this being equivalent to 150 tons, a valuable standby for the winter months. During the first year, the ensilage; was pitted but a fair quantity was wasted, and it was therefore considered wisoj to instal the concrete silo, a. decision which hascnmply been justified by the results. • It would be impossible' in the space of.sa short article to give details of.; the whole of the work carried out at the farm, but it will suffice to sav that efficiency is ' the of the operations. The piggenAs are models, and the crops, carefully top-dressed and manured, are produced , under condi-, Lions little short of ideal. ; . * , * s' *

One nf the most interestirif' features of-the farm which will shortly be enlarged is .the vegetable garden, now supplying a large,, portion of the reqnireqnentsji of the hospital. The' new olirU people’s home is being erected on the farm, and it is thought that, there will he many of the inmates who will ho. glad to take the. opportunity of doing a little gardening wbrk. If such proves to be the case, the garden will be further extended until it may possibly supply the whole of the needs of the two institutions under the coptrol of the board. . . Apart from the , fact that the farm has been aflnancialsuccess, and there caribe no cfoubt that'such is t)va, ease, it has proved of very great benefit to the sick in the hospital for through it the ’ institution is assured of a clean milk supply of the highest quality, a factor not to he lightly cast aside when dealing with the sick.