AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The disastrous h<flm nces of th* ,three years of drought experienced "in South Australia ort the agricultural and commercial is^-tresSs of the colony are sst forth very cl^^rlj m ti.d following figures: — From January 1 to November 30, 1807, 11,859 baslusly cf vheafc were exported, of which 8213 do.*; «1s — ?-at to Western Australia, 3106 bu-sh Ju to New Sr»u(h Walee, and 210 bushel;, lo nth"? ■;!- -csThe export of flour during (.ho (ir<>i -II i<-u~A,ni of the year amounted to 16 179 toos, -'!> f Ti~ buted sb follow^ : To South A "lie-., A° 1 i -us ; Mauritius, 60; New South W -■'...=-. 2.504; Queensland, 5274; Western ,"■■ uatral'.-. G".!>b ; New Caledonia, 15; Java, 372; ■ tntr* pl<ic<ss, 411. The total export of br^acU'tifi'r, cMa year is equivalent to 21,088 s-«ns f p-b, '. compared with 79,44:0 tons for tUe Who 131 3 oi 1896, 167.95S tous £jt 1895, and 210^48 i^jjc for 1894.

Mr Samuel Olaik, o£ South W^n*. bj.ni. informs th<s Wyndhara Heralu tbs.l s.nce his dairy herd were dehorned th<! nai'h 'yi^id hat: increased. He attributes this in p?.rt to the improved behaviour of the cofvi. T'^ej", show no disposition to fight. One dei'oia-ed ajnioual which used to be troublesome at homing ■"•■is put to flight by a playful calf of a few jftr ks old. Altogether his herd is mora lessily managed, and his experience of d< toi-i.ir.g results is so favourable that he reoomi.iecds it. { The following items are by "T'w./Or/'m the Canterbury Times : — The Dor,",',. !»om.« imported by Mr Ulyett are neat utrK &J,G9p, and I should say that rams of the' breed would be very well suited for vs:j wi h halfbred or crossbied ewes to produce f: I--1 '-- zksg lambs. Thc-ir fecundity and em iy m~J aring qualities are well known, the pwes \ being known to la.mb at intervals of not riuc'o ?onrr> v than six month?, while the lamb;, are of c h<,'iee qualJty. The wool is similar Lo cro^bred and the fleece is not heavy. It is doubtful whether the "robust" climate o£ Mtshven will prove quite suitable for these S-~uth o£ England sheep — Mr Stead's S-ifopslr'res are very fine sheep. They differ somewhat in character, one being larger and haacso.iicr than the other. They sre geared} ouora than lambs yet, but bear everj promire of j maintaining the high quality of the D.osuore j flock. — Mr Rupert Parry's recent importation of Shropshires included probabiy the Lest ram of the breed that has bevn bi'oughtjfc^J New Zealand, and he should be a wor^H successor to Mr Parry's great ram S|^| grant. His voyage companion is dissimfl^H in some points, but is also a ■ very ktylfj^B specimen of the breed. Withlgnch. impoiH tations as thosa of Messrs Parry, SteacH Macfarlane, and others, there should sooA be as good Shropshire^ in Canterbury as^H any part of the world. ' X _^H A gentleoaan who has been inroogn Ct^H tral Otsgo — embracing Blacks, Laudeß Valley, and Ida Valley distr(cN and thifl Maniototo Plain — informs us (Oamv.ra .Mailjß that the whrat and oat crops are looking re-8 markably well. The interior dols aotrdDpearß to have suffered so BevedMHßßta^^irocf*ljtJ as the districts nearcr^^^^^^^^k^^Mfl to the land having m^^^^^^^^|^^^H some time since, whi^^^^^^H^^^^^^J start and kept them more rain the settlers

harvest that has been seen in the interior for a long time.

In reference to the finding of a dead lamb in a ewp, where it had evidently been carried for a year, reported to me {" Straggler," in the Pres-) by Mr W. J. Bassett, of View Hill, the Townavilie correspondent of the Fsstoralists' Review says : — "A similar case once came under my own notice with regard to a cow. A fnll-grown, well-developed calf was encased in membrane fully lin in thickness. Evidently the calf had been co carried for years, as even the bones of it crumbled, rotten, when touched. The most curious part of it was that apparently the calf had lived past ita birth time. The hair upon it was Sin long."

