AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2057, 27 July 1893, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL

The Premier has received official notification that the restrictions on the importation of New Zealand sheep into Victoria have been removed. The Wellington agent of the firm of Octzes and Garritzen, London, completed the purchase today of the largest parcel of butter ever bought and sold in one standing line in this colony, viz., 72 tons, from the Crown Dairy Factory Company, New. Plymouth— all fine butter. The value, with freight,' insurance, &c, is over £6000. Mr G. H. Mackenzie, of Tapanui, supplies the local Courier with some interesting particulars of his operations this season with the mole draining plough. He writes:— "l have to-day finished draining 120 acres, on which I used 16 horses, the drains being 2£in x 3£in, 20in deep, and syds apart. It has cost £35, without wear of drain plough', &c, the total cost being 6s per acre. Sixteen horses pull the plough all day easily, and do eight to 16 miles per day, according to the length of the -drains. The great disadvantage of draining with horses or bullocks is that they neither start nor finish at the proper place, which necessitates putting in cross drains where the plough goes in and domes out, at right angles to the other drains. The cost of draining' a paddock thoroughly with horses— i.e., putting all drains to thenatiiral oatfall—will cost about £1 per mile, which includes tiles, digging ditches, &c. What is wanted is a machine to dig open ditches ready for tiles. I hear' that an enterprising individual in our midst has 1 invented such a machine, and pro- ' poses to dig tile ditches at a low rate. If such be the case every farmer ought to go in for mole draining. If farmers would amalgamate they could drain their land with the labour of their own horses,' and when the ditching machine comes out they will also be able to dig ttia outlets for (biles. Draining land, and ploughing thoroughly with the digger and American plough increases the yield of root and grain crops, the quantity of Increase depending on the state of the land before drained. In my case the increase: was 30 bushels per acre of oats and flvejheep per acre for, the; winter in turnips. This was for" Heavy clay land, very wet in its natural state.' If the railway commissioners could see their way they should carry lime and drain tiles at a low rate. The increase in freight on grain by extra production would more than pay the deficiency incurred, and put an extra to the farmer's yearly receipts. Of course the proper way to do mole draining is with an engine, as all grains are thereby put to their natural outlet without further expense. The principal trouble is to get an engine to Stand the continual heavy strain, and lisht enough to cross over our bridges. I will give any information required by farmers desirous of m6le draining, antf have two drain ploughs idle at present." The Akaroa Mail says j— "N.ot content with the stock to.be obtained in the Canterbury markets, Messrs. Hay Brothers determined to exUfe'nd their operations, and in consequence Mr James Hay paid a visit to Invercargill, where he purchased 281 head of store cattle, principally steers, but including a good number of five-year-old bullocks. Many are of the black polled Angus breed, and taken altogether they are a grand lot of well-raised, large-framed cattle. A speoial train of 27 truoks was provided by the commissioners to bring the cattle §8 near as possible to Pigeon Bay, and the

transib was accomplished with the .loss of only one 'small beast. The cattle evidently fully appreciate our Peninsula pastures, for from the moment of their reaching Pigeon Bay they began to improve rapidly, and we are glad to hear that this mostjrecent proof of Peninsula enterprise will probably prove exceedingly profitable." .„ . .. - The Australasian gives illustrations of a representative cow and bull of a noted New South Wales herd of shorthorns. The cow bears every indication of her milking proclivities, being utterly devoid of the fat, sleek appearance of the typical shorthorn, and indeed resembling more in shape a HolstemFreisian cow. ', Our contemporary says :— Mr J Cole, of " Waterside Farm, Jamberoo, Illawarra, New South Wales, has for many years being trying to produce a 'flistinctly new strain of dairy cattle. That he has succeeded in his effort is now freely admitted by the leading dairymen on the South Coast. At the Kiama Show, in a very large competition, Mr J. W. Cole's Queen proved to be the