AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1915, 3 August 1888, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The Minister of Agriculture has (says the Melbourne Leader) received a progress report from Mr D. Wilson upon the travelling dairy plant purchased by the Government. The whole of the machinery, with the exception of the cream separators, has been made in the colony. The plant, which will be capable of treating the milk of from 10 to 100 cows, is expected to be ready about the end of July. It will be "packed in eight portable cases, including a cool box for for lowering the temperature of the cream in the Northern districts in hot weather. A circular is to be issued to agricultural societies throughout the colony, stating that each society will have the privilege of sending one male or female pupil to be instructed in the modern system of making butter and cheese, and in the use of the machinery and appliances to be exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition. The pupils, who should arrive in Melbourne about the end of August, are to have papers read to them on the chemical properties of milk, the atmospheric influences on dairy produce, the benefits to accrue from establishing butter factories, and the introduction of improved appliances on dairy farms. Each pupil is in turn to do practical work in the dairy for a week. Here is a hint to some of our enterprising Peninspla farmers: — Forced potatoes are re* ceived in England from the Channel Islands as early as January, when they sell, wholesale, at 0d to Is per lb. The supply of unforced tubers from Algeria, Lisbon, and Malta begins 'in March; and early in M&y contributions come from Noirmoutier and the Oleron Isles, in the Bay of Biscay.

Yielding to the pressure put upon it, the French, Government, have decided to again start

a farm for the purpose of experimentimr^ the various breeds of cattle. A farm oftf I acres has been secured at a towa called V / Piu. Work will be carried out by a commit* consisting of the Director of Agriculture*^ Director of Horsebreeding, and severaUtCi experts. ' According to the Waikaka Valley correaw dent of the Mataura Ensign, rats are unugu^ numerous this winter. One of our rabbit*: says he, has trapped no less than 500 rats dark! the last two months. They are much &J easily trapped than rabbits, and there kZ better trap for them than' the rabbit trap. jk? walk over a bare trap apparently without ta apprehension of the risk incurred. Last vil^l one farmer trapped- a considerable numk around the heaps of oats in his stockyard. The shearing dispute on Dunlop station, }fa South Wales, was brought to an end by jl manager accepting the amended rules of tb Shearers' Union. The manager wanted ttl men to shear by machine under the Masters w Servants Act, at 20s per hundred, but the o& were only -willing to do so under the ordinjh union agreement. ™ The Minnesota Experimental Station at &s Anthony's Park, Minnesota, has, as a result d a long series of experiments, come to the cot elusion that deep seeding pays best. Thick m thin seeding of wheat, also deep and shalloj and early and late seeding were experiment^ upon. The most surprising result was reacts in a trial of deep versus shallow seeding durta 1887, which, it should be noted, was a very h» and dry season. Wheat was drilled the follow. i ing depths, with the yields given respectively^ l£in deep, yield 782§1b per acre; 2£in, yid/ 8951b; 3iin, 6371b; 4£in, 937J1b; 6Jin, 103(2 A similar test in 1886 showed the largest yielj for the deepest planting, which was in that cas> only 4in instead of s£in as above. Whether thj same results would be obtained in a wet seasot is to be doubted. The following description of a potato diggio, implement is by a correspondent of the Warr nambool Standard:— "Recently I paid a flyioi visit to a farm now in the occupation of Mr D Hurst, for the purposo of witnessing his machins unearthing the cubers. The work is done rapidly and as far as I could discover very few are left behind. The machine consists of an ordinan plough divested of its mould board, coulter, and land plate. On this naked framework a double mould board is replaced, consisting of a nwmba of iron rods, between 2in and 3in apart. The shear is short pointed and has two wings. Thii rooter, as it is termed, is drawn by two horses, and travels through the . centre of the drill When the soil is loose and fairly dry it falls back into the furrow between these bars, leaving the potatoes en the surface. After these have been picked up a horse and scarifier travels the same ground, unearthing any tubers that may be covered. With plenty of pickers on hand the rooting out of the potatoes is accomplished most expeditiously. A boy follows the harrows to pick up the few that may be brought to the surface. A neighbour who was present at my visit was of opinion that cleaner work was done in this way than by the spade." The following remarks by Messrs Jama Carter and Co. are as applicable to New Zev land as to the Mother Country : — " We have observed with dismay the dreadful aocounts ol the deficiency of green food for stock thii spring, particularly in Yorkshire and otha parts of the North Midlands. It may bs remembered that last autumn we strongly advised the desirability of sowing an acreage ol Italian ryegrass as being one of the best plant! to meet the difficulty now recorded. Advantage was largely taken of our recommendation, and we feel sure those farmers who were fortunate enough to bow their fields have now every reason to be satisfied, and we cannot too forcibly impress the importance of this plant to need suci a contingency as we are now discussing upon those who have not yet tried it. We know of no other plant, excepting perhaps Avena elatoir, that will grow almost in defiance of wintrj weather, and at the first blush of spring produce an enormous swarth of valuable green food."