One or the most noted features in the meat consumption of tha' United States is the increasing demand for mutton, which Coleman's Rural World puts at about 15 per cent, per annum. It now takes from 12 to 14 million sheep and lambs a year to supply the American demand. From January 1 to September 14, 1897, the Kansas Cily dressed meat houses killed 600,584 bheep, an increase of nearly 30 per cent, ovsr the record for the correapocdirg period of last year, and there has been a considerable increase in pricp.

la M-irch next (says ths Manawatu Standard) the Maoawatu district may fairly lay claim to possesiir g one of the best Linccla sheep and shorthorn cattle stud farms in the colocv, Mr A. M'Hardy having decided to transfer in that month the whole of his stud cattle and sheep from LoDgl'*nd>- (near. Hastings) to Beaulieu. There are 250 stud cattle and SOO stud sheep. Mr M'Hardy, beirg slightly apprehen&ive as to the c-if«cfc of a M«iawatu winter, has decided to erect; a convenient and extensive buiiding in the | form of a square, boxes for the bulls and cows being arranged around the sides, while ! the centre will be occupied by stored root; crop?, bay, pulping machines, &c. The stud cows are au exceptionally superior lot, ths greatest attention havirg been paid to their milkiug qaalifciss, and Mr M'Hardy is confident the majority of them could satisfactorily feed three calves for four months. This result has only been attained by breeding consistently for years past from the heaviest rniikers. The benefits to be deiived by the disfcricfc from having such a firot-class farm in its midst are incalculable. The practice — and it is a very good one too (writes the Nhill Free Press)— is spreading; smorg farmers of hand-gathering the best grown wheat heads in their crops for ?eed purposes. By this method very good .result-* have been obtained. We know of one f aimer, not 30 miles from Nhill, who has 80 acres of crop, the seed of which, in the first iisstance, was obtained in the way stated, and he informs us that the crop presents a splendid appearance, considering the season. He is coaiinuing- to search as epgerly as ever after the bsst developed heads, and he showed ua a camber tbafc looked really splendid, measurirg some 6in ia length.

The Ch.is^church Press of the 29 h gays':— "In the North Canterbury district crops within a radius of five miles of the hills have n«vw a fair promise of yielding up to the average. At North Loburn some of the crops are ezpscted to reach 40 Lo 45 bushels ; and there are but fsw crops of wheat. Fat lambs have beta turaed eff by the score from the Loburn c*ist?icfc, and rape aiacl turaips ara loc king we!l. In the West Eyreton disfcricfc the crops have improved, a3 well as at S wannanoa. A*. WoocJend and on Kaiapoi Island jecent rains have improved the quality of the crop?, and several have hopes of a fair yield, though aaany of the crops will not be worth cnttiner."

What lessons cf thrift and examples oE i.xfr&.v»gasice are now and then affdided us by some of our cc-opeiative concerns 1 A factory in Taranski recently pufc np a chpese factory, with three vste, at a cost of £1400; wbila one recently erected in Otago [Seaward Downs D.^iry Factory is the r-ne evidently referred to], of the same size, with the addition of a fonr-roomed cottsge, and more comniodioui 1 , convenient, and durable than the Taranaki one in every way, was put up for the small cost of £500. And yet t janomy is what we are all striving for. — lI.Z. Dairyman.

" Stiaggler," in the Press, writes :—": — " The Devon cattle introduced into Canterbury some years ago by Mr John GrJgg appear fco have gone quite out of fashion again. At Addington on Wednesday wa9 a fat heifer, bought about three months ago by Mr S. Garfoith from Mr Grigg, and she was, I b&lieve, the last of the breed at Longbeach. She was a perfect picture as far as quality t- as concerned, and just of the handy weight that butchers nowaday like. Fee gi:.z'rg purposes the D*von has much to cemijaend. it, especially where heavy beef is rtquired."

! The Lyltelfcon Times has ihe following to I .=ay on the freezing sheep at the Wdllicglon show :—": — " Mr John Deans's p?n of Sonthdov?n cross wethers after all won Ihe firsfc prize for L-eezers at the WslHugton show. It may be remembered that they were awarded the piiza by thß judge, Mr J. C. Ciarkson, bufc \7sre protested ■ against by Mr W< C. Buchanan, owner of the second-prize pen, as being ovGr the stipulated weight — 7i'b, dressed for freezing. They were accoidir.gly killed at one of the Wellington fcezziig works, when one of the sheep was found to weigh 761b, acd it was announced that the pan was disqualified and the prizs awarded to Mr Buchanan's pen (which also were Southdown crosses). It then transpired i.Lat the sheep had been weighed while hot, and Mr Scales, secretary of the Wellicgton Agricultural and Pastoral Association, had ithem re-weigbed whan cold, with the result; Uhat all the sheep were found t? be within ■^prescribed weight^-gacl Mr Deans was to wbioh. the quality on the ground Glarkaou, too*. being being ground