champion milker, yielding no less than 77ilb of milk, equal to 30 quarts, in 24 hours. Mr Cole] desoribes this animal as ' a true specimen of the purebred dairy strain, descended without any cross from the old dairy shorthorn breed introduced many years ago into the Illawarra district. I have endeavoured for a number of years past to maintain the old strain in its purity and to improve it by judicious selection.' Queen was entered in the milk test competition in 1890, when she won first with a record of 771b 4oz of milk on the 24-hour trial. She also won first in dairy cows, with a large field numbering about 45 of the best Illawarra strains. She also won first in the challenge prize for cow of any breed, open to all comers. It is possible to expect a still more remarkable performance considering she is only turned six years of age." . The Melbourne Leader mentions the fact that a young farmer in the Castlemaine district has just completed his 3000 miles' walk, after a plough, a 9in furrow taking 11 miles to accomplish an acre. Once upon a time (says the Scottish Farmer/p and that not very long ago, a number of Danish butter-makers came across from Copenhagen to Glasgow to find where all the prime Danish butter came from, there being little shipped from their o,wn ports. They had the satisfaction of seeing it delivered from Atlantic liners at the Broomielaw, tinned, stamped,andeverythingto the very blots in the label printing, but minus the flavour and excellence. The Americans had taught themselves the tricks of imitation and left the remainder of the scientific process in the churn. At present the Londoners are setting themselves the task of finding out where "prime Scotch" meat comes

from. When they find that it comes over the stormy North Atlantic passage from America, through .the rough Pentlands, to be killed and dressed, bruised and bleeding at Aberdeen, and transhipped for the Thames, they will not hesitate to ask for prime Deptford, which, coming by the south passage, is better ; and, when the Americans start stores, will be sold a good deal cheaper. We have seen during the week (writes the Ashbnrton correspondent of the Canterbury Times) a line of hoggets that have been kept for some time in a very bare, dry paddock and fed exclusively on clover hay. There is a water race running through the paddock. The sheep looked very contented and in healthy condition. The hay is fed in long racks made with wire and stakes, and costs about a penny per head per week. At this rate it would be cheaper to save hay and feed sheep on it than grow turnips, and with plenty of water and a little salt they evidently keep healthy and well. The Australasian says :—" Messrs Powers, Rutherford, and Co. have sold on account of Mr James Gibson, the stud ram Philosopher for 300gs. Philosopher 'is by Golden Horn 11, by Golden Horn, by Treasurer, by Golden Tom, by Sir Thomas 11, by old Sir Thomas, out of a Bellevue stud ewe ; also one ewe, rising two-tooth, by Golden Horn 11. Mr H. F. de Little, of Caramut station, is the buyer. At the Sydney sales on July 4 Messrs Powers, Rutherford, and Co. sold for Mr J. C. Coohranp, Aitkenside, Geelong, three Border Leicester ewes (four-tooth) at lOgs and two at 9gs." The Camperdown Chronicle mentions that a number of the station owners in the Western district of Victoria have reduced the rate of wages payable to the men. In some cases the reductions have been at the rate of 25 per cent., mothers 50 per cent. A number of station hands have marked their sense of the extravagance of the reductions by leaving positions they have held -for years. The men contend that 20 per -cent, is quite enough reduction, especially as wool is commanding a high price. The Agrionltural Gazette says that four to six drachms of hydrate of chloral mixed with a little molasses given to a cow suffering from milk |f ever has come to be regarded as*, a speoifio for this disease. At two, f onr, and six hours after smaller and smaller doses are given. If treatment is commenced at the first stage of the disease it is seldom that more than two .doses are required. Large cows take the larger dose, and smaller cows less in proportion to their sige. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agenoy Company has just sent to Mr John White, Oakbourn, Hawke's Bay, 25 four-tooth purebred; Romney Marsh ewes, from the welW

