AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1894, 9 March 1888, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Under date 13th Jauuary, Messrs Nimmo and Blair's London agents write : — " The butter market continues depressed. We have had large shipments continuously from New South Wales (ex Ormuz, next week, 35 tons net), and are selling at paying prices. What is invoiced pro forma at 11-A we have been selling at up to 112.H, 6£d at 90s, s&d at 82s, and some 3Jd we are now offering at 60s — and hope to sell. "A glauocj at these quotations will show how small a margin of profit is left the shipper of inferior butter. Under date 25th January, the firm further wrote :—": — " Butter continues to occupy our most attention. Out of 35 tons ex Ormuz we cleared about 30 tons in one day at up to 112s. The lot referred to last mail as having been iuvoiced at 3i|d in New South Wales we sold at 635, and yet our market is decidedly in a depressed state, so much so that we think prices cannot go lower in the spring and summer; so, should your low prices continue, it would, we think, be safe to go on shipping." In Cruckshank and Lovell's circular, dated London, Jauuary 4, it is stated in reference to cheese : — " The season has not beeu a profitable one to anyone doirg largely in the trade, the mistake was made in buying July cheese at 60s and over. At the time the Americans marketed their July make the drought was so great in this country that the general belief was that the English make would be decreased by 35 to 40 per cent, on previous years. While there has been considerable shrinkage, it will not exceed 15 to 20 per cent, at last year's make. Dutch cheese, whiuh is a large factor on this market, is very scarce, and compared with American very dear. It now turns out that the official stocks are lets than was estimated some time ago, and when the small makes of England and Holland are taken into account we think all the American and Canadian cheese will be wanted, and that the prospects are that prices will be higher than those now ruling, and "finest white" will, owing to their scarcity, command a premium over coloured."

The agricultural shows in the United Kingdom during 1887 were, according to the Home journals, especially noteworthy, inasmuch as notwithstanding the general depression the business done at the shows by exhibitors was reported as very satisfactory, and formed one of the hopeful features of the season. Sensational prices are no longer expected by breeders, but with tho exception, of cattle the eeasoa'a trade for pure

6tock was quite up to expectations. For horses good prices were made, the foreign demand being very great. For Clydesdales and shires not only was the trade good, but some remarkable prices both for hire and sale were made. For cattle, on the other hand, comparatively low prices prevailed, judging by the standards of earlier years, as none but the very choicest stock sold well. At 37 public sales of shorthorns 1353 head were sold at an average of £27 12s 6d. In 1886 the average value per head was £30 0$ Id, and in 1885 £37 10s. When it is considered that the average for the 12 years ending with 1879 was £54 7s 7sd, the drop in values will beseen to be something like 50 per cent. In Scotland tho sales of shorthorns ami polled Aberdeens were were almost disastrous, the dccl no being 32 per cent, in polls and 17 per cent, in .shorthorns. In all 831 head of polled Abetdeenswere sold at an average of £17 4s Od, and 743 shorthorns at an average of £18 14s 9d. For sheep and rams the sales of the year have been fairly good, though here also there is sympathy with the low range of prices generally prevailing. Good quality of rams of all breeds have, however, been eagerly sought for at remunerative prices.

Tho small bird pest is giving great trouble in the Western district at present. The Western Star says that local farmers describe the rabbit nuisance quite a siaaH affair as compared with the ravages made by the small birds.

The value of cats asrabbiters is receiving some acknowledgement in the Tuapeka district. The local Times says : — "We have it on exceptionally good authority that tho cat is about tho most successful enemy which has yet been pitted against the rabbit. In several instances where cats have been turned adrift they have taken strongly to the rabbits, doing great havoc among the young oues especially. A Tuapeka West farmer, who has a large area of infested country, assures us that the cats have done more good on his place than all tho other enemies, natural or otherwise, put together. In a few gullies about the homestead, which were at one time verily alive with the pest, there is now scarcely a rabbit to bfl seen,"

The Californian thistle came in for a share of attention at the last meeting of the Waitahuna Farmers' Club. Mr William Dallas (Stirling) wrote, forwarding samples of the weed, which he assured them were small of their class. They were obtained about Stirling, where the thistle is very plentiful. The largest wcro about 9ft above the ground, and the roots were fully 9ft under tho ground. Every little knot or ring to be seen on the roots would develop iuto a large thistle. It spreads mure from tho roots than from the seed ; if a piece of root were broken with the plough and carried away it would grow wherever deposited. Mr D&llai further drew attention to the letter from Mr Thomas Mackenzie, M.H.R., which recently appeared in the Witness. A discussion ensued, and it was decide 1 to thank the writer for forwarding the specimens and thus bringing the subject before the club.

