AGRICULTURAL AND PASTURAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 27 August 1891, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTURAL NEWS.

The long spell of dry weather broke up on the night of the 19bh and steady rain fell all the following day and night, giving the ground its first thorough soaking this winter. The rain was wanted »H over the provincial district, but more especially to the north of Dunedin. In Waitaki the oondition of the district as to crops and pasturage had previously been looked at witt considerable anxiety, as no rain of any moment bad fallen for the past three years, and the present rainfall is the heaviest experienced during that time. The pasturage and crops will receive an immense amount of benefit. The area in crop in tbe Waitaki district is very large this season. . ... In the most recent of the series of lectures annually delivered at the experimental farm, near P«is, by M. G. Ville, he told his hearers that the social question would be solved by seieDce. Thanks to the know ledge it has given to us of the secrets of vegetation, it is now in the power of man to increase the productiveness of the soil almost indefinitely. Instead of beiog a passive creation he has become an active creator. He can raise crops, if it so pleases him, on sand or brick-duat. With a few pinches of magic powder, with only three or four of the 14 elementary substances of all living organisms, with the gratuitous co-operation of the son and air, the ferments of the soil and the waters of heaven, ycu can fabricate a bunch of grapes or an ear of wheat just as you would make a sheet of glass or a piece of velvet. Properly cultivated, said M. Ville, tbe soil of Franco would Bupport a populatiou of a hundred million souls. According to the Clutha Leader, encouraged by rising prices, a much bigger area of wbeat is being sown this season, nearly every farmer sowing a quantity of that cereal. Mr O B Fisher has (writes our Melbourne correspondent on the 12th inst.) soW tha whole of his Maribyrnong herd of pure shorthorn cattle, consisting of 110 pedif reed cows and heifers and three stud bulls, to Mr David MitcheU, of the Oolbinabbin and Jancourt estates. This Mr Mitchell is the father of Madame Melba. He was the contractor for the exhibition building and the Scots Church, and is a very rich man. Besides his country properties, ha owns some 30 or 40 acres of tbe centre of the Richmond suburb, all closely populated, and which mast bring him in a very handsome revenue. Oar fruitgrowers (wries our Auckland correspondent on the 17 tb) are laying themselves out for increasing tte export of fruit to California next season. They are satisfied that with cooling chambers in tbe mail steamers the shipments can be rntde more successfully, and with a greater profit, than to London. Some of our fruit exporters who hare tried the Honolulu mvket inform me that they were very well satiffijd with the venture, and that the only problem now to be solved is keeping the apples in an even temperature during the voyage in or^fr to ensure success. The Waikato Times reports:— "We areplens* d to learn that that the Turukhr.xmea orchirdist, Mr F. W. Lang, has obtained, for n series of consignments of apples recently forwarded to the Auckland market no lees than 3d to 3f 1 per lb. The varieties sent comprise Boston Russet— which Mr Lang reckons to be about the Iwbt keeper Winter Majetin and Stone Pippin. Considering the heavy crops usually yielded by apple

the harness at agricultural showa, and been more Btruok with its novel appearance than its usefulness. To see it at work, however, ia to become convinced of its practical utility. It works admirably. It may be described as a steel yoke bo arranged aa to suit two hones. The inverted yoke passes under the girths of the horses, being held up by a baokband, and attached to the hames by tugs. A single ohain hooked to the centre of the yoke ia attached to the plough or other cultivating implement. The horses work without inconvenience, and there is nothing to come in contact with the vines or trees. The contrivance is such a simple and advantageous one that it is likely to come into general übb. At present the price is rather high, being £7 10a for a complete Bet for two horses ; but tbeie is nothisg in the materials or the construction to necessitate such a cost. As the demand increases the price will no doubt be reduced, for the present high figure evidently results from the limted number dealt with. It ia 'not likelj that patent rights will interfere with the local manufacture of the harness, for the construction is apparently too Bimple to be successfully subjected to a r jyalty.

