OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET

Otago Witness, Issue 2250, 15 April 1897, Page 14

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET

(From Our Own CoBHTf6FONDENT.) Christchurch, April 12. We have had good weather duriDg the last few weeks, and farmers have been Autumn. able to get on well with threshing, and turn out, a3 a rule, a good, well-conditioned sfmple. Millers, who are this season practically the only buyers, h^ld eff for a while, an the wheat was scarcely dry enough for them, but during the list few days they have resumed buying. Many farmers, however, hold out , for 4-s (some have set their mind on a still higher price), and a large proportion of the grain is bemg stored on growers' j account. Stocks of. American wheat and flour in Sydney having begun to rim down and no fregh purchases having been made, ib is thought Australian millers will soon have to look this way. The threshing returns are very erratic, and though there are many goed yields so many are disappointing that opinion is pretty , unanimous that the average will be two or three bushels short of the preliminary official estirriats. j Thre«hing having beeu delayed through tho ! slowness of the grain getting into c iiiditioa the j j final estimates will not be compiled for a week i I or two yet. The land is' too hard to permit of much progreßi being made with ploughing, and farmers who are anxious to profit by past experience and get their wheat sown early would like a day or two's soaking rain. Heavy showers have fallen here at intervals of a few days, brtt they have missed the driest part of. the district, and there are complaint*, particularly from the Ashburton Pi&ics, that; neither grass nor roots are making growth, and that feed prospects ara not nearly so good as they were a month ago ; indeed, there are apprehensions of J scarcity. Numbers of sheep are already on turnips in localities where this ii not usually the case until well on in May. Sheep ase at; present ia grand condition, ai^l so far as I can see in the country good provision fca<! been made for carrying full stocks over the winter. The milk supply is falling off, but k much larger quantity has bf ea dealt with at the creameries and factories during February and March than ia usually the case in those months. A large quantity of butter has beeu scored fo? tue wintar trade, but the latest tcs Jrom London shows that February and March >-hipp3rs will 3o better than those who have Btoreci. Very heavily-supplied markets have been the rule everywhere during the past Sheep. month, but now the supplies are beginning to fall off. It is wonderful how such numbers ai h*ve come forward have been absorbed. Some weeks upwards of 100,000 sheep and lambs were put j on the various markets in Canterbury, besides the big clearing sales. Evan now good crossbred ewes aud turnip wethers arc keenly competed for, but both these classts, particularly the latter, are sesree. In last week's Addingtoa market a big line otback-couutryhalf bred wethero j and maiden owep, off turaip?, nnd which would j have done to go to the freezing work?, were ' sold at lla 7d, and were sent 20 miles away to | go on turnips again. This was a line euch as | is seldom seen nowadays. One f»cb must be considered — namely, that by the timq they are shipped a reduction in freight will have come into force which will icore man pay for their j turniping. Ib was expected tuac reduced i freights nould have been obtained on the , Tongariro, and this caused a shurp rise iv ! freezers 10 days ago, bub the negotiations { falling through, there was a relapse in prices at last week's markets, though compebibion was still spirited. Rsally fat lambs continue to sell well. Some prime lots have come from South Canterbury and Otago lately, having the advantage of bsing lambed later than Canterbury supplies, and being the ms.in drafts, i instead of being the culls which present Canterbury lines mostly are. Some good lines of crossbred wethers have also come from the south, and have sold well, though they are not quite bo satisfactory as the lambs. Any lambs which are not really fat are now at a discount, it bsing out of the question to get them fit for thiß season's tra'ie ; the seasou has already been prolonged beyond expectation. From the nature of farmers' purchases this autumn there sbeuld be an abundance of lambs next season, and plenty of two-tooths, but a scarcity of mature wethers. There will also be plenty of old ewe', a* many failing and broken mcubhed have been taken for breeding purposes, though they csnnot be expected to rear more than one lamb. "°— — _ Very suitable premises have been secured for the Canterbury A. and P. AssoThe Winter ciation'u winter show, to be held Show. in the last week in May. It has not been a good geafoa for roots, and farmers do not seem to thiuk it worth while to show grain ; yet the show could be made a • good one by working it up a little. Success can- ; not be gained by merely holding cotamitt^e j meetings and distributing "dodgers" at the j markets. I fancy a good oeal of the fate of the 1 show will depend upon the number and value of the special prizes which may be offered. The committee of the A. and P. Association have j conformed to the instructions ! Cliristcliim-h received from the annual general ! Bam mid Kne meeting so far as to resolve that Fairr nexb year's fair shall be held in the second week in March, the flock rams to be sold 00. the first day, and a sale of stud sheep to be held on the second day. Tbe proposal that £5 5s should be the minimum price at which stud rams should be started was dropped, and the time for each lot was not fixed, though one of the timekeepers of the last fair stated that one minute was quite long ! enough to wait for a bid, which it certainly is. This association needs moderni-ing. I was one of a small party which ran down to Lyttelton to see the Lincoln Sheep for rfira 1 ; mid f-wes from the Land Argentina. Companj'= Mieraki estate and Mr .( m -1 ft Holmes's Awsm^a estate, wh ; ch were pu!/>p"d l >\ t '.ij Tekoato Monte Video. The} wore a good lot of sheep, and if they get fair piuy aud -Lie demand continues,

] they will be the mean* of more orders being j sent here. I have an idea, afc thi same time, I that a crisis in the Argentine Republic is pretty ! nearly due. Ths redaction of the premium on gold will not suit some of those who have been making money taslest.over there. The determination of the Canterbury fruitgrowers to prevent frnifc inFruit Tests, fected with the codlin moth from being dumped down I amongst them is raiding the ire of the growers in I moth-infected district.*. Onago is interested I to just the same extent as Canterbury, aud has | proved just as conclusively that the pest can be ! kept down if the orchardists will adopt the ! proper means. The Canterbury growers want I power given to the customs officers to prevent infected fruit from being landed aud to prei vent sucb fruit from being exposed for tsetle, no matter where grown. Second-hand cases have caused a few cut breaks in Caotetbury, but the owners of me irees t'jofc prompt B'eps, aud now there is not au orchard in Cantf rbury that can be declared infected. I know of two orcharda where £30 and £25 respectively is paid for cases every year — a nice tax in itself to pay through orchards elsewhere sending out; grubby fruit It has been suggested th-»fc a conference of delegates from fruirgrowerV associations should be held before next session op '.nh to decide upon united representation to the Government ou the subject and to agree upon the terms of the legislation which iß»nece?sary. The Dnnedin Winter Show would be the best meeting place, j I should think.