BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1847, 15 April 1887, Page 7

BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

(By our English Agricultural CorRESPONDENT.) London, February 24. SPRING WORK BEGUN. So far, we have enjoyed the advantage of an early season, and field work has gone on rapidly during the past IWr.iji£ht. Pretty well all the beans and peas are sown in the southern hah* of England, and barley-sowing is just beginning. It is some years since any considerable quantity of barley was sown in February ; but in the eastern counties many farmers like to sow in that month if the land works well enough, as it does now except just after rain. We have had but little rain, though the weather has been unsettled, so that farmers are afraid to break much land up at present. If we shall have dry weather next week, however, barley-sowing will begin in earnest. There is nothing like early sowing for quality of barley, which is the main thing nowadays. The best crop of barley— that is the crop that returned most money — that I ever grew were sown in February. STILL THIS DEPRESSION ! There is no good news from the markets, except from those for cheese and butter. The former stTll sells well, and butter has partially recovered from the recent fall in price, and sells fairly. Fat cattle and sheep meet with a slow demand, and farmers are not likely to be paid very well for a winter's keep, low

as the prices were at which they bought. In their lean stock.jwhere they did not breed the animals. In the dead meat market/ on Monday prices were lower all round.. New Zealand mutton sold at 2s Sd to2s«iodper ' 81b ; middling English at 3s to 3s 8d ; prime English and Scotch at 4s to 4s 6d ; American beef at 3s to 3s' 4d ; prime English and Scotch at 3s 2d to 3s 6d. These are very low prices. The weather was mild and the market overstocked. As for the wheat trade, there was a tendency to improvement.. on Monday, which seems lost now. It is .very exasperating for English and Scotch -farmers, who will have sold nearly all their wheat, before the inevitable rise comes. . .»'.'•. ' THE LAMBING SEASON. >' . ..' The mild weather is good for the ' young lambs. The early reports of lambing, however, are not very favourable, as abortion has been unusually common, no doubt because roots were abundant, and farmers let the ewes have too many when the snow was, on the ground and there was no feed io be picked up except in the steading or the turnip field. We always hear of most tion when roots are most abundant. ' " - THE LAST HORSE SHOW. The annual show of the Shire Horse Society is now being held in the Agricultural Hall, London. The are 250 stallions and 90 mares and fillies, as compared with 292 «£ former and 90 of the latter in 1886.- The falling off in stallions is due to the new regulations shutting out all horses except those whose sire and dam are registered in the Shire Horse Stud Book. I enclosp a report on the show, giving the names and addresses of the prize-winners, which will interest breeders of cart horses in New Zealand.,' Tomorrow there is going to be a sale by'auction, at which a number of the horses will be offered. THE lEISH LAND COMMISSION. The report of the Irish Land Commission will be laid before Parliament to-morrow. The commissioners were to " inquire to what extent, if any, and in what parts of Ireland the operation of the Land Act of 1881 was affected either by combination 1 to resist the enforcement of legal obligations, or by an acceptional fall in the price of produce ; also to inquire to what entent there exists any general desire among tenants to avail themselves of the provisions of the Land Purchase Act of 18S5, and whether the operation of that act might be expedited and extended, especially in the congested" districts, by providing security through the intervention of local authorities