STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 5

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

By Dboveb.

WeeMy Stock Sales : Invercar^ill, Tuesdays. Burn Bide, ■Wednesdays • Monthly: Ashtmrton, Tuesday* Clinton, ■ Palmerston, - Addington, Wednesdays 'aadWinton: T , Fortnightly: Periodically: Balclutha, 'Fridays Heriot, Kefeo, and Kye« Gore, Tuesdays t ■ ' bura. - Oamaru, Tuesdays. [Commonloatlom of interest to itookbreeders and deUors »r« oordUUjr i&rltod. All joiamunlottiom to ioiob Witneu offlo» uot later than UoniHy nicht.l 'As usual of late the cattle sale at Burnside last week dealt only with mediumbsef. Pricgs, quality considered, were very good indeed, the best of the yarding bringing from £8 to £9 Q*. Although, the yarding was small '.(about r I^o, he.adjFjHhe>d seomei no strong demand ftfr }ighfc ,* ' afid interior caltie, which "were, decidedly diffi- ' cult to qtiit.' La?fc.wiße'k I'poifited'out fhat the ■* JBurnside c'ittle,aale was. jaob a^usefttlorjas L large as it'foitght bs.' ' ifknow it is." not, easy to say how m&ttera may db improved, bub one things I would suggest— viz , that the Saleyards Company should provide a weighbridge, and that cattle should be sold at per cwb live weight if 'sellers bo desire. Ab Home Bales by this * method are beooming vary general,' and .most auctioneers give their clients the option of sell* ing by weight or not as they may desire.. Reforms move slowly at Home as there is » stroog leaven of the " wicked Tory " element among farmers there. It has taken a good deal of agita1 tion and hard work on the parb of Us advocates . j to bring the practice of celling by live 'weight; into use at all. But now it seems to be gaining i favour all round, and I notice that many farmers want to buy their store's by live weight also through the auction ring, but that. Irish dealers, who have a large say in this matter, are against the practice. I must say I am in favour of this selling by live weight, one reatton being that ib will let f aimers know whaUhey . are doing, and tend to make farming and grazing more of a steady buiinegß and les3 o( a gamble, and this is most desirable.' I am 'oE opinion that the institution of a weighbridge jat Burnside aud the initiation of selling by weight are things tb,at would raise and popularise the Burnside sales. - „ About 2300 'sheep were yarded, at Buraside, and, a' poor* lot they were. ' A few. prims wethers brought, up to 15j, and some good quality lighterweights" from 13i tbl4a.,"' ;.".*" ' fThere is evidently not now the keen competi* tion for freezers that; h«t prevailed hers %nh, to a greater extent, in.Gaiiterbpry, some of the coW petitorß in the bidding dropped out/ ai ;, foe pace was perhaps a bit too, tot for tl»ni/,:8,y

