AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Mr Ritihie, secretary of the Agricultural department, \a prepaiiaga report for the Cibineb ou the subject of establishing a general experimental Btatiou wifchin a few miles of the City of Auckland, ai.d of a horticultural and fruib gfcatiou »i Wbaogarei. The greifc difiScuUy v/hich he apprehends in reference to the former i; f hit of oat, very high pr csa bsiug demmded for land in suitable localities. The 10 s*how sheep (ha ! ) were placed first oab of the hewn pntcelb ofr-10 carcases each, which were forwarded tr> Lond'ju recently from Wellington to be judged in a frrz^n state, were the property o? Adr W. C. BuchiuaD, whoso sheep had also secured flrsb prize wheu living at the show in Wellington. Ac important; tuberculin test was recently m».de by the Government veterinary surgeoa and the stock inspector in the herd ot Mr H. D. Buchanan, of K'nloch. About 40 dairy cow», 25 two-year-old heifew, and 7 fat bull irks were tested, and altogether 18 cows acd 3 heifer* reae'ed. These were all destroyed, and pest mortem examinations disclosed the p esence ci! tubercultsis. None of the bullocks reacted, and two that were sfcerwards killed and examined disclosed "no tubercular taint. The Gjvernment wattle farm in fehe.'Waikato has produced 200 tons of bark this year, which is exptc.ed to realise £6 or £7 pef ton. Wt) (Norbh Otago Times) are reliably informed that the buyer who gave 4-s 61 for % parcel of Oitnatu wheat is b.iying largely in Canterbury at 4-*, and already has* secured & considerable quantity of wheat at that figure. We understand that three parcels of wheat have been sold hsre afc 4-s 6d — one delivered at a mill out of (own, one on tsucks st Oamaru, and o:io ou fruiks at- a country siding, but these figures are less a commission. The 4000 bushels which wa referred to on Saturday were on trucks afc Oimaru, bub the grain was carted to town. Two of the parcels were new wheat and tbe other last year's. Perhaps ib would be a fair equivalent for an Oamara miller to go ii.ti this buyer's district and, giving 4j 5i or 4s 6d for a parcel or two, bring the prioa up to a ltvei with that ruling here. Tit-for-tafc, we ace (old, is a very fair game. Yet we are till the m Hers met recently in Oamaru to &x th- 3 , pric3 of wheat. The statement haa certainly not been corroborated, if we are to take the above as direct evidence bearing on the matter. Young Joseph Leiter, the new kiDg of the wheat market (writes the New York correspondent of the Argus on January 30), can scarcely fail .now to make his investments very profitable. At the end of December he owned nearly all of the surplus wheat at Chicago and neighbouring points. To-day he has in his possession 9,000 000 bushels carr'ed by the ! Chicago storehouses, and 6.000,000 bushels ! more which is stored at various point 3 within a ! few hundred miles of that city. No one else j has any considerable qu mtity of wheat to sell I for delivery at this tinae or during two or three weeks to come. Therefore the price has been rising rapidly, an advance of 10 cents a bushel having been scored ia the last two days. As the average price paid by Leiter was 91 cents a bushel, the sale of hia holdings at present quotations would give him a profit ot more than j 2.000,000d0J. Believing, as he says, that the | American surplus for export has been cxj hausted, he is selling his contracts for tranzI aHantic shiprcent and holding his grain for tha | home market. But it is not true that the j country can spare no more wheat to be sold j abroad. For a novice Leiter has been very i successful, but a great deal can be accomplished i in the wheat market by a young man who has I brains and is permitted to use part or the whole of his father's fortune of 30,000,000d01. Mr Robeit Eaaton, Cavershatc, writes to us again on the subject of the flax-drasHog industry. We have, he says, abundance of beautiful fl»x, one of the natural products of the soil, and the Minister in charge of the Department of Agriculture makes no effort to utilise it. The Mayor of Palmerston told the Governor during his recent visit that Palmerston was not a manufacturing district. But there was a short timo ago auy amount of beautiful flax jusfc where the Government are going to burn cheap lime for the Shag Valley farmers. There is also selenile in quantity, aud there is a good stream of water running into its clear dolomite bed, which could easily be applied to turning flax-Sressiug mills. It look 3 just like a place set apart by Nature for mills of that sort. Not only flax-dressing but spinning and weaving would follow, while other flax fibres could eventually be cultivated. We havo technical schools for the very purpose of learning arts, but flax-dressing and kindred industries are beneath their notice. Could not some of of the Premier's numerous 'admirers take this matter iv hand for him ? What possible harm can it do to anyone to have a knowledge cf flax-dressing ? Ii the Minister in charge would only get a lesson from some old flax - dresser he would then fix up in a few days the best industry in the colony. All that is required to be done for the industry is to dress a good samule for tex' ile purposes, Nimmo and Blair, Dunedin, will send Seedritaft Single Dahlias and Verpestas post frte tdi' orders of 5s ; s'mgly, 2s per dozen.