for loans advanced from public funds for the purchase of land. in the forefront of their recommendations stands the proposal that the term J: or which the judicial leases under the Land Act of 1881 are to run shall be five years; in lieu of the existing term of 15 years. An essential element of the intention of the Legislature was that the rents fixed should be "fair"; not merely with reference to the existing scale of agricultural values at the period of the inquiry, but with reference to the whole term. The proposal of the commissioners is a rough approach towards Mr ParnelPs device of a sliding-scale — an arrangement under which the amount of rent would be adjusted almost automatically in conformity with the average values of certain staples. * They also recommend that judicial rents paid before the recent fall in prices should be rectified, and that leaseholders should be admitted to the benefit of the Land Act of 1881. Migration and emigration from congested districts are advised. The commisioners do not recommend the compulsory transfer of land from landlords to tenants. THE COLONIAL COLLEGE AND TRAINING FAKM. This institution was opened at the end of; January, and the other day I paid it a visit, being the first visitor since the opening who has been down to report on it. The college is at Hollesley Bay, eight miles from Woodbridge, Suffolk. The estate consists of- 1331 acres, about 700 acres being arable, and the rest pasture, woods, and heath. The situa*' tion is delightful, and as healthy as any spot; in all England, the rainfall being small and the sunshine abundant in that part of the east coast, while of course the air is bracing. The soil, too, is dry, being mostly a rather light loam on a subsoil of sand or red crag. The land is gently undulating, and is well wooded, 6o that with these advantages and a view of the seaand alittle river, thelatter of which empties into the sea close by, the scenery is very picturesque. The farm is capitally fitted for training the students, as there is timber to be felled and cut up, heath covered with I gorse and dotted with trees to be grubbed up and reclaimed, a considerable variety .of soil to be worked, and low meadows on which irrrigation may be practisscl. Then it is .a capital farm for a breeding flock and a dairy herd. There were 300 black-faced Suffolk ewes, besides othor sheep there, when I visited the place ; but the number is, to be increased. The dairy is not large at present k but is to be when the new dairy and cowhouses are ready, and all the best appliances are to be used. The students are beginning to come in quite as fast as the accommoda- ■ tion for them increases, and additional buildings are planned out. The training- is to be mainly an outdoor one, and in that respect it differs from the other agricultural colleges in the United Kingdom. The elements of the sciences related to agriculture will be taught, as much as possible by outdoorinstruction, but partly by lectures in the college and by evening study. Instruction in the elements of veterinary surgery, anatomy, and medicine will be given, as there • is to be a resident veterinary surgeon. Book- f keeping, baking, brewing, plain cooking, and other domestio arts which a man often needs to know something of in a new • coun- ■ try will be among the indoor pursuits, as well as work in the dairy. All kinds of farm work, - gardening, the care of live stock, butohering,* bacon-curing, land surveying, carpentering,* rough building, smith's work, harness mending will be among the occupations b£ thestudents. In short l the idea is to teach the young fellows to turn their hands to anything; they are likely to have to do in the colonies,. , There are numerous out-buildings to,' be erected, and the students will help in the work. The iaanaging director of the com- ; pauy owning the college and ss'tafce iaMr-

