AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 1889, 3 February 1888, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

(Feom Oub Special Agricultural Cobrespondent.)

Christchukch, January 28. , Harvest Prospects. The condition of the crops is now the, uppermost subject in the minds of farmers. Since the New Year the north-westerly winils which are so feared by Canterbury farmers have been very prevalent, and a good deal of grain has been prematurely ripened, with the result of a very light yield. In some places the grain has been shaken out, but this form of injury has been of small extent. For the last week the weather has been unsettled, and generally cooler, with a good many showers. The change has been a welcome one, as the rain has been sufficient to do good to most of the crops, without causing any serious stoppage to harvesting. To root crops the moisture has been particularly beneficial. Fine weather, without nor'-westers, will make the harvest a good one, but if unfavourable weather prevail some discount from the estimates which I telegraphed to you last week, and which were the result of careful inquiry throughout the province, will have to be made. The returns on«vhich those estimates were based^ show that there is greater irregularity and* more poor yields among the crops than was generally supposed, and it is only some exceptionally heavy crops in some localities that prevent the average from being below last year's. In all the early districts oats are being cut, and machines will be in the wheat next week. Grass seeding is going on busily, and this branch of the harvest is so : abundant that prices are sure to be low. A great deal of the seed is very dirty with weeds, whose growth was exceedingly ' vigorous in consequence of the wet spring. After for some time moving in an upward direction the Home wheat market has received a check, and it is difficult to predict at what price wheat will open. North Island millers are taking small lots of old wheat at 3s to 3s 3d for immediate delivery. Stocks are running low, and would be quite cleared off but for the high rates of freight to England. A little activity has been shown in good feed oats, which have been taken at Is 8d to Is B£d for Sydney ; milling lined fetch up to Is lOd. A sale of prime new malting barley at 4s per bushel, f .o.b. Lyttelton, is reported. Live Stoclt. All sorts of stock are being forced upon the market, and owners are thus precipitating the fall in prices which they fear. Why they should adopt so suicidal a policy passes comprehension, for feed is abundant, and plenty of the cattle and sheep sent to market as fat Would better answer to that description with another month or twos' grazing. The shrewd graziers are picking up the desirable lines, and will make a nice profit out of them within a few weeks. A peculiarity in the market has been a demand for lambs for freezing, which nearly doubled their value at a bound. Suitable qualities and weights brought 7s to 10s each at the height of the demand ; but exceptional requirements are now satisfied, and prices have relapsed to 5s 6d to 7s 6d for prime, and 2s 9d to 5s for lighter. The fat sheep market this week threatened to entirely collapse, but the opportune presence and purchases of the pioneer of the export trade kept freezers up to their former level, and the rise in tallow gave spirit to the biddings foe Lat ewes. Aged ewes this year are " mudfat," and the improvement in the price of tallow has come just in time to benefit those who are culling their flocks at this season. There is a steady demand for good store crossbred wethers. For merinos, fat or store, there is little demand. Prime crossbred wether and maiden ewe mutton is worth l£d to If d per lb ; ewe, Id to l|d ; merino, Id to l^d. Fat cattle are very depressed, prime selling at the rate of 15s to 16s per 1001b, and secondary and inferior at all sorts of prices. Stores are not so low in proportion. Good three-year-old steers are worth £i to £4 10s ; two-year-olds, £2 10s to £2 15s; yearlings to 18 months, £1 to £1 10s ; heifers and mixed lots, 15 to 20 por cent. less. Pigs of all sorts fetch extreme rates. Wool. Prices were very firm at the sales a fortnight ago, of which I wired particulars. Never in the history of the local sales has so complete a clearance been made as this season. Some catalogues have passed the hammer without the withdrawal of a single bale. Rabbits. Quite a sensation was caused among those who dread an invasion of South Canterbury by the Otago wild rabbit by the announcement that the Tasman Valley fence would not be constructed, owing to the difficult nature of parts of the proposed line. The report on which the Minister's determination was arrived at was made by a stranger to the country, and I can confidently say that the difficulties have been exaggerated, and that there is really no doubt that when the Hon. Mr Richardson visits the country next week he will reverse his decision, and the fence will proceed forthwith. It seems a pity that provincial jealously should be displayed in such a question, but it unfortunately is the case that the opposition to this urgent measure has been instigated by Hawke's Bay and Otago landowners, who object to the expenditure of public money on the grounds that in their provinces the rabbits had to be fought at private expense. The circumstances, however, are different. In Hawke's Bay and Otago the infested country was in a great measure either freehold or held on long leases, whereas in South Canterbury the runs are practically all leasehold, of which the terms expire in 1890, and consequently the fence will be a protection to the colonial estate, of which the revenues go into the colonial exchequer. A still more unworthy spirit is shown by some of the landholders on

