AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2302, 14 April 1898, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The Minister for Lind? has been alrao?b be« eieged by deputations to discuss the rabbit qudst?on durisg his visit to tha south. At Gore, after the matter had been diseased, the Blinister laid special stress upon the efficacy oi wire* nsbling rabbit fences, which, he thought, was the only true solution of the difficulty. There were always a let of negligent people about, and if the wirc-a';tfcing system were carried out the Iszy man wtulu have to fead his own rabbits. The}' wanted two thicgj in connection -wiib. rabbit-proof fences : the first was thafc each man should be able to call upon His neighbour to pay a share of such fence, and the second that farmers should form themselves into small boards for the purpose of put.ing fences round, say, blocks of ten farms apiece. They wotild be able to get the mousy from the C4.jvernmeab Loans to Local Bodies department, and be enabled to pay off principal and interest in, 25 years. Ib would be to everyone's inte-:L»fe inlide the area bo keep down the rabbits, to gee thafc the gates were kept closed, asd to attend to -the upkeep of the fences. The Premier was interviewed al Hastings by a deputation, which urged that the C4jverneaesib should purchase 2100 acres o£ Mr J. N. "VYilliams's estate at Hastings for close sstttement. The deputation explained* that Mr Williams offered to plant 300 acre 3 of the land in vines and fruit trees and" keep ib ia order for two yeara at his own expense. The orchards would be lee in f mail area? to cac'u selector oE land. B2r Williams also offered to puh £2000 into a factory to preserve the fruit and minu-fsc'u-e wine, so thai; the growers would have no difficulty in disposing, of their fcuib. The Ftemier suggested chat Me Williams should subniib an offer of fete land to the Land 1 Purchase Board. By the s.s. Wailwre, which left DaDedia last week, these were shipped to Sydney seven fi;st-clasß uowss.nd heifera from the well-known Ayrshire herd of Mr Thomas Lee, Sandyinounfc, Obago Peninsula. -Thr-s-! cattle ware purchased by Mr John Grant;, of Southland, specially for shipment to the New South Wales market. The Biuae Herald reports th*!/ as threshing proceeds it is commonly reported that the quality of the grata ia not quite up to last year's standard, and the aveMga yield botti ia oat? and wheat is not up lo expectations. The Weft. Oxford correspondent of the Ohristchurch Press mentions that some of the buyers of factory lambi, which are going forward in large numbers, are driving down, and take four days on the road. They assert ttab the plan in cheaper than rail .transit, bub how ib will work out remains to be seen. The Bilesmere correspondent of the ssrae paper says that as showing how the dronghb is affecting farmers, one fsrmer, milkirg 30 cows, is culy Bending 3001b of milk to the creamery, instead of; which he ought to be sendiag 6001b or 7001b. Another farmer milbed • -eighc cows for- one bucketful (ligsl) of milk." The"Wyndham Herald tel'.s the following as a. good story that has not; found its way into priat yets The miller wanted to buy -the fa mer's wheat, bub the f armer'protesfced that h© had not been p&id-by tbe nr'rler for the wheat he had purchased laab year. Finally the miller promised psyreenb of the old account, and a b'<rg«u was struck for the new wheat. The farmer duly presented himself at the mill with a load of well-filled sacks, but before he would remove one sack he w&uted the promised cheque for the old account. Toia was given after some trouble. The dray was unloaded, and both parties were mutually pleased ; bub the feelings of the miller may bs judged oo discovering- all too scon that the jacks were filled with sawdust! The Lyttilton Times says : — "A party of Cbristchurch gentlemen, iuelading Mr W. Recce-, the ch.air.naan of the Agricultural and Fastcral Association, and Me G. T. Booth, recently visited Mr Rl'Gkegor's farm at Norwood, and formed a very favourable opinion of the irrigation experiments that are being earned on there. They were satisfied by practical dsmon« i strations that ib is quite a mistake to suppose I that irrigation when accompanied by a proper ; rotation of cwipn exhausts the soil. Each anpiicsliob of a suffioiw'o quantity of v&ber to thoI jougbly saturate the soil coses only 2£<i per acra iv labour, and ib is found in practice thst even a email quantity of water produces the most satisfactory results. The visi'.ora were impressed by the simplicity of the process, and by the evident ease with which it could be applied to a lar t .;e area of land." According to the Wyndham Herald r&bbifcers assert that rabbits are ssofc ceacly so 'plentiful this. year as lastr year. Occasional "patches" ■ are struck ; as, for example, lasb night .one hand caught 115 rabbits wibh 114- traps — 102 of them fell siz? — worth 23^ 4d. Tais trapper informs us (Herald) thab dr.es the freezing for 1 export beg3n tbe rabbits have gradually diminished. Ifc is four years since freezing waa begun, bub the first year very little was done. Pfior to that the preserving factories could not take all the rabbits that were «enb to them. • In 1393 our informant in one night caught 14-0 rabbits with 90 traps. In the past two seasons the freezing industry h*s been more vigorously developed, with the result that a greater num* bar of rabbiters have been employed, and the rodents have bsen perceptibly reduced in number. As a rule, rabbiters say that their catches are fully a third lesj this year than lasb year. The Leeston correspondent of the Lybtelton Times pulla a very long fae3 : — " For tte past few days a howliDg wind has been raging throughout the district, veering from the nor'easb to nor "-west, to the further detriment of the ltisb vestiges of remaining feed and the spoliation of the catch crops. The outlook is decidedly gloomy, and with another Euch harvest as has beeu jus!; experienced many of the local farmers will find the shoe pinching somewhat tightly iv a very sore place. It will be an extremely hard winter for slock, the paddocks being as bsre as chalk fields. Ploughing is being carried on under extreme difficulty, owing to the baked-up condition of the soil, and unless rain soon comes it will be hard to estimate the ultimate out* come." It will be remembered (says the North British Agriculturist) that in 1895 and ISB6 the catble stocks of. Jamaica were ravaged by a plague which completely baf£bd .the skill cf tha veterinary experts, who had previously been investigating it. In the spring of 1896 the Government of Jamaica approached the British Government, and aiked them to select a veterinary seitnbist of the higheafc eminence to go out to Jamaica and investigate the whole matter. Her Majesty's Government selected Principal Williams, of the new veterinary college, Edinburgh, for this work, and the principal aceepbed the commission. After a careful investigation