RobertJiTohnson, a very able and earnest man, whose heart is in the success of the college. As he is a practical farmer, he knows how to arrange for the farm teaching, and among his fellow directors there are two other experienced farmers. Skilled men for teaching the various handicrafts are engaged. The college staff, besides the out-door heads of departments on the farm and in the shops, are the Principal, the Professor of Agriculture, the Veterinary Professor, the Science Lecturer, the Dairy, Lecturer, the Secretary and Librarian, and a teacherof bookkeeping and land surveying. The Principal is the Rev. George Gould Ross, M.A., D. C. L. Oxon, late head master.of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, South > Africa. . The Professor of Agriculture is M» Thonger Ducie, Prize Medallist of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, and winner of other high bonuses, and one of the most efficient men ever turned out of the Oirencester College. The fees for the students are rather high, though not so high as at Cirencester or Downton. Those under 17 have to pay £80, including terms for board and all kinds of instruction, while other students .will pay £100, or perhaps up to £120 for those over 20. But the terms are not finally fixed at present. On the occasion of my visit the students were engaged in farm work and carpentering. They had been taught riding also. The instruction will do a great ,deal of good ; for although the training of a colonist must be finished in the colony of his choice, a great deal can be done to make him fit for his career before he leaves the Old Country. Many parents object to send their boys thousands of miles away, quite beyond their control, to be trained in a colony. The Agents-general for South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, the Cape, and British Columbia, as well as numerous other colonists of influence, are among the patrons of the institution, including Sir Charles Clifford, formerly Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. MILKING- RECORDS. Records of the yield of milk are always interesting to dairy farmers, and those of two of the Duke of Westminster's Cheshire farms has just been published. On one, 41 cows yielded an average of 621$ gallons each during last year; on the other the same number of cows gave 635$ gallons a-head. The cows are described' as " the ordinary Cheshire cows (shorthorn cross)." It is intended to improve this year's record by weeding out the poor milkers. REMARKABLE BUTTER YIELD. Colonel Curtis Hay wood, a' Gloucestershire agriculturist, has made known some remarkable results of testing the yield of butter from a given quantity of milk. During 12 months he obtained 12,5841b of bulter from an average of 17 cows kept during the year. During 18 weeks, from October to February, the number of pounds of milk used to produce one pound of butter averaged only 19£, or less than 16 pints. A Laval cream separator was used; but the resnlt is still remarkable, as the usual proportion is nearer to three gallons than two of milk to the pound of butter, even in winter, when milk is richer than in summer. In the week ending December 11, the ratio was lib of butter to "just over 18lb" of milk. The cows in use for this experiment were 31 shorthorns and 11 of Channel Islands breeds, chiefly Jerseys. It is quite worth while to state how the cows which gave such results were fed. Each had 251b of chaff, half hay and half straw, slightly steamed; 41b of mixed meal, composed of barley, wheat, and beans, and 21b of decorticated cotton cake. No roots were given. The shorthorns were turned on to the pastures for a few hours every day, and during January were allowed to pick over the outside of a stack of silage. The Colonel informs us that lately he has been buying milk, and his results have not not been nearly as good, as there are no Jerseys in the herds producing the milk he has purchased. Still he has made at the rate of about lib of butter to 211b of milk, which is beyond the average. He says he gets about lib more butter per cow per week by means of the cream separator than he obtained under the skimming system. This is an important gain. • THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE. This association held its annual- meeting and dinner on Monday last, when it was agreed to add a new object to the programme, demanding legislative action to prevent the sale of spurious butter as the genuine article, and to require a proper public notice in all sales of beer containing any other ingredients than malt and hops, resolution was carried against a close season for hares. The principal discussion, however, ' was the tithe question, and resolutions were carried demanding a reduction in the tithe rent-charges, ils collection from landlords instead of from fenants, and a- re-adjustment of it in order ?hat, after compensating existing interests, it j may be. applied in relief of local burdens. Mr T. H. Bolton, late M.P for a London constituency, proposed a scheme for getting rid of tithes. He would hand them over to the county authorities, who would be empowered to deduct 25 per cent, from the par value of the rent-charge, pay the clerical tithe receivers' life annuities, and the lay improprietors 20 years purchase of the reduced value in consolidated county stock, bearing interest at 3 per cent. The immediate surplus, and the increasing amount arising from the fallingin of life annuities, he would apply locally for the relief of rates. This scheme found great favour at the meeting. Thousands of acres of land are out of cultivation because no one will pay the tithes on them, often amounting from 5s to 10s, and even 12s 6d per acre. FLAX-GROWING. Several farmers in England and Scotland ! are preparing to grow flax this year. In Ireland la3t year the production of flax fibre was over 23,000 tons, as compared with a little under 31,000 tons in 1885. , AGRICULTURE IN PARLIAMENT. A bill to prevent the sale of butterine as butter is to be introduced by Sir R. Paget Mr Lane, an Irish member, also has a bill on. the subject. The Government bill, dealing with tithes, is to be shortly introduced if opportunity occurs j but at present the new pales of proceedure and the everlasting Irish

troubles, are taking jip all the time. _ The Railway Bill, too,- should soon be brought forward. Lord Salisbury has intimated that he cannot encourage any hope of Protection for agriculturists. At least this is taken to be the meaning of a reply to a petition from landowners and farmers in Suffolk, hinting at Protection. The attempt made by Scotch Radical members to commit Parliament to the breaking of farm leases in Scotland, on the ground that it will ruin the tenants to be held to' their contracts, has failed. It was put in the form of an amendment to the Queen's Speech by Mr Esslemont, member for one of the divisions of Aberdeenshire. Mr Seale-Hoyne has brought out a bill to amend the Agricultural Holdings Act by eliminating the requirement of the landlord's consent in the case of permanent improvements, and by making rates payable half by landlords and half by tenants, instead of wholly by the latter.