hope wVshall not see buyers reduced to a small •ring.. Under present' ciroumstances we are always in danger of this. The bidding for butchers' mutton .was not by any means spirited, ' Mid prices- showed a decided drop on those of the previous week. - The position 'oi the New Zealand frozen > mutton business isnot creditable to the* colony -• Dr .to. those 'who profess to control and manage "' )t; ' We are' losing our good name for high'-olass ■ .meat; rapidly. Undoubtedly the meat sent < Home this year (perhaps with the exception of lamb) has not been what it should ba. I have ' pointed this out several' times lately, and now ' all London reports tend to confirm the statement. It is difficult to say whether we are acting on sound business principles in freezing our • lambs to the large extent we at present do. It . seenis to me that we cannot eat our cake and . have it, or, in other words, that we cannot kill our lambs so largely and still be in a position to ... supply, mainly, as, undoubtedly, we should do, high-class mutton. It is only in/exporting first quality. that-New Zsaland farmers ; wi)l ever be able to hold their own against Argentina,-Aus- ■"-' tralia, and other competitors. It seema to me • that we should institute reforms', to bring' this " nbout, and that, -a very large portion of such ' mutton as is now sent Homa should, bs dealt with, by our meat-pre3erving companies and / bailing-down establishments in the production of : ginned meats, &0., for whioh there is always likely " to be a steady market that; will yield better results for 1 f he lower olass mutton than thoie that can be got oat of it' as frozen meat. This ; second quality' and inferior frozen meat is not . only unprofitable in itsslf, but it has a. most ■prejudicial effect iri. lowering prices of even the ,' .toest^ as" it js always in over supply." While V I allow fthat the mea.t.sent,' Home this year has not been what one would like to see, there are other matters ' whioh have tended .to further damage the New Zealand frozen mutton trade, and I will now deal with them shortly. It is an open secret thajfc. fc great deal of meat has been damaged on thevoyage Home, and has been sold at prices which have further to reduce ? values and have spoiled the trade •very muoh. It is, also well known that the insulation of certain vessels carrying the meat' is, at 'fault,' and that though the insulation of steamers is supposed to be periodically inspected and put in order, it hai not- been clone in some cases since the insulation was first inaugurated. -I am told' that the vessels' in which .this is the case are known, and the owneri will have to give this .matter immediate '-attention;' •' '^ v : .' t ? '- * " The next matter I would deal wiih is/that of proper distribution in Britain, foe it° is now ■ more' manifest than ever that we. 6uffer muoh from the fa'cb that' New Zealand- is absolutely without any system or combination to deal .with this*mo3t important 'matter. "Not so our competitors— Argentina, for example. They, - have be?n working in close combination > ' on lines somewhat similar to those advocated by Messrs Nathan, and Orbell, with this result— that while our meat is lying in London with no market, the Flat 9 people have been'-short of supplies, notwithstanding a great increase in their output, having up to. the end of April sold nearly 2,000,000 carcases. I notice that the Australians are combining with Argeniinsjn the matter of regulating, prices, &c. My readers will remember that I advocated the consideration of Messrs Nathan and Orbell's . . schemes. At that time much might have been done, whether one of the schemes was adopted in part only or not at all. Of discussion there was cone, really, at the conference, but simply ' a sitting upon the agitation by our great guns* of tho rniafc trade. They, however, did form themselves into a committee, who were to report on what could be done to improve matters; but in view of subsequent want of action it really looka as if they never ■ bad the slightest intention of dealing with oc considering the. matter of reform. Indeed, it was said at the time that they would pursue a policy of ''mwterly ianctivity," arid' they have done this most effectually. I .'don't,' however, . admire their policy, for I contend that the un< ' satisfactory position . of this' great industry is tjuite dnworthy of a young and so-called^ro* gressive country such' as New Zealand olaims to be, and reflects no credit on those ,who profess to manage and control this trade. Surely the whole energy and intelligence of the country it not to be for ever applied to the question as

