AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1855, 10 June 1887, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

A correspondent in the Queenslander recommends arsenic for worms in lambs. The remedy is, of course, attendant with a certain amount of risk, and it is questionable whether the New Zealand cure of turpentine in milk is not preferable. He writes : — " I notice in your issue of 23rd April a 'paragraph asking if any one has used the arsenic cure for worms in sheep. I have used it for some ,years. There are worms in weaners more or 'less almost every season, though this year they are very bad. The drench I have used, and which I have found to be very effective, is : loz arsenic, loz washing soda, ; }oz carbonate soda, put into two quarts of "boiling

water, keep boiling slowly and constantly stirred for half an hour, then add 10 quarts of cold water. Dose for weaners, £ gill. If the worms are not very bad one dose wiil cure. This season I repeated the dose after an interval of -nine days and it proved an effectual remedy. Many persons do not know that very shortly after the death of the sheep all trace of worms disappears, and people are apt to blame grass seed as the cause of death. A wormy lamb walks very much like one suffering from grass seed, takes very short steps, is tucked up, very white in the face and skin, and will not travel ; if opened the blood will be found to be very thin and will not congeal, the liver almost white. The paunch is very often full of food, but the intestines below the rennet rarely have any r thing in except a kind of muddy black fluid. The rennet, if the lamb is opened within half an hour of death, will be full of small red worms. Ido not know what becomes of them after that time, but I have opened many with every symptom of worms after they were cold and have always failed to find them. Care must be taken to mix the stuff, properly. Arsenic is hard to dissolve, and if not properly treated will remain at, the bottom of the bucket, the consequence being that some lambs will derive no benefit, and some who get the sediment will be poisoned. A sodawater bottle is the best thing to use for drenching. The worms appear only to be in weaners.

The preservation of rabbits by the tinning process is being vigorously proceeded with at Camperdown (Victoria), where, it is is said, 245 persons find employment. Of that number, 175 are engaged in trapping the bunnies, the supplies being drawn entirely from the district.

The following remarks from the Queenslander will be read with interest by exhibitors of stock at our own agricultural shows : — "Eeaders of English and American journals specially devoted to the advancement of agriculture and the live stock interest will have noticed a growing feeling in both these countries in favour of reserving the most valuable prizes at agricultural shows for breeders. It is contended that the latter are frequently at a disadvantage through men of means making purchases of superior animals and making up a collection of such merit that the man whose exhibits are bred by himself has no chance. There is some force in the argument, although it is more applicable to England and America than to this colony. On the other hand the man who purchases superior animals for the purpose of using them in his own stud, herd, or flock is deserving of every encouragement. The object of live stock exhibitions being the improvement of stock, it would seem unwise to depart from the wholesome rule of awarding the prizes to the best exhibits, irrespective of ownership, and the only instance in which breeders — in this colony at least — have any cause to complain of the rule is when the prizes are carried off by dealers— those who cannot be classed in tho category of breeders, and whose proprietary in the animals is of only a few weeks' duration. In the case of agricultural produce the rule is general that the exhibits must have been grown by the exhibitor. The same rule might with advantage be applied to sheep and cattle in so far that it should be made incumbent on the exhibitor to show that the stock were either bred by him or were actually in service in his herd or flock, There have been instances in which the chief plumbs at our agricultural shows have gone to animals from other colonies, brought here for purposes of sale ; but in such cases the awards have been of direct advantage to the colony by the assistance they have rendered our breeders in selecting superior breeding stock."

The advisability of breeding ferrets on an extensive scale in Victoria is beginning to attract attention. A Geelong writer advocates the establishment of 25 depots for breeding ferrets and polecats. He says, " The first year 3000 ferrets might be turned loose, 5000 the second year, and 10,000 each in the third, fourth, and fifth years. Probable number of ferrets at large at the end of the fifth 3 ear, 500,000. These would kill annually (allowing one rabbit a day to each ferret) 132,500,000 rabbits.

The English manufacturers are recommending the breeders of Cheviot sheep to reduce the length ©f staple. The tendency of late years amongst breeders of Cheviot sheep has been in the direction of increased length and strength of staple, and this is assigned as the cause of the depression of prices for that class of wool. In a paper read before the Teviotdale Farmers' Club, by Mr Laidlaw, a manufacturer, it was stated that the manufacturer required finer wool than they had been growing, " finer in fibre although not necessarily a smaller fleece. Let the fibres in the fleece be as close together as you will, so long as they do not ' coat.' A sheep with a fine close fleece .may grow as much wool as a sheep with a. long open one."

The Leader states : — " Farmers everywhere continue to 'exert themselves to the utmost to crop every available acre, and the almost unprecedented prospect is impelling most of them to lake unusual pains to bring lhuir soil into the most suitable condition for the reception of the seed which is generally being sown by machines, spiked rollers being found useful where the soil turns up cloddy. Ploughing and sowing are just about finished in the Goulburn and other early districts, while in the later parts of Gippsland and the Dividing Range they are in full swing. In parts of Gippsland much new groundis being broken up for sowing, and much valuable timber is being burnt to get it out of the way, because owing to bad roads and want of roads, carting it to a railway station would not pay. The young crops that have already vegetated give excellent promise of doing well, and already inspire hopes of a bountiful harvest."