The_ travelling dairy arrangements of the Victorian Government do not appear to be viewed with universal satisfaction. The Leader says : — " Some of the agricultural societies art not looking with favour at the travelling dairj arrangements, on account of the expense to which they are likely to be put in the f urnishbg of horses for motive power, providing water and other requirements, and unless the farmer* themselves, either individually or in combination, consider the benefits to be gained worthy of the necessary expense, it is to be feared that the societies will not feel justified either in providing suitable buildings or the necessary horse • and, of course, man power as well." The Irish Farmers' Gazette of April 28 state that towards the end of the previous week 1500 head of cattle in the dairyyards of Dublin were marked for slaughter, having been in . contact with animals affected wifch pleuro-pneumonis. Of this number nearly 500 had been killed, and the slaughter was still proceeding.

The information received by cable that frozen mutton is selling in London at 5d per lb will be hailed with rejoicing in New Zealand. For i long time past the frozen meat trade has been in a most unsatisfactory state, and in nearly every case growers have been shipping at a low. .... Whatever the causes may be which have brought about the rise in prices, the factii none the less satisfactory to colonists. Computing the average weight of sheep shipped at 601b, and the gross charges, including killing, freezing, freight, and agency expenses, at2d per lb, we have a net result of. something like £1 per head to the grower if we reckon 5s for skin, fat, &c. Last yew something over three quarters of a million 1 o! carcasses were sent Home, and judging from the average increase in shipments in the post, it would be safe to conclude that close on a million carcasses will be sent this year. With a fair return on the shipments made our frozen meat industry should prove an important factor in removing the depression hanging over New Zea-land.—-Oamaru Mail.

As instancing the decrease of rabbits in soae districts the Southern Standard mentions th»t Mr Forbes, a well-known 'settler at Miller's PW» who three years ago had only about 1200 sheep on his land, has now pyer 13,000, and is building a commodious woolshied near his residence. The decrease of rabbits,- asserts our conteraporar/i has led to the increase of sheep. Hitherto, according to La Justice, dairyman in France have* been allowed to add bicarbonate of soda to milk, to make -it keep better. Tlu» addition is now prohibited, as in certain c«e* lactate of soda is formed, which may h»« dangerously purgative effects upon young children. Mr Wm. Rodier, of Coolibah station, Cob»r» N.S.W., is to the fore in the Australasian, with s plan for exterminating rabbits. He states tb»* the plan originated with' Mr David Brown, Eft ß * 1 Darling, bub that he claims to be the first PP 6 ** son to put it into operation, and with satisf*?' tory results, in New South Wales. The idea » to kill the does and let the bucks go alive. S e writes : — - _ : The reasons for the above plan are that when #* bucks predominate in numbers over the doei tW will prostfciute what does are not killed and prevW* them from breeding ; also, will kill what yountf**£ bitsmaybabopniwdiwlwa they largely pw^Wg'