to who are to draw the so-called parliamentary honorariums or the ministerial salaries P The. man or men who can devise and carry out a scheme to put our meat trade on a proper basis of improvement, regulation, and control will, in my opinion, be more useful and patriotic than all these salary hunters will ever be. If we do nob wake up soon we may find ourselves at the heel of the hunt. A trade once tenured and settled in Britain is not .easy of displacement, and no one can deny that our competitors are inuob more active and batter organised and - combined than we New Zealanders are. The question of the advisability ol our Government establishing an experimental station in connection with a StM>9 farm was brought up at the National Dairy Association Conference, and found favour, the Government being asked to do more than keep this matter steadily in view. Mr J. D. Ritchie said that Government intended to take steps' in this direction, and it certainly .will ba. a: good, thing - for us all when the proposal is an accomplished ;*fabt. -One has 1 only to sse what thes9'- experimental stations have done and are doing to estimate' in some degree their value. Dairyfarming in Canada his been brought to great perfection through the practical work done at subh stations' in investigating all cognate matters and giving oat, the practical results of all experiments, and investigations, .and the same may bs said of all farming. ■ I have before me the twelfth annual report of the experimental^ station of the University of Wisconsin, and there are many more such stations in "America, Year by year, the experiments cover a great deal of ground in all branches of agriculture: It would' b9 impossible in these notes to do justice to the Valuable work done in one year, but I- will juib mention a few of the subjects .dealt with by practical experiment during the year 1895 at this particular station :-- ■> The v value of separator\sklm milk for swine feeding. Wheat as food for swine. Cornmeal, bran, and oats for lambs after weaning. Examination of various fodders. Experiments in cheese and butter making of a most scientific and searching character. The testing of cream separators. An experiment in draining low-lying marsh lands by means of a dyke, a sump reservoir, tile drains, and a windmill. Experimuats in irrigation. • fixpsrimenti in various horticultural crop 3; also in tobacco-growing. It niay also be noticed that all the States to the east and Bouth of Wisconsin have laws cantrolling the sale of commsrctal fertilisers, and, that tho Legislature of Wisconsin has passed a law placing the 'octroi of all fertilisers selling at 10'dol a ton or more in the hands of this' experimental station. Hereafter all ; . penons selling commercial ' fertilisers in the State of; Wisconsin musts f oraish' geauine samples of the material) offered' for sale to this station. These samples are analysed, and the results made known to the public. The attention of farmers is called to the faot that all bags of genuine fertilisers carry tags stating the brand and percentage of fertilising ißgre'dients as guaranteed by .this experimental station after careful analysis and investigation. ♦ Our American friends no doubt need looking after in this respect. The commercial element there is vigorous and pushing, and we have often ' heard o£ their enterprise in wooden bams, nut- ' megs, &c. It may be that without Sate inter- j fereucoin this way large amounts of sjind might b3 sold as fertilisers. It might not be a bad thing when we get our experimental station to have the guaranteeing- of fertilisers earned out on the same lines as at Wisconsin. I don't mean to insinuate that any of our fertilisersellers adulterate, but farmers would be safer in bavingan independent guarantee like this. Of late years some of the guano imported is very poor stuff, being in some casps mainly sand. I know of farmers who have found this to be the case and who are consequently chary about investing their money a second time. Some time ago, statements ,were"made in England that colonial butter was adulterated, and Victorian butter" was more particularly ■mentioned in this respect., The Government in Victoria exercise mo<-t careful supervision of shipments, and, neither there nor in this colony could anyone,' after careful investigation, find out where or how this adulterated butter was made. No one knew anything about it, and it was the more curious when well-known brands of finest fw»bo_iej we.ro i aid to U»ve proved to

be adulterated. The most careful investigation failed to find the slightest grouad for supposing that any adulteration was carried on at these well-known factories, and they invited the closest scrutiny of all their works and ways. Still it continued to be asserted that Victorian butter was adulterated, and was is some cases half oleomargarine. The matter remained a mystery, but now, I think, the cut-is out of the bag. It seenis that cur empty butter boxes are bought ia England at from 4d and upward?, and I have no, duubb that the price ranges according to brand. I have not the slightest dcubt that theie boxes were used at some of the large oleomargarine factories for packing adulterated butter, whioh was sold as the genuine colonial art'cle as branded on the box. It will be remembered jfchat Victorian ! butter more particularly was mentioned as offending in this matter of ' adulteration, and the reason of this was that Victoria has some very large factories whose brands are well knowD, and for some years they have paid -more, attention t;0 makiDg their bbxes attractive by j neat branding than we in New Zsaland' have done; consequently their old boxis were the most useful and in largest supply. .This was not a case of virtue, rewarded, although complimentary "to Victoria in reality. It was a compliment and an acknowledgment of merit, J no doubt, but we shall be better without this sort of proof of the value of our best brands in future, and this is perhaps one of the matters that a good representative at Home could in- j vestigate, and if possible prevent. We are I going, I hope, to improve our branding of boxes ! here,' and it will be sad if it only tempts adulterators at Home to further exploit their nasty, dishonest business. " J