LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1449, 30 August 1879, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The winter has been very favourable for ploughing, and work is well advanced. On the Taieri Plain the farmers are putting in grain, but on the Tokomairiro, where the soil is more retentive, very little land has been sown, and they are looking anxiously for a spell of dry weather. Very little of the land at Henley, on the Taieri, will be in grain next season. Of the 1500 acres purchased by Mr James Shand, nearly 400 acres will be in oats, and then it will be sown down. Agricultural work is in a more advanced state in the Palznerston and Shag Valley districts than upon the Taieri and Tokomairira Plains, the soil having been dryer and in a better state for seeding. On tha whole, there will probably not be more land under crop this year than last, as stock will require a certain quantity of pasture. , From a telegram received from the ActingCommissioner at Wellington for the Sydney Intercolonial Exhibition, it appears that the circulars last issued by the Commission on the subject of the exhibition of wool are found to^ be inaccurate, and that a new issue of the circular has just been despatched for circulation among woolgrowers. Notice has been received that an additional prize will be given for tha bast bale of combing wool in greasa, skirted, not weighing leas than 3001b, the number of pieces and weight to be stated. No applications either at Dunedin or any of the country land offices were received for the 3800 acres of land open for application on deferred payment on Monday last in the Poolburn district, 20 miles from Naseby. There 1b evidently an impression abroad that the price of deferred-payment land will be reduced ere long, for very little, if any, of the blocks open within the last month or two has been taken up. The Burvey of the block of land on Earnscleugh Eun (says the Dunstan Times) is all but completed, but from what, we can glean, despite the assurances to the contrary, the block does not comprise the land particularly sought after ; but when it will be open for seleotion is a question unanswerable. If the same dilatoriness is observed with this as with other blocks, we think it will be well for intending settlers to make up their minds for another twelvemonth's delay. Late sales of shorthornad cattle (remarks an English paper) have not realised the inordinate prices of a few years ago. A marked shrinkage is observable in this as in so many other directions. The benefits conferred upon the community by those who have devoted so much attention to the raising of cattle which will fatten more quickly than those of an ordinary breed, we should be the last to underrate ; but at one time the competition for beasts of the " fashionable" strain became a complete mania. When three thousand pounds were given for a single heifer, people began to ask whether there was not some trickery in a trade which ran up E rices to such a ridiculous height. There can c little doubt that the extreme anxiety of wealthy breeders to obtain the best blood did produce an undue inflation of prices ; and the fall of nearly 50 per cent., which has been seen in the caße of two of two or three recent sales, will, we may Buppose, teach caution to the buyers of these works of " high art." The writer of "Zigzag Papers" in the Sydney Echo sayt : — " The stock tax has not proved such a good thing after all for Victoria as the Berry Government anticipated. It has reduced the import of cattle from New South Wales from the value of L 1.134,684 in 1876 to L 606,008 in 1878, or by nearly 50 per cent, in two yeara. The Victorians have gained the tax on this L 600,000, But what have they Io8t? The price of meat has doubtless been raised to them, and they have lost the boilingdown or meat-preserving industry to the value of more than half a million sterling ; and that means a corresponding loss in produce shipped from Victoria, all of which tells on the material prosperity of the Colony. So much for j protection. The annual Champion Ploughing Match at Waikiwi on the 21st was a great success. There having been a half-holiday proclaimed, large numbers attended — at least 1500. The prizelint was liberal, but the remark from experienced hands as to the quality of work done was that formerly there had been better. The weather was everything that could be desired. The train accommodation was also good. A dinner was given in the evening in the Criterion Hotel, which was well attended. In Guatemala, we (Panama paper) have to record another visitation of the locust plague, these insects having appeared in much greater numbers than over, and having done a^ considerable amount of damage, especially in the corn-producing districts of Eflcnintla »nd Amatitlan. In the neighbourhood of the first-named place the flight was so extensiva as to obscure the son for more thsa three hours. President

Barrios, with his usual activity, immediately started for the afflicted districts, in order to examine into the matter personally, and sea if anything could be devised for ridding the country of this terrible pest or for preventing its recurrence. Anxious to anticipate a scarcity in corn, which plays so large and important a part in the food of the common people of this country, the Government has < already given orders for the purchase and importation of sixty or seventy thousand •' fanegas " from California, Honduras, and other parts.

An American paper says :—": — " In Colorado there is a 10-acre field which is no more nor less than a subterranean lake covered with s»il about 13 inches deep. On the soil is cultivated a field of corn, which produces 30 or 40 bushels to the acre. If anyone will take the trouble to dig a hole the depth of a spade-handle, he will find it fill with water ; and, by using a hook and line, fish four or five inches long can be ' caught. The fish have neither scales nor eyes, and are perch-like in shape. The ground is a black marl in its nature, and in all probability was at one time an open body of water, on which was accumulated vegetable matter, which has been increased from time to time until now it has a crust sufficiently strong and rich to produce fine corn, though it has to be cultivated by hand, as it is not stroHg enough to bear the weight of a horse. While harvesting, the field hands catch great strings of fish by punching a bole through the earth. A person rising on his heel and coming down suddenly can see the growing corn shake all around him. Anyone having the Bfcrength to drive a rail through this crust will find, on releasing it, that it will disappear altogether. The whole section of country surrounding this field gives evidence of marshiness, and the least rain produces an abundance of mud. But the question comes up, Has not this body an outlet? Although brackish, the water tastes as if fresh, and is evidently not stagnant. Yet these fish are eyeless and scaleleas, similar to those found in caves."

Rabbits are becoming a powerful toourge in Victoria, and the farmers bare petitioned Far* liament to be allowed to keep dogs free of tax* atisn in the infested districts. The farmers in the county of JSformanby state that many farms, once flourishing and yielding to thsir proprietors a good living, had now become a desolation, and some of them had been alto* gather abandoned. Although the farmers in the district had nearly^ finished ploughing and sowing their land, they had little hope of a prosperous harvest, because the rabbits were eating tho springing crops as fast as they appeared above the ground. Thursday's Oamaru Mail says: — "A small parcel of New Guinea grass seeds has been kindly forwarded to the editor of the New Zealand Agriculturist, but as that paper will not be published for two or three weeks, w« have muoh pleasure in announcing that small parcels of the seed will be sent, on application at our office, to those desiring to give it a trial. As the supply is somewhat limited, and at but few germinate, it is desirable that the greatest care should be exercised in the treatment of them. Here is Mr Abraham Lincolno's letter, which accompanied the parcel of seeds: — 'I beg to forward you a few of the Guinea grass «eeds. The plant is said to be a moat valuable fodder, and universally preferred to all other grasses for feeding horses and other stock. The Curator of the Botanical Gardens, St. Helena, Queensland, informs mo that the Guinea grass ought to be a success in Victoria. Sow in August or September; It docs not grow well from seeds, not more than 5 per cent, germinating ; but a few plants secured may be divided and subdivided to any extant without much trouble or danger. The slips may be in sorted about a foot apart, and in a few weeks the plants will tiller out on all sides plentifully Transplant into a richly-prepared plot, and cv. when two or three feet high.' "