THE RURAL WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22136, 14 December 1933, Page 3

THE RURAL WORLD.

FARM AND STATION NEWS.

By Ritsticus

1933*34 SHOW SEASON ROSTER OF DATES Agricultural shows have been arranged for ithe 1933-34 season as follow*: 1933 'V,. Deo. 14 i. .. .. Owaka. Dec. Id}',« .. .. Otago Peninsula at Portobello. > • 1934 - . /■ Jan. IS .. t . Waitati. Jan. 20 .. .. .. Waikouaitl. Jan. 26 Palmerston and Waihemo. Feb. 3. 9, and 10 .. Royal, at Auckland. April 3 .. Fairlie. April 12 •. .. Temuka and Geraldine, at Winchester.

193344 WOOL SEASON ROSTER OF SALES Wool lalca have been arranged as follows for tbe 1933-34 wool-selling season in New Zealand:— ; Place. .Date;' Timaru .. .. .. December 16 Dunedin .. .. December 20 Napier ~ .. January 8 Wellington .. .. January 11 Auckland Vi .. January IS Wanganui „ .. January 19 Christchurch .. January 26 Invercargill .. January 31 Dunedin .. .. February 6 v Timaru >. .. .. February 0 Wellington .. • • Feb/uary IS *-, Napier .. February 20 Wanganui .. .. February 23 Christchurch ■. March 2 Dunedin .. March 7 Invercargill .. *4 March 9 , ; Wellington ... . iMarch 19 W J i Napier* .. ~ .. Match 23 Auckland .. March 27 Christchurch/ . • April 6 ':%~ Dunedin .. .. April, 10 Wanganui .. April 17 Napier .. .. .. April 20--Wellington... .. April 24 The April sale dates are tentative only, subject to revision, and will ho held only if sufficient wool ia available.

TOPICS OP INTEREST. OFFICIAL NOTES.

Tt’g good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up Once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things that money ' can’t buy .—George H. Lorimer. . , , .*'•* ‘ * ' * “ I find on moving about the country,” saya an authority on agriculture, “that some farmers pay dearly for the extra < return from artificial fertilisers. There t’ are farms in Otago where the farmer is actually buying the extra produce obtained.” , ■ ■ ; * •. * •-V ,’t The wise-crack for the week comes from Sir J. M. Barrie:—"The secret of happiness ij not in doing what one likes, but in liking^what one has.to do.”.- -; - ‘ t- ♦" ' ♦ ■* . , The foUowing explanation of the position.of a farmer who has given a crop security will be of general interest:—A security may .be given over growing crops or crops .which have actually been sown or are about to be sown. Such a security, continues not only while the crops are growing, but also afterwards when cut, ' and whether stacked or stored on the laud where 'they were grown or on any'other land or premises. With the exceptiofi of New Zealand flax, the only' crops" 1 over ■which a security can be given' are those which in the, ordinary; course of farming can be harvested and taken off the land within one year from when the security is given. ; « « # The idea of , holding field days seems to have " Caught on ” throughout Otago. The last one held at Palmerston was most successful, and how the Clinton Farmers’ Union and the Young Farmers’ Club have arranged to hold a field day on Monday nest.. .'.■■■ ■ A most attractive programme has been arranged/, and .a large attendance is', expected. This : function, commencing 10.30 a.m;, is to be held at the Clinton Recreation Ground; and the opportunity will be taken to inspect,the adjacent pastures during a demonstration, to be given by Mr J, E. Davies, instructor in agriculture. Hot water will be provided on the ground,' and if the weather is fine, all those who are able to attend should have a most enjoyable day. « * * It is undeniable that the great question of humanity is happiness. But was the world created to be happy? How many are truly happy? I’ve studied people in all classes and conditions, and everywhere I have found, when you get below the surface, that it is mostly the insincere individual who says, "I am happy." Nearly everybody wants something he hasn’t got.