and ascertain the value of it. People will rhen j irrvest a little to develop the industry, and j surely that much can be done in the colony j vrtt.bcut. waiting years — perhaps sever— for , iJr Gcmass to unravel the myttery. In cor- ; clcaion our correspondent writes : " Just let us | nee what- in costs this colony per annum to keep a Minister for Lacds in place of a Minister for Manufacture". We will say that there would be 100 small flax-dressing miils in the colony (which is just half the number there would be), each turning out one ton and a-half per .week fcr 50 weeks in the year — that would be 7500 tons x' tT Mfliina ; and put it down at the low 1 ?',gu:e of 5? 6>J per stone for fine lmfn fiore hk« Phormium teaex, that would be £315,000 per annum, which is totally lost, besides ths value of the raw fUx destroyed. In Holland there would not be onesirgle blade of flax wasted." In the opinion of the United States Minister a* Buenos Ayrcs, the production of wool in .flrper.tina has reached its maximum, because j the' exportation of ckttle to Eurcpo is stirnul&t- I ing ths breeding vi thai cUfs of animals in preference to ihat of sheep. The greatest quantity of wfol exported in one year was 201,353 j tons in 1895. Until a few years ago the bulk of the wcol exported was merino ; tub now, in coisequence of the need of increasing the •weight and improving the quality of carcases of mutton fur export, Lincoln crosses have multiplied so greatly tfcafc over 65 per cent, uf the i wool exported is of their production. The | change has been fostered by the demand for j long-staple wool in recent years in preference to fine wool ; but the stability of this preference is now doubtful, and it is not unlikely j that the iuterefts of wool and mutton will be j confl .-,-i-as; in f,be future, as they have been j usually in the past. ■ N j " Straggler. 7 ' in the Christchurch Preps, re- . ferricg to the ram and ewe fair at Christchurcb, says: "The New Zealand aud Australian Land Company had also a good private eale for their Moeraki Lincoln flock. I am reliably informed that- 350 of thi3 flock returned an average o: 7^gs — <\ very flufi result." A cattle tick, £>n*; to a Westralian inspector of stock for ideaßific&tiou in « bottle tightly j corked, la d no lesa'thati a thousand eggs while j lying in the iuspecicr's tfiice. j At Otahu estate the rabbits are being thinned by poison. A correspondent of the Western Star says it :a rtrnarkable that, in epite c.f the abundance of feed, the pollard is so leadily taken. Pci-.on put flown on a. Friday was taken by gulls and ha'^ks flying about on the fellow- | ing day, while on the Sunday the number o± dead rabhita visible w-s much larger than anyone acquainted -with the poison could have expected. This is due to three causes. First, the poison is fresh ; second, the full streng'h of the phosphorus is obtained by its being dis- | solved in bisulphide of catbou ; thirdly, oil cf aniseed makes it attractive to all rodents. An adicurned meeting of tho Upper Clutha Farmers' Olub was held at the eeboolhouse, Hawea Flat, on Saturday, the 12 h, the president in the chair. Owing to the tmall attendance co business of much importance was transacted. The secretary reported a deficiency of £2 1a 6d on the wheat gristed at the Wakatipu. Inquiries were received from Dunedin concerning wheat. The meeting was of opinion that in view of the shortage of wheat in the country the price (3s 63) ruling aft presant hi the district was too low ; that 4b wou'.d be snore reasonable, and that outside buyers be iuvi:ed. I — Cromwell Argus. ' There is a Victorian Act of Parliament styled the Sale of Artificial Manures Act, under which the vendor ia required to give to the purchaser a certificate, stating among olber particulars th 9 proportion of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash contained in the manure, and tho forma in which they respectively occur. The law has not yet been put into force in Victoria, bub it will probably come into operation shortly. The Sydney Mail says that it reads like a commotsense meisure, wirch should protect farmers against frauds in manures, which are easily perpetrated. Argentine cattle-breeders make their importations of fiesh blood on a wholesale scale. An important shipment of female shorthorns to South America was made from England at the end of December by Mr W. E. Cunningham. The lot consisted of 10 cows and heifers, all of excellent blood, and all griz z- winners at the Eoyal, coun'ry, and district shows. This important purchase was made on behalf of Mr John Duggan, one of Argentine's pioneer e3tancieros, and is meant to form the foundation of a pure pedigree herd on one of his breeding establishments — Santa R.ta, near the c'ty of Buenos Ayres. The following items ara from the P. and W. Times : — There is every reason to believe that feed will be Tory dep.r during the incoming winter. At present wheat straw is bringing £1 per load, and it would almost seem to be.a favour to obtain it at this price. Owing to the stunted growth and thin nature of the crops the supply of straw in this district is naturally limited, and many farmers will not have sufficient for their own requirements, and as a consequence it will be the limited few only who will bo able to take advantage of the high price of straw at present ruling, and of which there is every prospect of a continuance — The scarcity of feed is having a very serious effect on the price or cp.Hle. We are informed that at Hampden the o*hci day a farmer offered a number of „milkir<!? cowr. foi . which he had no feed, at £1 pei- he S, md the bargain was eventually clinched il i.o; Gd per bead. This will, no doubt, be eoimacred a bargaiD, but, as the sequel wih pi en , ihe p'uchaser fifter all paid too dear toi Lt.a cj/Ltle^ He sent them to Dunedin, and — will it be belief] ? — they only brought 12s 6d per head, so tha'tlie purchaser who j?ai4 12s 6«l per ftesd. tqt thY

cattle, and who naturally considered he had got "a soft thing," actually lost 6s per head, bPf.ides the cost of railage. The Southland News says that wita £10 ] worth of plant some of the most energetic rabbiters are now miking as much aa £1 per j dsvy, whilst the least experienced get from 6s to i 15s, &c. j