At the last council meeting of the Royal Agri

Otago Witness, Issue 2013, 22 September 1892, Page 8

At the last council meeting of the Royal Agri-

cultural Society it was decided Prize Farms that tho custom of awarding Discontinued, prizes for the best cultivated farms in the district where tbe annual show is held shall be discontinued. The reason given was that the best farmers did not generally compete; but there is no doubt that the competion has done a great deal of good, and, on tho whole, the decision of the council is to be regretted. Some large farmers have been too proud to come into the" competition, and others have been kept back by the expense of bringing their farms into show condition. The judges, it is believed, have given too much attention to mere neatness — to well painted gates, carefully-repaired buildings, and trim hedges ; but if the system of judging had been altered, it is possible that the good old custom might have proved more successful.

General regret is felt at the retirement of Miss B. A. Ormerod from the posiSotiroment tion of honorary consulting enof tomologist to the Royal AgriMiss Ormerod. cultural Society, on the ground of ill health. The society will have great difficulty in filling her place, because there is no one else who has given such thorough study to the branch of entomology which relates to insects injurious to farm crops as Miss Ormerod has for a great number of years. Fortunately she will continue to pursue what has been her principal pleasure, as well as her life work, in a private capacity, giving advice to farmers who write to her and ■send specimens, and publish results of her observations in the press and in her annual reports.

In Great Britain this troublesome disease has been nearly stamped out, owing Pleuro- to the determination shown by pneumonia, the Board of Agriculture, who have not hesitated to incur any necessary expense in the slaughter of affected animals for the pake of getting rid' of the disease. Unfortunately, however, the Irish authorities have not shown anything like the same amount of determination— either on account of expense or for other reasons they have used the powers given to them for slaughtering cattle and taking other measures to stamp out the disease in a very inefficient manner, and there is nearly as much pleuro pneumonia in Ireland as there was when the latjst act on the subject came into operation. So long as the disease is existing in Ii eland, there will be no safety for the herds of Great Britain, unless the extensile importation of store cattle from Ireland is stoppi-d until the disease in that country has been got rid of. Such a course would be pretty Well ruinous to Irish breeders, and thrf Irish authorities are now being urged to adopt the most stringent measures for stamping out the disease.

The acts of Parliament fixing the maximum rates and charges to be levied by the Ihiihray railway companies' which run Kates. into London were to have come

iuto operation on the Ist of August ; but as the rates of other companies have not yet been fixed, it has been decided by the Board of Trade that the acts shall not be brought into use until tho Ist of January next. This is a disappointment to the customers of the companies who send farm produce and other goods by railway, as the rates, as a general rule, especially for short distances, are ho uifih that they seriously impede the trade of (he couutiy. When there is a great potato crop, a 8 there is likely to be this year, growers who ere distant from markets often find that it does l«t pay to wnd their produce by r»i|, »8 \M

rates are so high that there is very little margin left after they have been paid. It is very much the same with other vegetables and fruit, and there is nothing which would do more to improve the condition of agriculture than the insistance upon reasonable rates being charged by the companies. Bnt when the acts do come into operation, it is feared that they will be to a great extent disappointing, because unfortunately the companies have been allowed to make terminal charges which they were not formerly allowed to make under their special acts.

An effort is being made by a committee of the Central and Associated Chamigricultural bers of Agriculture to establish Co-operation, farmers' co-operative societies in different parts of the country, in association with the chambers. The idea is that thehe^societies shall be formed for the purpose of ' enabling farmers to purchase their requirements in au advantageous manner ; but there is no intention at present to extend the co-operation to the sale of farm products. There aro already a few cooperative societies of the kind in Great Britain, but not more than could be counted on the fingers of both hands. In France such associations, under the name of agricultural syndicates, have spread all over the country, and the small farmers have derived great benefit from there operations, not only in purchasing what they require at lower prices than they had to pay formerly, but also in the protection against adulteration which is given to them by the syndicates. English farmers are very slow to combine, and it remains to be seen whether anything will come of the new attempt to induce them to act together in their own interests.

The great annual sheSp sales recently held have proved unsatisfactory to Sheep breeders. Ewes have sold at Sales. about 10s a head less than they realised last year and lambs at 5s to 7s 6d a head less. The ram sales and letting from the principal flocks of tho country, now beginning, as far as can bo judged from the prices realised at the few that have been held, will be as disappointing as the ordinary fairs and sales of sheep have been. A breeder informed me the other day that he bad sold lambs last Michaelmas at 36s a head, keeping as good a lot as he sold. He offered the remainder a week ago, and could obtain no more than 32s a head for the best and 30a for the rest ; then fore ho kept these f-heop for about nine months for less than nothing The same farmer said that he had a number of cattle which were worth no more to-day than they were at thistime last year, The lateness of the spring, which prevented feed from growing, and the shortness of the hay crop, which will render winter keep somewhat less than usual, are chiefly accountable for the great fall in prices, but now that the root crop promises to be abundant their ought to be an improvement.