Concerning the Darby and Sterenson steam diggar and cultivator at the Royal Agricultural Show at Doncaafcer the Daily News correspondent says:— "At first the Coßt of the machine stood in the way of its universal adoption, but now the digger has bsen both improved and cheapened, and the specimen at the show, one of. the 10 horse power, is priced at £600. The machine is controlled by one man, who o&n in one day do the work of 10 men and 20 borees ; in other words, he can dig as muoh gronnd as could be turned up by 400 men with ordinary spade or fork."

The Waitara Freezing Works have been converted into a liability company under the name of the Mount Egmont Freezing Company, with a capital of £20,000. The worka will be under the management of the former proprietors, Messrs Halloran, Moore, and James.

The Qaeenslander Bays that a disease has broken ont in milking herds in the Goulburn Valley known »b garget or downfall. There are three forms of this affection observed, all closely identified, and caused by the congested malady, which is located within the muoous lining of tbe lactiferous tubeß and teats, and known as tbe catarrhal form ; the second form due to the inflammation attacking the Bkm and whole structure of the gland ; and the third, inflammation confined to the internal structure of the organs. Avoiding to the Melbourne Leader a com-

them in the past to give rations to all ionajld« travellers looking for work. —To prove what a well paid industry Bhearing is, a Bhearer has informed us that for the last three years he has worked for seven months' shearing each year, and during the other five months he has made three trips— one to the Old Country, one to India, and one to New Zealand.— Mr J. Mack's (of Berry Bank) experiment in sending Borne rams for sale to South Africa recently has proved satisfactory. The expenses amounted to £7 per bead, and the rams sold as high as £54, those in good condition averaging £28. A Tastnanian ram sent at the same time fetohed £150.— Mr Philip Charley has now in the Sydney quarantine ground 11 head of Norfolk red polled cattle, the first of the breed ever imported into Australia. They are rather like Devon but larger. Mr Charley has also imported with them eight Shropshire sheep, both lots being selected for him by Mr George M'Cullooh.— The exceptional ability of polled Angus cattle to maka long marches to mar ke tin commented upon by " Bruni," who says that a Tasmanian atockowner told him that when he travelled fat stock to market the polled Angus grades were always in the front, and they held their condition quite as well as the Herefords. — Since the inauguration of the frozen meat trade at Rockhampton, Queensland, about two years ago, 14 cargoes of meat have bnen sent away, the total value amounting to £223,684. The number of packages of mutton exported was 179,369 ; the number of packages of beef exported. 42,808. The weight of mutton shipped was 3818 tons, valued at £107,625, The weight of beef was 3811 tons, estimated to be worth £115,459.— During the hearing of a case in Sydney recently, Mr Justice Innes, in addressing a jury apologised for making use of the terms "maeter and servant," whioh in these days seemed to be objeotionaHe to some persons. In fact, judging from the Bigns of the times, in a short time the latter olaBS would be styled " partners " or " helps," and would have to be placed on a footing of perfeot equality with those who had to keep them ard pay them wages in return for services rendered. Still, in the case under consideration, be would have to use the words " maatar and servant."

We think Te Ngoi will have to be conceded the honour of growing the largest crop of potatoes per acre we have heard of during the past season (says the Rangitikei Advocate). We have been informed fch-- 1 - Mr C. H. E. Rhodeß, of that district, took 160 eewn up bags, or 13 tons, out of half an acre, and two or three tons of these were sold as new potatoes, Twenty six tons to the acrs, we should say, has not been b9atea in the Wellington^ province, and the orop is a very tangible testimonial to the excellence of the land.

trees in Waikato, such prices as the above must pay handsomely, and would well warrant some trouble and expense in keeping the moth in check."

Our Palmerston correspondent writes that tbe rainfall of last week has proved of immense benefit to farmers and the public generally. There is a large area of land laid down ia grass. The North Otago Times states that previous to the rain one of the largest agriculturists in the Oamaro district had decided to dispense with his ploughmen, who had ploughed up a large area of land. The outlook was so gloomy that the owuor of the estate did nofc think it jadicuma to sow the seed. The rain, however, came, and all the land ploughed is now to be sown with oereals.