known Elderslie flock. There has been a very heavy mortality among the hoggets of the Lincoln breed— which has hitherto been most in favour in the Hawke's Bay districfr-and Mr White is going to try the Romneys with a view to ascertain whether they will be more suited to the luxuriant grass there. t The Wray Park herd of Jersey cattle, bred by Mr Qeorge Simpson, one of the most celebrated breeders of Jerseys in the old country, was sold by Messrs John Thornton and Co. on May 27. There was a large attendance at the sale. The prices for females ranged from l£gs to 75gs ; the 53 cows and heifers averaged £24 4s 3d ; the seven bulls averaged £32 11s. The total proceeds of the sale amounted to £1632 4s 6d. A most notable instance of a landed property changing hands at a very different figure from that paid for it a quarter of a century ago, remarks the North British Agriculturist, comes from Fifeshire. The fine farm of Luthrie Bank, in the parish of Creich, and about five miles from Cupar, has just been purchased by Mr W. F. Bell Barnes, of Claverhouse, Dundee. This farm extends to 344 acres, and is all under rotation crops or old pasture. The buildings, house and grounds, drainage and fencing, are all in exceptionally good order. The farm was purchased by the present proprietor some 26 years ago for £17,200, and since that time a sum of £4000 has been spent in permanent improvements on the farm. The total cost of the farm to the present proprietor, therefore, has been at least £21,000, and the farm has been particularly well managed. Mr Bell has now purchased this farm privately for the sum of £8000, which was £1000 more than the upset price at whioh it was exposed. In view of the fact that the demand for good farms continues very keen, notwithstanding the chronic low prices for most kinds of agricultural produce, the least that can be said about Mr Bell's purchase is that he has secured the property at a phenomenally cheap rate. A well-known naturalist and arctic traveller, Colonel Fielden, has suggested that the musk ox might with advantage be introduced into the Highlands of Scotland, where he believes it would thrive as well as it does in higher latitudes. This animal ia covered in the winter time with a long-stapled, light-yellow wool, as fine as silk, in addition to its coat of hair ; and from this wool, stockings and other articles of clothing conld be made, whioh would rival silk in softness and beauty. The animal is very easily tamed and reared; and Colonel Fielden says that they could be caught in any numbers in Jamieson's Land. The ball-bearing axle device (writes Coleman's Rural World) has been adopted by a Connecticut inventor for use on aU kinds of

waggons. The use of the ball bearers upon waggons for heavy work will greatly relieve teams, it having been demonstrated that one horse will draw a given load with the newfangled apparatus with quite as much ease as four would with the old gear. The new affair can be applied cheaply. A carriage can be hung up with the invention for 25d01, the extreme price being 35d0l for heavy waggons, while a sulky can be rigged for 15dol. Each is fully warranted for 20 years. Not at any time since the war (says the New York Weekly Times) has the price of hogs been so high as at present. The supply is scarce, and the country is being ransacked for stock, and everything having the shape of a hog, no consideration being given to age or quality, is now on the market at sellers' prices. The daily arrivals of hogs are averaging but 21 cars a day as compared with 35 to 40 cars the same time last year. Dealers who have had stored for sometime past large quantities of pork products, much of an inferior quality, have taken advantage of the prevailing prices to unload, and are reaping rich harvests on gtuff which a few months ago would have brought almost nothing. Beef, mutton, and veal have all felt the upward tendenoy, and are now selling at prices higher than a great many people can afford to pay. Compared with the corresponding time last year, beef is from lc to l£e per, lb higher, some of the very choice selling at 2o : more, and is now quoted at 7£o to 10c per lb. i Great Britain is not the only country (tfrites the Scottish Farmer) in which the spectre of agricultural depression stalks abroad ; indeed, as compared with the tale unfolded in Renter's telegram of the state of the rural populations in many provinces of Russia, agriculture in Great Britain is in a prosperous state. Lack of seed to sow the earth which waits for it ; lack of food for the labourer and his household ; cattle dying off in great numbers, and horses following suit ; scurvy ram- | pant amongst the people, and the financial outlook so gloomy that even those whose credit is not gone cannot