SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2105, 28 June 1894, Page 12

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) The weather during the month has not been unfavourable, and it may be The Weather said that we have experienced and an open winter so far. There The Farm, was not much rain, and the occasional frosts were not severe. The air was cold, however, especially during a few days when an easterly breeze prevailed. A deal of rain fell on Saturday night, but sinca then the days have been fine and the nights frosty. With the favourable weather, good progress has been made with the ploughing. A great deal of* lea has been turned over, and some progress has also been made with stubble that is intended for another crop of oats or for turnips in drills. When the ploughing of the lea was being commenced some were in doubts whether to plough for turnips or oats, but I believe the intention is now to sow in many cases oats on the lea. The low price of sheep has, of course, contributed in some measure to this resolution, and it has also to be borne in mind that the turnip crop may not be very satisfactory, and that the manures may assist the growth of weed seeds lying dormant in the soil even more than the turnip seed. The lea is being ploughed about four inches deep and from eight to 10 inches wide, a considerable number ploughing a nine-inch furrow. It was the experience of some last year that better crops were obtained where the ploughing was four inches deep than where a six-inch furrow was turned. The digger ploughs do not appear now to receive bo much attention as they did two or three years ago, and it is asserted that some are discarding them for ploughing for oats. There are indications that a large area will be sown with oats this season. The price of sheep is not so satisfactory as it has been, turnips will not pay to grow for sale, and old pastures are unprofitable owing to their lateness in spring and to weeds gradually taking the place of the finer grasses. Hence a little more oats will probably.be grown and paddocks carefully laid down to grass. On our best soils good pasture is obtained for four or five years, and there is more pasture broken up at four years than at five. After being two years laid down the pasture is late in affording a bite in the spring, and on all well-managed farms there is a paddock of grass one or two years old available every year. Draining is receiving considerable attention every year, and the benefits accruing are evident. Draining with the plough and with pipes are in vogue, and while the latter is considered a permanent drain many are glad to avail themselves of an implement which enables them to drain land in a short time at a cheap rate. There are different makes of drain ploughs, and it is advisable to see them at work before purchasing. Traction engines have been used for drawing the drain ploughs in a few places, and they are very suitable for the purpose, especially where deep drains are desired. The summer season is the time for these heavy machines, There is cot a great dtal of fcree-p'autiog being gone on with oa the farms nowadays owing to the smallbird nuisance, but doubtless when farmers succeed in reduc ; ng the numbers of feathered depredators there will be a resumption of treeplanting. There has been a great deal of chaff cut by steam power this season again, and the traction engines, which will probably soon run off the port&bls engines, are being used for the the purpose of drawing the chaffcutter and bagger about tho country and for driving the machine. It is a great convenience to get the chaff cut at) onoe, and horsepowers are not much used. In the last issue of the Witness •' Agricola " utters a word of warning regarding the way so much of the chaff is out at present, and I am also inclined to think that it might be better to cut the chaff in half-inch leugbhs than into lengths of a quarter-inch, and I would mention in this connection that the twine should be removed from the sheaf be! ore it is cut. Some farmers employ an extra bandcvifcter to keep the twine out or the straw when the crop is being threshed, which is a proceeding to be commended. Too much care caimot be taken to have both chaff and straw that is given to horses free from twine. Of late years a considerable number of horses nave been lost from obscure causes, and twine, as well as inferior oats or rusty chaff, may have snere to do with the mortality than the bofe fly. The fall in tie price of sheep has come as a surprise to many, and the occaStock. sionai reductions made at the freezing works has made dealiDg somewhat risky, so much so that a few dealers i'or a number of months past would not touch sheep, and not a £ew farmers with experience •among sheep sold their eurplus turnips rather than ruu aDy risk. Betters and commission agents wera very anziou3 to effect sales, but those who wanted sheep could n<>t be prevailed <upoa to buy, the remark: being frequently heard during the last two months "Sheep will be cheaper yti." The fear of a severe winter, occasioned by wintry weather being experienced a, month earlier than usual, contributed in come measure to the opinion so generally held that sheep would fall in price. But most farms carried a fair quantity

of stock, and the breaking up of a good deal of pasture was in contemplation. The freezing works are blamed by some for reducing the prices, but in the face of the heavy loss which they sustained last year by paying too much one could hardly expect any other result. Sheep have had fictitious values too long, as many besides those who are owners of freezing works have found to their cost, and the sooner that fact is realised the better will it be for all. Why if such prices had continued much longer I suppose we should have had to want milk for our tea and butter for our bread, as few would be found willing to milk a cow. And now what do we see as the result of the turn things have taken P — the folly of looking to one thing ajone to make farming remunerative, and of immediately changing from one system of farmiog to another.- Mixed farming has always paid to the man who has consistently followed one course, and it will no doubt continue to do so. The farmer who has found sheep profitable would not think of turning his attention to dairying, and the man who has had a similar experience with dairying should pause before selling off his cows. It is a fact that dairying in some districts here has made farmers, who otherwise would have been in straits, independent. Sheep are healthy this winter, a circumstance which may principally be attributed to the small quantity of rain which has fallen. The high price of cows is leading to care in the wintering of heifer calves. Some are feeding them with chaff and turnips, which are very suitable, but as young stock, whether calves or lambs, do not readily take turnips at first, they should be given turnips for some time before they get the chaff, otherwise the chaff alone might prove too binding. Like calves, colts are by some neglected duriDg their first winter, and the result often is weak joints and muscle as well as poor digestive powers ever afterwards. Boiled swede turnips wibh oaten chaff will be found very beneficial overy morning to colts running on the grass, and oaten chaff in the evenings. A good deal of turnips were wasted last month where Bheep were feeding on Turnips. them during the frost and rain, but this month the turnips have not suffered the slightest injury from these causes. There is a good demand for turnips, especially for those in drills, but the price received is not so good as it was last year, although higher prices will probably soon be given. Most farmers are endeavouring to get their surplus turnips eaten off early in order that* the soil may not be made as hard as a brick, which is often the result of late feeding. A considerable number of crops of turnips have been sold at 12s 6d per hundred sheep per week, but some are disappointed when the sheep are taken away while there is some portion of the root remaining. Those who sell by the acre have the advantage in this respect. From £2 to £3 per acre is being paid for drilljburnips and from £1 to £1 10s for broadcast turnips. It is a fact worth mentioning that crops of the purple top mammoth turnip are unsaleable, and where there is a number of the turnips among the harder sorts the crop is not easily sold to experienced men. I tried some of these turnips among the others a few years ago, and finding that they were light and sapless after the month of May did not sow them since. I reported unfavourably of them at the time, but some farmers have not as yet stopped growing them. The purple top and yellow top Aberdeen are the most suitable for Bheep and cattle, and swedes for horses and pigs. A great deal of raw swedes are given to pigs, and they will fatten on them. Cows, it may be remarked, would soon go dry if fed on the mammoth turnip at this season.