Xtevttt ot Interest to those engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, With t flew to'their publication in these columns, will be welcomed They should be addressed to “Rustlcus,” Otago Daily Times, Dunedin.

and as things are constructed, what he wants is money—more money than he has in his pocket. But, after all, money can buy only a few things. Why should one envy the captains of industry? Their lives are made up of those vast, incessant worries from which the average individual is happily spared. Worry, worry, that is the evil of life. What do.I consider the nearest approximation to t happiness of which the present human‘nature h» capable? Why, living on a farm-which .is one’s own, far from the hectic 1 , artificial conditions of the city—a farm where one gets directly from one’s own soil what' one needs to sustain'life, with a garden in front and a healthy, normal family to contribute those small domestic joys which relieve a man from business strain. — Edison. '

The following Dominion Conference remits on local body reform were submitted to the Government: — - “That this executive press for the immediate establishment of . the, promised Local Bodies Commission and" that the whole question of’ the grouping of power boards and' power board finance be re? ferred’ to it as a matter of urgency.’’ “That this executive.requests the Government to continue to press for investigation' regarding local body taxation, with a view to .reducing the number of local bodies and administration expenses.” “That every effort be used to secure an investigation into the problems of local body administration with a view to securing ■greater economy by elimination of redundant local bodies, abolition of Overlapping, and general reorganisation of reading finance, and thus secure greater efficiency and economy.”- K ■ The Minister of Internal Affairs has replied as follows:—“I desire to advise you that the terms of the resolution have been noted. t may aay that the Government have recently beeir-giving particular attention to this problem, and it is proposed to set up a commission as soon as possible to inquire ihto Tarioug phases thereof.”

The following Auckland .remit, came-be* fore the last Dominion Executive meeting for consideration: —“That to avoid economic waste in manufacture, overlapping pi cartage on roads and to facilitate co-operative marketing the dairy industry should be reorganised compulsorily. f by Government, proprietary companies prohibited, unnecessary co-operative com. panics being absorbed by other companies and redundant factories closed.” An amendment, moved by Mr W. W. Mulholland, seconded by Mr T. Currie, was carried:—“That the provinces particularly interested in dairying be asked to set up committees to go into the matter of the rationalisation of the dairy industry, and that they report to the Dominion Executive who will then go into the question.” • ■:* ; Mr ‘ W: 1 W. Mulhollatid said that the situation had become very serious, and he thought that provincial committees should be appointed.to' go into the matter and report to the Dominion Executive. They were at a stage where they, could not afford extravagance that was going on. Mr L. Hammond said that a scandalous waste of money was going on at the present time, but unless they asked the Dairy Board and the Government to set up. a commission to rectify the matter it would be useless to pursue the idea of rationalisation. Mr F. Waite said that he believed that the dairy industry was running its own business fairly efficiently—possibly it was the most efficiently run industry in Now Zealand, and he queried the reason why the dairy industry should be singled out. People in the dairy industry were getting sick of being told what they ought to do. yyMr/Hv Setfept said that they were too much, inclined,to go to .the‘Government for everything. Conditions were changing every day, but the cartage of cream, he assured the executive was hot the far. mer’s difficulty. The cost throughout New Zealand was not' more than about a third of a penny.

The editor of a large English paper recently asked the question: “Is it better and. cheaper to live la the country? ” He r was inundated with'; replies coming from pebhle in every walk orlife. The following are some interesting extracts from some of the published replies:^ S '“I should hesitate to recommend anyone to adopt country life in preference to town life. It is so much a matter of temperament. • ■My London friends never cease to wonder how I can live in the middle of a field! And their shops!—-they know nothing of the simple delights of producing everything possible—-home-baked bread from one’s own flour, butter, Devonshire cream, plump young nhickens, eggs, honey, fruit, and vegetables, and home-fed and home-cured hams and,bacon. And is there anything in towns to compare with the eight of newly-turned earth in spring, the fresh young green of springing wheat, the gorgeous expanse of ripening corn, the beech trees in..all the glory of their autumn dress, the smell of new-mown hay, or Of damp earth after rain? Then the winter evenings, rest after toil, linking up with the world of radio (and listening to.the editor’s views)—give me the country every time." A schoolmistress writes:—“lf by economy you mean pounds, shillings, and pence, No! If you town folk are fired with zeal,- and want' to come up and brighten us, please understand that our ways are not your ways, neither are our thoughts your thoughts. That is all. But if you are a countrywoman born, and need the solace of the open, sky ahd the wind and the wide views and' all the many sounds of Nature, if your heart has been broken in two by the casualty stations of the Somme battlefields, if you want to feel the touch of a vanished hand, or _to learn to discern the way of the Spirit, there are, for your healing, pansies and periwinkles and honeysuckle and clovers,,and buttercups and daisies, and lime trees and red cloves, and roses and lavender, and bergamot and sweet cicely, and puppies and lambs, and little pink pigs, and wagtails and goldfinches, and night-scented stories. v-' A schoolboy replied: —“Having been born in the country and having lived in it all my life, I rind that country life is exceedingly dull. The life is very quiet, hardly anything of interest ever happens, and this has a very.diad effect upon , the minds of the people living in the country. Their minds become very narrow, they know’ little, if anything, of the life outside their own village, and in time they become so that thev do not wish to know anything else, and, if told anything of -which they have the faintest doubt, without stopping to think, will straightway declare it a lie. and nothing will turn them from it. The p«s**pl« who really notiee how very dull the life is are those who come*’ down from the towns and busy cities, together with the young people who live in the -nuntry, that is if they have aiiy life in them at all. It is not so much in the daytime that they notice it, for then they have their work to do. It is in the evening when the day’s work is done. The other month, a lad. in a village school, asked why he and his school-fellows were being educated, replied: ‘To help us to keep off the land, sir.’"