obtain the means to carry them over the present time of distress. When one reads such a tale he is disposed to doubt the wisdom of crying out so loudly as is done here, for dearly, bad as things may be, there are signs of revival, and starvation was never imminent. The results of recent sales would seem to indicate that we have turned the corner : prices of hoggets at Lanark showed an advance of gs, and of ewes and lambs. of 4j, while of baok-oalving caws the supply was short of the demand, and prices were consequently very favourable. With a surpassingly genial spring, and vegetation in. every way four weeks earlier 'than it was last year, farmers in the northern part of the island,

at least, have good cause to be thankful and take courage. -- " Bruni," in the Australasian, says :— »• Being out of town I did not see Mr A. F. Kelly's letter on the results of putting rams and ewes together immediately off the shears, until my return to Melbourne last week. Mr Kelly states that he puts the rams with the ewes almost every year right off the shears, and that he gets from 80 to 95 per cent, of lambs. To inexperienced sheepbreeders this will appear to be a complete refutation of my statement that coupling newly-shorn rams and ewes would result in a low percentage of lambs. But Mr Kelly adds something which puts a' different aspect on the question. He puts the rams and ewes together off the shears certainly, but he leaves them together for two months in the case of merino ewes, and for three months in the case of crossbred ewes. The sheep have thus ample time to recover from the effects of shearing. Some sheepbreeders with whom I have spoken on this subject attribute the cause of a poor lambing, to the ewes not coming into season for some time after being deprived of their fleece. Mr Kelly's practice of leaving the rams so long with the ewes has the same result as if he had waited some time after shearing before putting them together. I find that Mr John Ryrie Graham, in his ' Treatise on the Australian Merino,' has. the following remarks on this subject, which f ulty bear out the statement I made : — ' Perhaps it may not be gene^ rally known that a newly-shorn ram wfll_ not beget a lamb. From experience I know this to be a fact, although I can do no more than^ conjecture a canse— namely, that the constitutional vigour of the animal is diverted from the procreative faculty"and concentrated in the reproduction of its natural and indispensable clothing ; certain it is that the wool never grows so rapidly as it doea immediately after shearing.'" The Argentine Republic is proving a formidable rival to India in supplying the British markets with linseed. A few weeks ago the imports of it from La- Plata that came into London were 13,556 quarters, against 5294 quarters from India. And it is recorded that the small. supply of rape seed, too, came, not from India,' but from Germany and the United States. It would be a great advantage to the British farmer if linseed could be cheapened. It forms his most valuable and most largely used feeding stuff, and the price of it affects him nore and more as the practice extends of lessening the quantity of turnips grown. , A few weeks back I ("Bruni") referred to the faob noticed by Mr Joseph Mack, of Berry Bank, that the rabbits on his estate were not breeding this 'season, and since then I have received a letter from Mr H. H. Wettenhall, manager of the Carr's Plains estate, near

Glenorchy, in which he states that his experience has been the same as that of Mr Mack. He says there has not been a dozen young rabbits found on Carr's Plains since the autumn rains fell. By some this non-breeding among the rabbits is attributed to the soil having been thoroughly saturated by the heavy rainfall; but there, was a considerable interval between the first rain and the thorough soaking the soil has since received, and duringthat period there was ample time for the rabbits to breed. f ■ ' v The German bacteriologists are competing maufully with the French and English microbe hunters, and they have found that the ripening of butter and cheese is effected by these inQnitesimaily small creatures. The most important discovery is that one bacillus or microbe effects a more perfect-ripening and a superior flavour and quality to that produced by other microbes associated with them, and they now undertake to identify the best of them, to separate, and to multiply or breed them ("cultivate" is the term) in sterilised matter, so that, like, the ferments of beer and wine, the products of the dairy