An " Old Colonist " supplies the following interestiug weather report for 1837 to the Southland News. The observations were taken in Invercargili :— " A very slight fall of snow occurred ou the 26th and 27th of. June. The driest months were January and December; the wettest May, July, and October. In the latter month it rained on 17 days. The same month was very windy : it blew on 21 days. January was the calmest month last year. The number of dry days was 231 and that of wet 13-1, the year previous being 237 dry and 128 wet. I find in looking back for the past 25 years the driest year was in 1880, the number of dry days being 261 and the number of wet days being 105, and for the same period of years the year of 1868 was the one in which the largest amount of rain fell — viz ,on 106 days. We had six days more rain last year than in 1886.

Mange appears to be very prevalent among the horses in Tasmania. A correspondent in the Colonist writes : — " I am aware you are continually receiving receipts for the cure of mango in horses, but hope you will publish this one, as I have found it very efficacious. Bo many horses suffering from the above must be my excuse for trespassing on your space, but 1 will endeavour to be as terse as possible. I find so many theories exist as to what this disease is, and some remedies advanced are such utter bosb, such as bleeding, &c, that I feel impelled to quote Professor Gamgee (from memory), an anthority I am sure few will have the temerity to attack In the work ' Domestic Animals iv Health and Disease,' Gamgee refers to this disease as a microscopic parasite infecting tho skin of horses and cattle, very contagious but rarely communicated to mau, and gives the following prescription : Creosote, ioz ; rect. spt. wine, 15oz ; pure water,4ooz or 460z ; mix. If any owner of a mangy horse will wash him well with soft soap and apply the above lotion, and repeat from the fourth to the ninth day, about which time the horse will begin to itch again, and disinfect the stable, trees, or posts, or other scratching places he may observe in tho paddocks, a speedy cure will be effected. If this very important matter is not attended to no permanent cure can take pl&ce, as the animal beoomes re-infected upon contact with such places." A correspondent of the Riverina (N.S.W.) Herald says :— " A curious and painful disease affecting the eyes of cattle has broken out in the Tatalia district. The first symptom is a white spot on the pupil of the eye. This rapidly spreads over the whole eye, at the same time gradually changing in colour, so that in the worst stages the eye resembles a piece of raw meat, and the beast becomes totally blind. Some of the farmers say that they have seen th& same disease in this district some years ago, aad( are sanguine of affecting a cure by blowing, powdered bluestone or alum into the eye." However enterprising Aucklandf.rs may bo in other respects they seem to be wofully deficient in procuring reliable seed, if we may judge by the following letter in the Weekly News, from a correspondent signing himself " New Chum " : — " I am minded to ask you if yon know an honest seed merchant in Auckland, where a poor mau could get good seed, true to name. lam a homestead settler, and that fact is sufficient to lefc you know that I am not troubled with too much cash. The land I have got, like mosf'homes'-.eaj land, is very broken. li m\\ bo impossible to ever plough it to renew tho grass, which makes it all the more necessary that tlie thing be well done at first. Every season I have sent; and paid for cocksfoot seed, intending te lay the ground down is cocksfoot, ryegras8 > and, clover j

but I am sorry to say that the proportion of cocksfoot I have got is very small, not more than one-fourth. Last season I sent to Christchurch, and the seed was worse than ever, as it is quite a treat to see a cocksfoot plant, and I am not alone ; three of my neigbours have a similar experience. What are we to do? Our land is being laid down principally in Yorkshire fog, while paying ready cash for a better seed. Cannot something be done to make merchants more careful abx>ut what they send out ? lam sure that, wherever the seed was grown that I got last season, no honest man could call it cocksfoot ; yet it is sold for such ; and now I and others have to suffer. How would it do to publish the names of the merchants who sell Yorkshire fog for cocksfoot. 7 '"

