AGRICULTURAL

Otago Witness, Issue 1754, 4 July 1885, Page 15

AGRICULTURAL

Our Chatton corwsjionilciit writes: Vanning matters aro at a htau'lstill on account of the unfavourable state of the weather. The frosts have been succeeded byVheavy rains, and everything is &o wet that it is next to impossible to set tho plough going. Threshing is through some time ago. The yield this year ha« been quite up to the average, but on account of the spell of wet weather we experienced just about the time that the grain was being stacked a great quantity of it will be damaged. This, (n.keii together with the low price ruling, will have a bad effect on tho district generally. I do not thiuk so much rain has fallen in this quarter of the country since 1878, the winter of which year it will be remembered was exceedingly wet. Our Wakatipu correspondent writes : The weather continues to be very unsettled, and all farm work is almost completely Mispenclert on account of the sodden state of the roads and the land. It may interest some of your readers to learn that when they read this note, in the beginning of July, har zesting is htill going on in this district — i.e., of course not as a general thing, but in some exceptional instances only. There is a goodly quantity of barley and oats uncut in several portions, and it i.s feared that the loss in some instances to the farmers concerned will be a pretty heavy one. A Taranaki resident. — a Mr Humphries, who has been on a visit to Sydney, gives the local Herald some particulars of the sale of Now Zealand butter in the Sydney market. The Herald says : — " Any lots of New Zealand butter that look at all like Illawarra are bought up by the Russell street people at about Is the lb, and placed in the well-known Illawarra butter tubs, and disposed of as Illawarra butter at Is 9d to 2s. Mr Humphries thinks that we have not yet got the best description of cask for packing butter in, and he considers the Illawarra tub much superior. It is made in different sizes, holding from 601b lo 1501b, and is very much like a harness cusk. The lid has an iron rim which fits closely round the outside of the tub. It is then fastened on by a couple of screws through the rim into the side. This arrangement makes it a very easy matter to open the tub and test the butter and it is just as easy to close it up again. The market is very variable. When trom any cause the Illawarra butter does not come to hand, such as through storms— for it is brought to market in steamers — the price of New Zealand produce rises several pence in as many ilays. Most of the Illawarra butter is placed on the market by a "Farmers' Co-operative Association," the managers of which raise or lower the price according to the demand or the supply. These fluctuations are always 3d a rise or fall, never being less than 3d. In Melbourne Mr Humphreys found that the butter suffered there also through bad arrangements. Duty, it is known, has to be paid, and the butter is stored in bond until approved of by the consignees. The warehouse is a low iron building, and the butter becomes very much like oil if left in it any length of time. Mr Humphries feels satisfied that the only way of obtaining full value for our produce is to g-:t direct and regular steam communication with Sydney. Several deferred-payment settlers applied to the Southland Land Board on Thursday, by petition, to permit them to suspend payment of rent foi* three years, on account of the difficulty of bringing, the laud into cultivation. The Commissioner 'informed them that tho Board had no power to grant such permission, but had just passed a letter to the Under-secretary for Lands, recommending that capitalisation be permitted after one instead of three years' residence. A letter received T>y the Farmers' Co-operative Association, Ohristchurch, from their Sydney correspondent states that some of the butter put' up in Canterbury and exported to Sydney had partly been sold as high as 2s per lb — equal to the price of the best New South Wales buffer, and id wa, expected that Is 6d per lb would be the average price for the lot. The secretary of the Geraldine Dairy Factory has received a letter from London stating that the shipment of 68 cases of cheese arrived in splendid condition, and all sold at 68s per cwt. On the other hand, another shipment by the Ilimutaka arrived damaged. A fire broke out at 1.30 this morning in the preserving department of Gear's Preserving Company. The building was completely gutted. The fire is supposed to have originated by heat from one of the boilers setting fire to the woodwork. A short time ago the same building was found to be on fire from a similar cause. The total insurance on tho building, plant, stock, and fittings, is £3388. The amount of the, damage is not yet estimated.