can be regulated equally with those, of the brewer and the vigneron. They say that a gramme of butter contains 4-7,250,000 microbeß. They are not exact as to the odd numbers below the thousands. Of course, these beneficial microbes will be on sale by-and-bye, and those who refuse to us.c them will have to go on making butter and cheese by the old rule of thumb process— which have not been altogether unsatisfactory. The committee appointed' by the Board of Agriculture to inquire into the plague of fieldvoles in Scotland have recently sent in their report. They estimate that more than 100,000 acres were affected by the pest, and that this visitation can be traced back to the year 1888. These little animals are so prolific, that under favourable conditions they increase most rapidly; and one cause of the outbreak is found in the favourable character of the last few seasons. Autumns have been wet, producing great luxuriance of grass on the hills, which afforded shelter to the voles; while winters, severe enough in England, have been mild in Scotland. A second cause for the plague is found in the destruction of hawks, buzzards, owls, stoats, and weasels by owners of game preserves. All the witnesses examined by- tha committee agree that the above are the main causes of the increase of voles. The damage done to the pastures is enormous, the habit of the vole being to eat the stem of the grass close to the ground, leaving the upper part to wither. This destruction of pasture naturally affeots'the reariDgof stock most seriously. The committee are reluctantly led to the conclusion that they are unable to

recommend any specific method of dealing with of putting an end to the present outbreak ; but at the same time they [mention a' number of remedies which, in certain cases, have proved effectual in diminishing the number of voles, ' and it cannot be said that their work has-been altogether in vain. . . The writer of "Scraps" in the Live Stock t Journal gives some itemß of information in 'reference to the merinos' in England from which' the nucleus of. the Australian- merino was draws, and therefore of interest' .to us. From this it appears that £ing George, lll's first application to the King' of Spain resulted in the Receipt, in 1786, of a few merinos, the wool of which did not prove, up ,to the mark, and a request for some of the choicest 'Negretti flock was repulsed. The King made a present of eight of ,the finest coaching horses to bd obtained in England to his brother of Spain, and in return for these five rams " and 35 ewes— Negrettis— were for warded, to Windsor. They were placed in care of Sir Joseph Banks, at Oatlands, and no crossing ' whatever was allowed. As the flock increased specimens were distributed among such agriculturists as could be relied upon to ' attend to the purity of the breed, and in 1804 part of tho flock was sold at prices ranging, from 38gs to 27gs. It was from this sale that the merino was first introduced into Australia, and it will amuse politicians of the present day to know that the destruction of five ewes and a lamb by dingoes was- of sufficient importance to warrant a despatch by the Governor to the- Home' Govern^ ment. In the Bath and West of England Society's Journal, volume xii, is a letter dated February 18, 1809, by Sir Joseph Banks, giving full particulars of the flock. In that letter it is stated that the present to King George came from the Paular Cavana (or flock), one of tho very finest in respect of pile, and above all others in symmetry. King George had an importation in 1788 from the Negretti Cavana, which with the Paular and Escurial shared the precedence among the merinos. The Negretti were said to ba the largest, but not to have the finest wool. The number sent to King George was 2000, and in order to make the present more valuable they were selected by the shepherds from eight subdivisions of the Paular Cavana. The whole number embarked for England was 2214, of whioh 214 were intended for gifts to the King's Ministers. Of these, 427 died at sea or on the journey to and from sea, but the King bore the whole loss, giving to his Ministers the whole complement intended for them. The first lot arrived in England in 1788 ; the larger consignment arrived in 1791. About the year 1865 the late Hon. S. D. Gordon, of Sydney, imported from England several, rams, from the Sfcurgess flock, direct descendants :b: bf /this flock. They excited a considerable amount,. of interest among Australian sheepbreeders at the time. As compared with the Mudgee wool, which was then the finest in Australia; .the ' English merinos were considered decidedly coarse. In England and America' the Shropshire is regarded as one of the most profitable of the British breeds of sheep. It yields \& good weight of wool, which sells at very little below the price for merino wool, while as a mutton sheep it has no superior. In Victoria the handsome Shropshire has not taken .the .fancy of the farmers ; hut in South Australia , there are several flocks which have been formed by selections from some of the best studs- in the old country. One of the first of the Shropshire flocks in South Australia is that of Chief Justice Way, which is kept at KadluDga. > Mr J. H.