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nate in numbers, say five to one, they will worry ♦he remaining does to death. In proof of which are the following facts s— That the cause of the spread of rabbits in New South Wales has been trapping, which the Government mainly iniisted upon, or would not give any '"rjjiat no station in New South Wales or elsewhere lias stopped trapping and tried any other means, never mind what, without the rabbits deC That while trapping was in force the rabbits continued to increase. The reason why rabbits increased when trapping was used was that trapping killed more bucks than does. That the killing of the bucks caused the does to predominate in numbers, and where there are few bucks and many does the does breed to their full extent, but where there are fefydpes and many bucks the does get prostituted and do not breed ; consenuently anything that tends to kill the bucks increases the pest, and anything that does not kill the bucks, but kills the does, decreases the pest. The reasons why trapping kills more bucks than doe* are : — That the bucks only make what are called " buck heaps," and this is where traps are generally set, consequently the bucks get caught. That wheu a trapper catches a doe heavy in young he lets her go again ; that in many cases when a trapper catches a doe not j n young he kills it, and takes out the bladder and rubs it about the traps, which causes the bucks to be caught- When the does are all killed, which will be in a year or two after coming into general use, the bucks will die off by old age and their natural enemies. If tin's plan be generally adopted, the rabbits can be exterminated without nettling fencing, and at a 008t of not more than one man, with ferrets and nets, on 120,000 acres, in proof ef which the rabbits here are decreasing, although this place is not fenced, and some of my neighbours are doing comparatively little to eradicate the peat. The area ot this run is 61,000 acres, and only one man ii employed, with ferrets and nets, and lie can only get on an average five does per day. The feed at present is good, and there is plenty ot water about the run in tanks, crabholea, &c, and has been for the last two years.

The Tiatinallogy disease (says the Melbourne Weekly Times) continues to work great havoc amongst the rodents on that station, and the decision of the Government to permit the extension of the experiment is generally considered to b8 a step in the right direction. The rabbi cs have been wonderfully reduced in number at Tiatinallogy, for where hundreds could have been seen running about a few months ago scarcely any are to bo seen now. A correspondent of the Mataura Ensign, writing from Croydon, states that rabbit fluke has been prevalent in that district for years, but that it has made no appreciable effect en the pest. He describes the complaint this :— " The rabbits so affected have small bladders on different parts of their bodies. The bladders on being opened contain h number of small white eggs of an oval shape, sometimes in clusters and sometimes in rows. These eggs are swimming in a clear slimy fluid." Commenting on the rise in the price of frozen mucton in London, the Southland Times says : — " This is about the best news we have heard for some time. Fivepeneo per lb will give about 2£d]to the shipper, beside the skins — a very fairSprice indeed in these times, for it mustbe remembered that butcher meat is much cheaper afc Home than when New Zealand mutton was bringing 7d and 7gd, and, if we mistake not, even 8d per lb. There ought to be no reluctance on the part of stockowners and farmers to send sufficient supplies to the freezing works. It is of the utmost importance to the whole colony that the trade should be fostered and encouraged in every possible way. When prices are higher in the local market than those received for frozen meat there is no doubt a strong temptation on the part of the farmers to stop sending to the export companies. But this is a great mistake — very short-sighted policy. The local market fluctuates more than the London market, and it would not take long to bring prices low enough, if farmers generally were to grasp at the immediate and temporary advantage arising from a brisk local demand. It is the duty of all fatteners of stock to give the freezing companies a fair share of their Bupport— a duty both to themselves and to the colony at large. The Canterbury people have given their local company a guarantee for more sheep then thoy wanted. This is erring on tke right side. We have, in a manner, the command of the trade at present, and it would be nothing short of a disgrace to the farming community if we were to lose it or lose the first place in it through any suicidal action in starving the freezing companies."