AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2273, 23 September 1897, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

On Thursday morning one of our reporters saw ; MrC. Bills, of George street, on the reclaimed ground coping with the small bird nuisance, and farmers and others who mike heavy Josses j annually through these pe-t« would have been : delfghted with the success that atteuded his I efforts. A cjuple of floe-thread ntt«, each covering, a space of 30fb iv length by 4ft iv breadth, were laid upon the ground, with a space of Bft between them, on which some seed was thrown to cause the birds to gather. This they did in a very short time in considerable numbers, &nd Mr Bills, standing behind a fence at a distance of 30 yard?, made several big hauls, his first ca<xh numbering 136 birds, his second 65, and another 40. The rope he held was the means by which he worked the ne'.s. Wheo it was pulled it caused both nets to spring up and fall inwards in an instautj completely trapping nil the birds in the space within the ne'.s. A farmer might use the nets to gceat advantage. ! They can be worked by any pt-r.-ion, even by a ! boy, of 12 years of age, who3o delight, it would be to have the chance to opsrate with t'sera. Mr Bills saya the nets should be laid on the ground a shorb distance — 25 yards or so — from the house or from any cover, so that the person - working them may not b» seen by the biros, and he further avers that a farmer who will place the nets on his refuse heap in the winter time will bs sare to notice a substantial falling away in the dumage now done on his farm by birds. The whole appliance is iight, and there ia nothing intricate about its construction to get out of Rear. On Thursday, after dwoioastratiug the effectiveness of the n«ts, Mr Bills packed up the whole nffiir in five minutes, aad wa'.ked away with it over his shoulder. A valuable report on the causes of anthrax, from which men in various trades, but especially •wool sorter*, suffer, has been issued by a Homo Office committed. "It is a noteworthy fact," s&ys a London contemporary, '' that less danger is run by those called upon to deal with Home and colonial wool than by those who deal with the article which comes from Rus:-i-), China, and other Eastern lands. Tfau difference is accounted for partly on the ground of cleanliness, partly on the ground of the greasine»s generally fouud in Home and colonial wool. This serves to restrain the d ffusion of dusf, which is the (treat distributor of the microbe. Some of the fleeces which bave beeu t»k^n from animals in China or Russia which have died of disease are said to be laden with f-pores capable of lying dormant for »v indtlinHe period, until introduced to a place or body favourable to germination. Danger lurks particularly in the manes of Russian horses, and bo notorious is the risk that manufacturers refuse to have anything to do with them. The stuffing for chairs and aofas is another direction in which the microbe finds opportunity for deadly work. When the ma'erial has been washed it is usually found that it has been diminished by some 40 per c^nt. Ofricg to competition uDcleanscd material is ofteu used, both to save the cost and th« material. It is easier lo indicate the danger thau to suggest effectual remedies, and the committee do not propose any very drastic measures. In tbe main their recommendations are — that ventilation should be good, that the dust should be carried away from and not towards the worker, and that meals should not be taken in the work rooms."

A significant contribution to the "prime Canterbury" controversy is mads by Mr Thomas Gray, a Cnristchureh butcher, vrho, having just returned from a visit to the old country, has given hie impressions to a representative of the Press. Mr Gray says, inttr alim, that he visited, the shops in the slums of London, and found a number of vile shops where colonial meat of the very worst description was sold at from l£d per lb upwards. But th»re were exceptions, as, for instauce, in Whitechapel there is one shop styled " The Canterbury Lamb and Colonial Meat Shop," in which the meat was of the very best, and quite equal to the best English. Indeed, the lamb vrai in nearly all cases equal to English. Elsewhere there are shops wfeich use the words " Canterbury" and "Prime Canterbury" freely, and where none but New Zealand meat is sold. The public ought not to be

deceived by this, but in reality aro so, as they j buy the meat in the belief that it is Kentish mutton thoy are purchasing, whereas, says Blr I Gray, it ie the trade term for New Zealand meat j of good quality. }

The entries for the sixteenth annual horse parade held' under the auspices of the Qt&go Agricultural aud Pastoral Society closed on Saturday nighfc. The number of eniries received was as follows : — Olyd«da?e stallions, 23 ; carriage and hackneys, 11 ; and Clydesdale mare, 1. Theso entries include animals from some of the wriccipal breeders in South Canterbury, Southland, and OCago, aad one Clydesdeile from Melbourne. The parade will be held at Tahuna Park on Thursday, commencing at 11 o'clock, and the horses will parade in the order specified in the catalogue. A specia' sale by auction will be held immediately afterwards.

