FARM AND STATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 14

FARM AND STATION.

( Continued from page 7J

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL JJETVS.

The MaUura Ensign says.— "With the jeneral laying of poiion throughout the district oloses the rabbit freezing industry for the sesf on, and on_ the face of it it seems rather hard that it should be necessary to out off the means of livelihood, for a time, of a large number of workers on the hills, in the rabbit depots, and in the freezing works, As we have already s^ted, many men in this dietriot who would otherwise have been unemployed, have been .provided with profitable labour by means of the tabbifc-fretaing industry, wad now that tfie season for poisoning is olose at hand we hare been approachsd by saveral parties, all Wishing to know whether it would not ba possible to have certain areas deolared exempt from poisoning, so that they could rotain their employ during the winter. We feel sure that the Stock department, wbioh has the orckrieg of these matters, would further the interests of those interested in the continuance of rabbit exporting during' the wintsr months if they could do ao without sacrificing the interests of others; but this, we fear, could not be done. From inquiries made-, we find that trapping does not tend to keep the rabbits in check in. the slightest degree— indeed, poisociag, with its wholesale slaughter, is in maoy localities barely sufficient to keep the pest in baud, consequently there is no chance of the regulations affecting the destruction of rabbits being modified under preient dreams iances. Happy would this country be if other means of rabbit destruction could be discovered whereby as great execution would be done as by poisoning, only without its gpoiliDg effects upon the carcases. Tons upon tons ot valuable food substance now left to rot upon tbe ground could then be made available as a revenue-producing medium either by supplying ciby residents with a cheap article of diet or by adopting' present means and exporting the rabbits in a frozen, state to the markets of EngUnd. Bub these, are circumstances cjntiiigent upon come great scientific discovery, and in the meantime one h»a to first CAtob his rabbi by old l&ethods before hit skin or his carcase cm be utilised, and the only way at present to settle the question of New ..Zealand, for New ZeaUnders or New Zealand for the rabbits in a satisfactory manner is to übo poison, and plenty ofiC- - There, is danger of fire when applying kerosene for parasitic disease? of the skin, and aUo danger from abiorptiou by the skin when the paraffin is applied over large surfaces. A case in which a horse after being dressed died from keroiene poisoning is repotted in oar recent English file*. According to the Gazette of St. Petersburg, Rueiift possesses 1 30,000,000 horses, or half the total number supposed by one authority to be kept in the world. About 86 per cent, belong to the peaiantf , and there are*" grate fears of the tapid decrease of these animals unless some* thing is done to arrest the decline that has set Id. Tbe depreß»i<y» (in agriculture has impoverished the peasants, and their horses- are growing fewer as well as poorer in quality. At present, it is estimated, 30 per cent, of the peasants. who cultivate land are without horses, and the Government are urged to devote more attention to the encouragement of cart-horse breeding, and lees to that of the breeding of racers and other light horses. By the s.s. Warriga), which left Eorfc Melbourne on Saturday, 20th ult., for London, tbe Victorian Agricultural department shipped 150,000 rabbits. This is the largest consignment that has ever left Melbourne, being equal to afcout 500 tons. A correspondent of the Hamilton Spectator, »t present on a visit to New South Wales, writes :— " That 4 blood wilPtell ' has, I think, leldom received a better illustration than has been witnessed on Mr Thomas Edol'a .wellknown Burrawong station. In or about the year '79, the sheep on the station being bat second-raters. Mr Kdols bought six Wanganella lams for £1000, a record price in those days, and subsequently two more at 300gs and lOOgs • respectively. Since, then he has imported no other blood nor sold say of the rams, preferring to keep these for his own use. His clip has increased from 2700 bales to within seven bales of 5000 last setsou, the number of sheep boiog the game as in 1879, and, I need scarcely add, the wool far superior— in faot, biyoud comparison. Surely this is an all-convincing and vary profitable proof that 'blood will tell. 1 " The Weekly Times s»ys that Mr Hiram W. Vaeloy, of Adelaide, has presented to the Government of South Australia the thoroughbred stallion Pasoavel, with the praiseworthy object of encouraging the producers of the colony to improve their stocks. Mi Varley'a totion is one which might with advantage be •followed, by some of, our wealthy Victorians. The" horse is to bo tent to the Roseworbhy College, where Profeseor Lowrie will see that fee is duly looked after. During January and February, in the Coolamon district of Riverina, 66 horses and about 800 sheep died mysteriously. The Government inspector sent up to investigate the mortality reports, says the Melbourne Leader, that the deaths were caused by horses and sheep either eating portions of poisoned rabbits or phosphorised pollard baits laid for the rabbits, All the stations where the deaths occurred aie badly infested with rabbits, and strychnine and phosphorus are both used. The Cape as a market for Australian grain, meat, and other produce is the subject of a most instructive interview by an ' Age reporter with a business visitor from South Africa. The indifferent character of the soil on the one h*nd where it is at all near the centres of population, and on the other hand the heavy cost of carriage by reason of the distance that tbe productive areas are away, prove, according to our visitor; that' the South African markets ate worthy of more attention on the p&rt of Australians than they have yet received. He speaks positively of the possibilities o! an export trade of large dimensions being established between Melbourno and South Africa if the producers here choose to stud; what is

wanted in his colony, and also use to the utmost the intimate relations with the population there through recent emigration, Tbe Melbourne Leader says :~" An Ataerzoan method of utilising maize as & stock food has been spcoessfuily tented by Me J. L. Thompion, in the Hawkesbury College farm. The new idea is grinding the cobs and the oorn together and feeding stook with them, and the results are excellent. Ths cob is stated to be quite equal to wheiten bran, and all the maize* g o vcrs have to do ie to get the maohine for ousting it AMr W. L. Boyce has got a (job mill on the American principle erected at Lochinven, New South Wales, and is supplying the prepared fodder at £4 5s per tou loaded on the trucks at the railway station." The Maffra Beet Sugar Company has now betn formed, and a* the shares ate being quickly taken npj it is expected that » start with the erection of the works will shortly be ltude:' More than half of the 25,000 shares of the company have already been sold, and as a site close to the railway platform, commanding a supply of pure fresh water and an area within 10 miles of between 60,000 and 80,000 acces of land whose capabilities for growing first-class sugar-beet hare been proved) has been scoured, the prospects of the enterprise ia»y be regarded as most promising.— Melbourne Leader.