the Otago-Canterbury boundary, who are rather in hopes that the rabbits may reach them so that they may get leases at low rates at the re-letting two years hence. It is quite certain that if the runholders' leases had had 10 years longer to run, the Amuri sheepfarmers' example would have been followed, and the fence would have been in course of erection by this time at own expense. Large numbers of cats are being liberated en some of the Kaikoura runs. The Callforalan Thistle. Every day brings news of this pest having been found in some new spot, but the only practical news on the subject is from Mr M. Murphy, secretary of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, who writes from Tasmania that the weed has been completely exterminated by some of the farmers there by simply cutting down every shoot once a week for from two to three years. It has spread there to a lamentable extent where not actively combatted. A committee of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association has been appointed to prepare a report on the thistle question, and also to report upon the best means of preventing the spread of gorse. In several parts of the Ashburfcon district the Calif ornian thistle has obtained a firm hold, and the county council have passed a motion declaring the thistle a noxious weed under the Counties Act. It was decided to procure a living specimen and keep it on view at the council's offices, so that farmers should be able to recognise their enemy and destroy it when found on their land. Sheep Exhibitions. At the last meeting of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, a letter was read from Mr Brydone, of the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, stating that he thought that the sheep classes were too much cut up for proper justice to be done to all of them, and suggesting that some of the "housed and clothed" might be cut out, and that sheep would benefit by being shown in their natural state. After some discussion, it was decided to defer the further consideration of the matter until the annual meeting in March. There is no doubt that the feeling of the association is in favour of giving every facility to exhibitors of naturally- treated animals. New Zealand Stock In Sydney. Mr James Eowe, the well-known pig breeder, scored a big success at the Centennial Show in Sydney, gaining six Centennial championships and seeen iirst prizes. The pigs were not all of his own breeding, a number being Yorkshires bred by Mr George King, but they were a capital lot. Mr T. H. Green, Christchurch, was first in hams and bacon, but they were certaintly not machinecured, as the newspaper telegram states. The pigs and bacon were fellow passengers with Mr K. B. Ferguson and his Ayrshires, whose success also is very gratifying to New Zealand stockbreeders. The Melbourne Exhibition has not been taken up here with much spirit, but several Canterbury stockbreeders, implement makers, «kc, will take part in it. The notice given of theSydnoy Exhibition was too short for such a busy time of the year. Freezing. The Belfast Freezing Works have been increased in extent by one-half, and are now equal to the out-put of 1400 sheep a day. The sheep and lambs now going through are of the primest quality, and a slight latitude which was allowed to shippers during the scarcity of fat sheep has been withdrawn. At no time, however, has anything of secondary quality been shipped. Dairy Produce. Butter and cheese are being shipped to England in large quantities, but a large proportion of them are not of firsL-rate quality, which is unfortunate, as this season gave the colonies a rare chance to establish a reputation for the excellence of these products. Prices here are very low : Cheese, 3d to 4d ; Butter (prime), 4d to 6d ; inferior qualities unsaleable. Reaper and Binder Competition. A competition of reapers and binders took places yesterday at Sefton under the auspices of the Sefton Farmers' Club, which is one of the live bodies connected with agriculture. The competition was not the success which it should have been, as the Buckeye agents were sold out and to the great disappointment of the farmers present could not get the use of a machine for the day, and the M'Cormick representatives would not run their machine in the absence of their " expert," who was at Oamaru. The Hornsby, Howard, and Deering machines were the only competitors. The judges fixed the following points upon which to base their decision : — Cleanness and lowness of cut; security of knot, and tightness and certainty of binding; simplicity of management; and general appearance of work when finished ; 15 points to be the maximum in each section. The Hornsby was awarded the maximum of points in each section, giving a total of 60 points. This machine never missed a sheaf during the work of cutting three acres, and by the aid of the sheaf-carrier deposited the sheaves in very even rows for stooking, and altogether made faultless work. The machine was not stopped from start to finish for oiling, and completed its allotted work in two and a-half hours. The Deering was placed next with a total of 53 points, having lost two points on simplicity of management, and 5 points on general appearance of work when finished. The judges stated, in reference to this machine, that "had this machine had the sheaf- carrying attachment it would have scored more points." The time taken by this machine was about 15 minutes more than by the Hornsby. The Howard was awarded a total of 41 points, scoring 10 for cut, 10 for tying, 13 for management, and 8 for appearance of work. The time taken by this machine was about three hours, and the horses seemed to labour somewhat at their work towards the finish. Rabbits v. Vevinin. The question as to whether the good which stoats, weasels, ferrets, and such like animals would do in keeping down rabbits would so much outweigh the danger which they would be to children, lambs, poultry, and game, as to warrant their introduction into the colony has been discussed at enormous length in the

Christchurch newspapers. As we know! what harm rabbits can do, and are told of only isolated instances of injury to human life by the vermin, it would seem that th 6 latter are the lesser evil— particularly as they can be easily exterminated when the rabbits have all been destroyed (whenever that co tt . summation devoutly to be wished may arrive), and also as those who have turned out vermin are satisfied of their value in kill, ing the rabbits.