Another noxious weed is making its appearance in the neighbourhood of Numurkah (Victoria). The deadly nightshade has been seen growing in rank luxuriance in some fallow paddocks, and in view of the poisonous nature of the plant, it is feared that serious results may follow.

"After the first trials of Wolseley's sheepshearing machine in this city (says the Sydney Weekly Tribune) it was noted that

the time requisite' for shearing a sheep by the? machine was greater than the average time required by a shearer Operating in the ordinary way. The obvious conchision wag, that to get the shearing over as quickly afc is now done by hand shearing, a larger number of shearers would need to be employed. In addition there would be required the machines and a steam-engine or other motive power to drive them. On the other hand the work done by the machine is much, cleaner than that done by hand, and the men who operate with it need not be professional shearers, as any intelligent station hand could speedily learn to work it efficiently. The freedom from severe cuts and the benefit to the next fleece which follows, close and even shearing are also factors to be mentioned in favor of the machine. It was, however, doubted whether all these together would make up for the increase in the number of hands required, and for the interest on the first cost of the machinery, the risk of stoppages and labor applications and the cost of mak* ing good the wear and tear. Experiments have, therefore, been made with a view to show that the machine can do the work much more quickly than was the case in the first exhibition. On Monday a competition- took place between the machine and shearers. Sheep were picked out by a committee, and the hand shearer and the machine started at the same time. The results are given as follows : — First trial : Merino sheep shorn by machine 7min ; ditto by hand 1 ] mm. Second trial : Merino sheep shorn by machine smin 55sec; ditto by hand smin 45sisc. In this trial, however, the sheep shorn by hand was re-shorn by the machine, and over sofc of wool taken off. Third trial : Crossbred sheep shorn by machine 4min ; ditto by hand smin. It is worthy of note that shearers, previously unacquainted with,, the machine, tried it and were able to work it with the greatest ease. The result -was deemed very satisfactory by all who witnessed it.

During March 777,719 rabbits were destroyed in New South Wales, and 2800 men were engaged in the work of destruction in various districts. The infested area is still rapidly increasing.

Messrs Calder and Cupples shipped some promising three and four-year-old colts and fillies by Bide-a-wee, Prince of Wales, SouLhome, &c, from the Bluff for Melbourne last week. The lot altogether comprised 26 head. The Southland Times says of them :—: — " The horses are^'of a, stamp that it would be hard to beat anywhere, and are certain to be highly appreciated in Victoria, and help to retrieve the character of New Zealand draught horses in that colony, the reputation of which has suffered through the importation of several shipments of very weedy horses there lately. It is almost a matter for regret to see so many fine horses sent away from the country, and it is certainly a great pity that such a fine horse as Wait-a-wee was allowed to leave the district. If the exodus continues the colony will soon have to begin importing draught stock to make up for the loss it has been sustaining lately."

There seems to be some misunderstanding among farmers (says the Australasian) regarding the prices to be paid for grain in the country. They take the price ruling in Melbourne and deduct the actual railway freight, and seem to consider that they should receive the price thus calculated. They seem to forget that a buyer in the country, if purchasing on his own account, has to send the grain to town to be sold, and has probably to pay cartage as well as commission to his agent, and at the same time not only be out of pocket, as he has to pay cash at the country station, but also run the usual trade risks as to obtaining payment. It is only fair, therefore, that the buyer in the country, whether a principal or agent, should have some margin to work on. The buyers in the country are a great convenience to farmers as they pay cash on delivery, whereas if the farmer was compelled to send his grain to agents he would have to pay all the charges that the buyer now does, and also run the usual trade risks. Farmers, taking these advantages into consideration, should not grudge the country buyer a small margin to work on, as he cannot be expected to do all the work and nan the usual risks for no profit. The chairman of the Royal Agricultural Society of Adelaide offers a prize of £21 for the best farm in South Australia. Second and third prizes will also be awarded.

At a meeting of shearers held in Waimate on Saturday night, Mr W. Lundon was appointed the delegate to attend the conference at Oamaru. The delegate, in returning thanks for his election, said (we quote from the Waimate Times) :—": — " I will support what is right and fair to the employer as well as to ourselves. We should consider ,the employers' interest as well as our own. For my part, I think every county should fix its own price."

The Strath-Taieri correspondent of the Taieri Advocate writes :— " Although this is only the first month of winter the fields are very bare, and stock will fa.ru very badly unless provided with something more than can be picked up in grass paddocks. Every farmer who has turnips has provided himself with a herd of cattle, or a flock of sheep for fattening off for the spring markets. Cattle have found the most favour, no doubt owing to the low price of mutton last spring. However, it is quite likely that the tables will be turned next spring, and then there will be another rush back to sheep, and another glut in the market.— The Henley Dairy Factory is still in full swing, and has a magnificent stock of cheese on hand. The supply of milk has been considerably reduced during the past month, owing, no doubt, to the cold weather which has prevailed lately."

In commenting on the recent sale of portion of Mr Menlove's property the Ngapara correspondent of the Oamaru Times says : — " Purchasers of farms are at last determined to give only what the land is really value for at the existing prices of farm produce and stock. The foolish and fabulous prices that were formerly.given in the purchase of land have now been totally abandoned, -and no doubt the existing high lents charged for cropping will find their level too." He further writes : — " There will be a large area under crop this year in this district. The sowing of wheat is now in full operation, and the weather has now every appearance of continuing favourable for such a purpose."