-Weston, <. the manager of the Eadlunga estate,informs me that he has sold all this season's young rains to Mr S. S. Ralli,' df Werocata.' ' This, gentleman has a stud of imported Shropshire sheep, and is so pleased with them. that;he has sent for a further shipment of 10 Shropshire fewes. In addition to forming a stud flock' Mr 'Ralli intends raising Shrop-merino lambs for market, and next season he will breed from about 2000 merino ewes to Shropshire rams. Mr Westbn lately put some of the last season's Kridlunga rams on the scale, and the heaviest weight was a youngster 43 weeks old that- weighed. 1451b. A crossbred lamb from a merino ewe seven months and a-half old weighed €61b;< These are . excellent weights, especially when it is- Stated thatbfche sheep were only in medium condition.— Australasian. , ..,".>'' Mr R. A. Anderson, secretary, of. the Srish Branch of the Co-operative Union,' has (says the North British Agriculturist) recently stated - some interesting factsjas to the -success of the co-operative creameries established 'during the last few years in Ireland, in great measure through the efforts of Canon -Bagot and Mr Horace Plunkett, M.P. Twenty-three out of 25 of these institutions at work last year produced 910 tons of butter, although some of > them were in operation for only -part' of the season. The money return was £98,969, or 108s 9d per cwt, which was a very good average. The milk cost a small fraction over 4d per gallon, and the cost of working the creameries, including interest on capital, was 10s 2d per cwt of butter, or a_very small fraction (one-eleventh) over Id a lb. , Mr Anderson says that the cost of making butter in a well-managed creamery, at work for the.whole season, is only 7s per cwt, or $d a lb.- Last year the creameries averaged almost exactly lib of butter to 2£gal of milk, which is very good, considering that there were no Jerseys among the cows which supplied the milk. After allowing for depredation of buildings and plant, there was a profit to divide among the co-operating farmers. The average price paid for milk was not high, • but was considerably more than small Irish farmers could obtain by converting their milk into butter at home, and they, got all the separated -milk and buttermilk . back from the creameries free °? charge."" Irish creamery 'butter had already obtained an excellent reputation in the English markets, and if the plan of, making it all through the winter could be carried into .effect, Irish butter would then compete with Danish butter-under advantageous conditions. The Christchurch Press says :— " Much attention has been drawn to the fact that in the six months ending the 30th June last, there were shipped from Lyttelton no fewer than 223,771 lambs, while from Wellington, whioh shipped more carcases, there were exported only 32,161 lambs. It might be thought that in Wellington and in Napier, which sent away 26,199,^ more care was taken to ship away only the finest, but the weights tell a startling tale in favour of Canterbury. The average weight of lambs shipped from Lyttelton was a little over 38ib, from Wellington 341b, whilst the average of those from papier was only 31lb. t An average of 311b contrasted with jme of 381b needs no comment, exoepfc to congratulate the farmers of Canterbury upon the splendid results achieved by them in the face of a less fenial climate. It' is a triumph for (he entire istrict." • • A case of early lambing has been reported to us (Taieri Advocate). Last Tuesday several ewes in Mr Robert Muir's paddock lambed, and the first that Mr Muir noticed 'gave birth' to' three lambs. We have hotioed. that in other distriots lambing has already been recorded this season, but we think these are' amongst the, first on the Taieri Plain, and it is very early in the season for lambs. We are pleased to that Mr Muir's lambs are doing well. (Continued on page IS.)