The Wairarapa Farmers' Co-operative Association propose to pay a dividend of 8 per cent, aud a bonus of 3 per cent.

A deputation rejuvsanting the Waikato farmers -waited on the Auckland member and urged the importance of the sugar beet iudustry. The membprs resolved that the production of sug^r from sugar beet; ought to be encouraged by Parliament by the offer of a more substantial bounty than was afforded by the present law.

A cable was reoetved on 16^h from the Agentgeneral stating that butter is quoted at 100s per cwt, with the market very dull. Cheese is at 46s ; market hteady.

Tbo Goverament veterinary experts are engaged in inquiring into the m-ula'iby an&ong ewes in Canterbury and Hawke's Bay.

A conference of locsl bodies iv the Christchurch district have decided to request the dairymen to appoint delegates to confer as to obtaining amended legislation for dairy regulation. A meeting of dairymen, held on the 15' h decided to appoint de'egates as i • ju^s-tad.

The runholdcrs at HakateL-Aotifca ai>d Haldou have lately been suffering serious losses through the ravages ot wild d-ogs in their flock*. ' Several of these* doj. ; s, presumably lost froia rabbiters' packs, li*Vß been eeeu at Station Peak. A dog and a slut have bean Sftverol times chased iv the neighborhood of Te Akftterawani and Waitangi statious, but always escaped, aud fresh worrying baing continually reported showed that they were still iv the district. A shooting party was then organised from several of the slationw, aud by #ood luck they came across the dogs in the Haldon flat, and immediately all the party, being mounted, gave chase. The doga soju parted company, oue making for the hills sud the other beading for the river. The latter wj>s followed, and after a long gallop the party caught up to him as he w*s preparing to jump a rabbit fence. His pursuers wei'3 too close, however, and he followed the fence down to the river, and was shot by one of tho party while taking (o the water. A substantial reward it generally giveu by station owners to the desfcroyerd of these dog<.

The Canterbury Seed Company supplies the following information regarding the cocksfoot marke% which reached it by tbe San Francisco imil, dated London, August 7: — " V/e anticipate Ametica will compete largely w'th you ttiis jear. The cock«f<jo ! ; is anticipated to be a Very bright colour." The following ia the type of letter received from our constituents in reply to offers from us : — "We regret that we cauuot pay your j>rices ; we have already bought qualities like your 15!o dark seed at 25 ), and )ike your 121b bright s-ed at 27h. From Anjerica we have offers of choice new seed at 335, and iv Germany and France the out-turn of the new crop is as large as it ha*! been for some jears. Beside*, the shocks of old seed are pretty large, and therefore we aro of opinion that prices must uuderg-j a sharp decline.'*' The prices given in the above extract are freight and insurance paid to London, the equivalent valuts in L ttelfoa being 2\A and 2i-d for the 15 b and 12ib seed respectively.

The Ljttelton Tim-s *ajs: — "The steamer Wakatipj, from Melbourne, landed a purebred four-tooth merino ram at Lyttelton lest week. It is the property of Me T. Chapman, of SpringbaDk, and was br< d by Mr Faulkner, of Bonooke, Victoria."

Whilut there is the authority of an ancient proverb for tbe assertion that there is ,a. black sheep in every flock, it ie a rare coincidence that this evidence of atavism is transmitted by a ewe to its immediate offspring. Iv one ot Mr R. Hurntfle'd'a flocks at Ardara, however (sayd the Melbourne Weekly Time*), a black ewe has this year given birth to a blnck lamb, and the return to the original type is thus more strongly marked than usual .

We (Lyttelton Times) learn that Mr John M. 'Keller, the well-known draught entire horse proprietor, of Southbridge, hss purchased from Mr R. Rainey, of Tai Pupn, his three-year-old colt by Mr John Small's Vanquisher, whose stock have taken first and champion prizes at various shows. The colt's dam ia by Argyle, who is by Young Banker, second dam by Sir Colin Campbell, and third dam by Prince Cnarlie. Considering how the colt is bred, he should prove a valuable acquisition to the breeders ot the Ellesmere district. The price paid was £100.

It is notified that settings of eggs of Minorca, Leghorn, Orpington, and first-cross fowls can be obtained from the superintendent, Seacliff Asylum. Cockerels may also be obtained.