FARMING IN NORTH OTAGO A GOOD SEASON ; ' (Contributed.) • .* Fanners in North Otago are experiencing a good season, and they are in much better heart than they were attlim time la«t year. It is true that the rainfall is a little behind that of last year, but we may come out all right by the end of the growing period. The only fly in the ointment at the present time is the very low price of butter-fat. This is taking the heart out of dairy farmers; but on the. other hand: the substantial rise in the ■ price of' wool and the enhanced value of. fat lambs and adult sheep are compensating features for which 'we must be thankful. And wo are rthankful. What would;'have happened to some of us but for these turns in the

tide I would not like to say. The end of the year is drawing very near, .and it looks as though we are going to spend a happier Christmas thahfor some years past. We know that we have done our best, and no one can do more than that. The weather during November was very suitable for all classes of stock, and the rain came just in time to save the situation, which had been causing many farmers grave anxiety as to how they were going to feed their sheep and cattle. Quite a number had already put sheep on oats, and many more would have fed wheat if no rain had fallen for another fortnight. The problem now is not how to find feed, nut to get stock to eat it so that it .will not run to seed. It is being realised more every season that the value of grass is more in the leat than in the seed stalk, and the problem is how to stop the formation of seed stalks. Rotational grazing is one way and closing a paddock or two for hay. Another is by the use of cattle, but this is not practicable in North Otago, where the autumn is often very dry.. In the event of a dry autumn a large number of cattle on the. farm is a handicap. A few fanners have tried topping—that is, running the mower over the grass paddocks to prevent the formation of seed stalks, and to kedp the leafy growth green and succulent for a longer time than it would otherwise remain this state. The loss that occurs every good season through not conserving this luxuriant summer growth, ejther as hay or ensilage, must be very great in the aggregate.

VALUE OF HAY. In the Waiareka Valley the farmers seem to be more alive to the value ot hay than are the farmers in any other part of the district. At the present time the first cut of lucerne hay is nearly all in stack, and a start has been made with the cutting of clover ' or meadow hay. Farmers Ore cutting lucerne at an earlier stage than they did _■ a few years ago, as they realise that it is much better to*get .five cuts of nice, short. Sweet hay than three or four cuts of coarse, woody hay. Most farmers stack their hay, but a few press direct from the swathes or cooks. At the present 1 time prime hay, “ racehorse ” quality, is quoted*at to 10s per ton, Picton; while oatensheaf chaff is only worth £3 10s per ton. It seems a pity that we could not get. a name, like the Marlborough farmers, for our hay, as it would Be a much more profitable branch of farming than wheat or oat cropping. j - LUCERNE.

Talking of lucerne reminds me that in a.'bulletin just issued by the Canterbury Chamber of t . Commerce it is stated that the area seeded to lucerne in New Zealand is increasing at the rate of about 1000 acres a year. The area given for Waitaki, Maniototo, and Vincent counties is 7200 acres, and there are- said to be only 24 acre e in Southland, The bulletin also saya that the opinion was freely expressed some years ago that manuring onuses the lucerne plant to develop surface roots at the expense of deep roots, and so limit its period ■;of production. This opinion has definitely been, proved erroneous, a»d the advantage of manuring in almost ail circumstances has/been fully proved. The bulletin also . sounds a' note of warning in regard to the practice of cultivating lucerne. It says that a thin stand of lucerne can never be thickened; «that cultivation by any means will finally result in a thin stand, and that this effect will be reached the quicker, the heavier the implements used. Heavy grubbinga and discings will kill some plants at every stroke, and the stand will finally -become so thin weeds will gain ingress, production will fall off, •and the field will finally have to be ploughed; up. Cultivation should be avoided unless it'is urgently necessary to kill weeds. The implement used should bg the lightest that will achieve its purpose, and in all cases very narrow-tined cultivators, such as the Lincoln type of grass harrows, should be used. November or December are given as the months in which lucerne should be sown. THE CEREAL CROPS. The rain came' a little late for the early-sown wheat and bats, and while the yields promise to be good, the crops are not particularly heavy. The later i ’ sown grain crops benefited materially by the rain and they are making very luxuriant growth. Most of the oats are out in ear and some of the very early crops are “ turning.’’ On the coastal areas and almost as far inland as Duntroop there hag been ample rainfall, and everything ds' looking well, but further inland, at Otekaike and beyond, it.,to the hills, sunny faces are becoming dried up. A good rainfall in these areas would be very welcome. ROOTS.