The Melbourne Leader says that the De Laval cream separator is gradually becoming known to the dairymen of the colony, to whom it is certainly the greatest boon ever produced. It is being appreciated by all who have had an opportunity of seeing it tried, as well as by many who only know it by repute. A correspondent of the Los Angeles Express (California) recently gave an account of Widow Crow's wheat farm of 3000 acres, from which she harvested this year an average of nine sacks of wheat per acre, weighing about 2000 tons. She owns one combined harvester which will cut, thresh, and sack 30 acres of wheat per day. When her wheat crop was matured and ready to harvest she started her own harvester and hired four more, and the five were driven out her fields with 20 men and 120 horses, cutting, threshing, and sacking 180 acres of wheat each day. This kept five of the men busy sewing up the sacks of grain as they came from the separator ; five drove each a 25-horse team, five tended each a sickle, and the other live tended each a separator. In about a minute the standing grain was in the sack and ready for transportation. She sold her crop for £12,000. Members of the Microscopical Society of Calcutta have found that Calcutta butter always teems with microscopic organisms when made as is customary, and these distinguish it from fresh butter churned directly from rich cream. The milk of Bengal is mostly too poor to yield butter by the process elsewhere in vogue, and it is therefore boiled and put aside to " set," a •mall piece of^ butter or a teaspoonful of buttermilk being added to it. In from six to 12 hours a white acid mass is formed which is mixed with water and churned until the butter separates. The organisms seemed to be introduced partly by the water and partly by the stale butter or buttermilk added to the boiled milk. The microfungi are probably developed from the butter or buttermilk, which really acts as a ferment, while evendiatoms and infusoria come from the water.

The present outlook for the wheat trade (says the Mark Lane Express) appears to be based about as follows :— Large receipts of American flour ; no pressing demand for American wheat ; the prospect of large supplies of Australian wheat, followed by the surplus products of the Argentine Confederation, India (new crop), Chili, and Californian— -together with renewed exports from Russia—in the spring. From what source, therefore, shall we look for improvement in prices? The number of rabbitskins which inspectors under the Rabbit Nuisance Act can count in a day is, according to the Sydney Mail; a matter upon which a good deal of difference of opinion has existed amongst the officials engaged in the work, as well as amongst persons interested in pastoral pursuits. The number has usually been put down at from 20,000 to 40,000. It may be stated, however, that on the Sopar run, westward of the Darling river, Mr H. P. Richardson counted, on the Bth instant, no fewer than 73,671 skins in the presence of Mr Nevins, the overseer of the station. The skins were handed to Mr Richardson in different lots as caught by the men, and corresponded within nine skins of the counts delivered. The inspector had no idea of the number in any lot, and every skin had to be handled.

A commission appointed by the French Government to inquire into the use of salt for domestic animals reported on the matter as follows : — 1. Salt ought to be given to domestic animals to replace the saline matter washed out of their food by boiling, steainiug, &c. 2. Salt counteracts the ill effects of wet pastures and food on sheep, and prevents foot rot. 3. It increases the flow of saliva, and therefore hastens fattening. 4. In making mixtures of chaff, potatoes, beets, bran, oilcake, &°., salt always ought to be added. The daily allowance recommended by the commission was, for a milch cow or ox, 2oz ; for a fattiug stall-fed ox, 2soz to iAoz ; for a fatting pig, loz to 2oz ; for a lean sheep, ioz to Joz ; for a horse, donkey, or mule, loz.

The sugar beet scheme is being revived in Te Awamutu, Auckland. It is intended to apply to Parliament to givepower to local bodies such as the county councils of Piako, Waipa, and Waikato to levy a special rate of -\d in the pound, which will provide interest and sinking fund for debentures to the extent of £60,000 if necessary, fully providing the capital to establish and carry on a first-class sugar beet factory in Waikato. The price given to the farmers for the beet will be 16s per ton delivered at the factory.

Weather for 1837, Invercarglll, a* o a •JS - ID t* 05 O 2 « o en 43 jj V. to I? I .New Zealand. January „, February Mnrcli April ... May ... June ... July ... August September Qei.ober November December 21 13 7 I 1 0 0 0 o 0 2 f> 14 5 8 3 15 8 7 7 ia 14 3 4 2 1 2 7 1 2 3 :? 2 ,'{ 9 11 7 0 3 S 6 5 2 7 4 0 i 10 3 a 4 2 (i 3 I I -' 2 1 7 15 6 o i 0 3 4 0 I) 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 11 5 b 2 0 0 0 Totals ' M 59 02| | I 13 I I 2f) G2 89