We (New Zealand Mail) have been informed that a good many Hawke's Bay sheep-farmers have already sold for the coming season the ewe culls of their flook at what sound big prices. Evidently some people do not anticipate sheep becoming muoh cheaper. A farmer of considerable experience writes to the Melbonrne Leader that he finds a mixture of salt, sulphur, aud wood ashes to be a valuable addition to any food for pigs. This is kept in a box about 3ft square, opening on one aide with an inclined board reaching from the top to within 3in from the bottom, and the same distance from the baok Bide, with a cover on top. It is always dry and accessible to the hogs from the open side. A few pigs seemed to be weak across the back as though they were strained, neatly losing the use of their hind parts, with a Bunken appearance and losb ot appetite aB well. When he discovered any of the above deuoribed symptoms he mixed salt and ashes with the food, and the illnesß disappeared entirely.

The death is reported of Mr Smith Ellis, whose alleged remedy for rust in wheat received considerable attention throughout the colonies some months ago. Mr Ellis fell while hoeing an experimental plot in the Melbourne Botanio Gardens, and expired in a few minutes, the cause of death being heart disease. Mr F. Lee, of Woodend, has (says the Melbourne Leader) invented a potato digger which is reported to have stood a very successful trial last week. The machine turns ont the potatoes beautifully, without bruising or cutting them in the least, and deposits them in a row along the surfaoe of the ground just gone over by the machine, and out of its way, so that it may be turned at the bead lands without injuring any of the tubers. The Amerioan harness introduced by tha Victorian Department of Agriculture a few years ago is intended to do away with the use of swingletrees in working teams in orchards or vineyards. We (Australasian) have seen

pany is in process of .formation which by a simple introduction of a small chest properly oharged into railway oars is able to keep the meat contained therein at a sufficiently low temperature as to be able to deliver it fit for market purposes. The patented process is so good and simple that some of the largest pastoraliats' firms in Victoria are backing it, and it seems we are getting near to an idea which will enliven considerably the dead meat trade. The Merino correspondent of the Hamilton Spectator mentions (says a Melbourne paper) " a veritable freak of Nature reported lately by Mr John King, and ftupported by the testimony of several others. A crossbred ewe, owned by the above gentleman, gave birth to •iz lambs. The night was cold and wet, whioh may possibly account for none of the lambs being found alive in the morning, though all were perfeotly formed, and had apparently breathed." Several of the longwoolled breeds of Great Britain are noted for their fecundity. At the shows prizes are often given to the shepherds who rear the largest percentage of lambs. In most of the flocks only twins or triplets are U3ed aa rams, and any ewe whioh fails to have twins at her second lambing ia drafted for fat. By cultivating this characteristic, triplets and quartets (called double couples), are not uncommon in many flacks. Some years ago a noted Gotswold breeder, Mr John Barton, of Fyfield, had a ewe whioh produced five, four, and. five lambs in three successive years. There is little room for doubting that prolificacy might have been developed in the merino breed had such a result been deemed desirable, but as long as the food supply is dependent on ohanoe one lamb per ewe is quite enough. In Britain the Books are abundantly supplied with food at all seasonß of the year. The Australasian Pastoralists' Review says : " The National Agricultural Sooiety of Queensland has let an example to the metropolitan Booieties in the other colonies by erecting on the show grounds a large weighing machine capable of weighing a whole pen of cattle at a time. The value of this machine was well exemplified at the last show of the sooiety in assisting the judges to arrive at a correct estimate of the quantity and depth of flesh on cattle, a quality of very great importance in beef breeds of oattle, bnt one very difficult of estimating correctly by tha eye or hand. The same society has decided to apply the block test to all fat cattle that have been awarded society prizes." The following items are from the Australasian Pastoralists' Review :— lt it understood that the paatoralistß, where they can possibly afford to do so and have the supplies on the stations, intend as far as possible to abide by the rules of hospitality which have aotuated