The early sown mangels did not strike very well, and some farmers ploughed them in, resowing the ground with swedes. The later sown mangels, however, struck well; these have been thinned and are growing well. Not a great many swedes are grown in North Otago, as they take the blight too readily, but those sown this season are so far looking well. Rape ia now, making a good showing, and it appears as if there is a larger area in rape this year than usual. This is attributed to the greater inclination to grow; rape than wheat. Turnips are being sown in fairly large areas in the Hilderthorpe and Pukeuri districts. On the heavier lands turnips are usually put in from about the middle 1 of December to the middle of January.-’ When sowing turnips it has been found a good plan to put in about 11b of seed per acre, and when the plants are well established to give them a stroke or two of the harrows: or better still, to sow with the drill ‘through all the coulters lewt of sulphate of ammonia to the acre. The stirring of the soil, plus the artificial aid. promotes very rapid growth. Some enormous crops of turnips have been obtained in this way. SHEARING

Shearing is now in full swing, and though the sheep are coming out of tho wool well, the fleeces have not the same weight that they had last year, some farmers having 20 per cent, less, though there has been no diminution in the size of the flocks. The greatest care should be taken with every clip, and it is pretty safe to say that most small clips, say, any up to 15 bales, would pay for reelassing. It should be remembered that buyers value wool on the worth of the poorest fleece they see, so if there is only one inferior fleece in a bale the value of .that bale, of line, is based on the value of the poorest fleece in it. The rise in the price of wool has caused sheep to appear in an aspect which they had lost in recent years,, and every bit of stray wool about the farm is carefully picked up so that it may be turned into money. I heard one farmer facetiously remark that even the wire fences are now picked clean of wool. The fact remains that wool is worth saving these times, and the enhanced price has given us a good lift. It is cheering, also, to know that it is not only the finer wools that are in keen demand. A visitor to the Dominion at the present time—one who is largely interested in the wool business at Home — said last week that crossbred wool is also in keen demand, provided it is good quality - crossbred. It is always made abundantly clear to us that whether it be fine or coarse wool, quality is a prime consideration. It appears, therefore, that we must be very careful to breed and grow the best. OUR LAMBS. Lambs everywhere are doing as toil shingly well, and it was no matter for surprise, therefore, that when the local freezing works opened for the season on Monday last, gome excellent lambs were seen. There will be some big drafts of fats this month and next; and the more that can be sent straight off the mothers t’-e more profit there win be for. the farmer. Top-dressing, I find, is an ».id in this direction. If the present weather holds good, and we get away our lambs as early as we hope, there should be a keen demand for stoics in February and March, as there will be a lot of rape and turnips to be eaten off. This should interest Southland and Central fanners who breed store lambs. A large number of lambs has been sold for February delivery at prices ranging from 14s to 21s, the latter price being paid for a line of extra special quality. They were subsequently resold at a profit, so it looks as though someone has confidence in the market. THE MARKETS.

Station drafts of ewes have been changing hands at Isa to 17s, and one extra good line, exceptionally well woolled, heavily culled, and including a large percentage of young sheep, realised 20s. Twotooth ewes are inquired for. but very few are for" sale in this district, as most farmers find it much more profitable to fatten all their lambs and buy their young sheep in Southland. It is many years since North Otago has been able to supply itself with fat cattle throughout the winter and spring, but it was able to do so last winter and spring, and by the way cattle are fattening now it wjll be a long time before Taieri farmers are cheered by the

presence of the smiling faces of Oamaru butchers at BurnsiSe. Cows are milking well, and the local factory is having a busy time. • THE END OF THE YEAR. We have come to the end of another year. No one can say that we are downhearted. Though our money has long since vanished we realise that it will be all the same in a hundred years. What do a few credits, more or less, matter, so long as we have enough to carry on? There is a good time coming, and in this spirit I wish my fellow-farmers in the best farming district in New Zealand—North Otago—a jolly Christmas and the best that can possibly befall them in 1934.