Nimjio and Blair are now selling Bulbs of all sorts—Tulips, Hyacinbhs,, Diffodila, Crocus, Ranunculus, Anemones, &c, &o. Send foe price .list and gee the exceptional value offececU

of the character of; the plague, the principal . came to the conclusion ihat it was tpread by 'means' of the ticks which infested the cattle, ,-and he suggested various methods" by which the plague of ticks might be stamped out. The 1 principal's method of dealir-g with the disease has proved an unqualified success, and he received a letter from Mr Adam Roxburgh, chairman of the Board of Management of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, stating that since the adoption of the remedies suggested by the principal, the cattle plague had ceased to give any trouble to the agriculturists on the islsiad.

i The Csrrick Farmers' Society cgnterary celebration is, according to the Scottish Farinsr, quite a cnique event in the history of local agricultural societies. We are not aware that another similar event has ever been celebrated in

Scotland, except that in connection with the Kilmarnock Farmers' Society, whose centennial exhibition in 1893 will not be forgotten. Ib is a notable fact that both societies sire located in 'Ayrshire, and this proves that the farmers of that; county have for long be&a in the van cf agricultural improvement. There is point in Provost M'Cre&th'* remark that some of the original objects of the Carrick Farmers' Society might very well be Tevived. The principal of mutual help was well understood 100 years ago, and there wae co-operation then ia a good sense. The Marquis of Ailsa made some bapoy side comaients on other objects, some of which have nob yet bean realised. Poachers and \ftgrants are still with as, and are like to remain for some timf. Tee Lyttelton Times deals thus with the question of irrigation : — "There are plenty of indications in, the correspondence columns of the

ncwsp»pers and in the resolutions adopted .by

Tarion* public bodies 'thai a very large section ' of the landowner*' of Canterbury have been driven by the experience of the past 12 months to the (conclusion ' that the future profitable cultivatioa of the .light soil of the plains depends to a great extent upon the adoption, of come simple and effective system of irrigation. The lesson has been brought home to them in themost practical way by the destruction of their crops and the deterioration nf their sfceck, and it is not likely to be forgotten during the trialsof the approaching winter. There are already complaints from all-sides that the land is baked tco hard fco plough, and that sheep and cattle *re suffering from the absence of grass. In many districts ib will be impossible to sow the usual urea o£ winter wheat, ami in ~ others it will be necessary to send large numbers cf sheep to the boilingdown establishments to save thnm from starvation. The outlook is, indeed, the most gloomy that stockowners have ever had to face in Canterbury. The -only consolation to Ise drawn from the unpleasant prospect is the reflection that ib may indues the sufferers to insure themselves against the disastrous effects of smother droughty This, as we have pointed out again and again, and as a few entfrprisißg owners Lave shown by actual experiments, would be a _ comparatively easy task. The irrigation works carried out by Mr M'Gregor at Norwood and by Mr Saville at Yaldhurst have disposed of nearly all the objections that have bean urged by timid theorigts against the artificial application of water, and there is really bo excuse in the face of such evidence for further dtlay. The works at Norwood have been visited not only by the • mere journalist,' who has recorded his impressions for the benefit of the readers of this paper, but also by the county engineer, by a number of practical farmers, and by such astute business men as Mr W. Recce and Mr G. T. Booth, and they all agree that the splendid results which Mr M'Gregor has obtained on a small plot of land might ba achieved on thousands cf acres of the plains. This is surely an end worth striving for, and we trust that the Ashburton County Council and the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association at their meetings to-morrow will show that they aro prepared to forward it by every menus in their power. It is a matter of the first importance to Canterbury agriculture, and everyone who has the interests of the district at Leart will do his utmost to carry the present agitation to a satisfactory conclusion."

This year Cheviot estate has produced 60,000 bushels of wheat and sent to market 20,000 fat l*mbs. *

The Mataura Ensign of the 7th Ba3S :—: — " Showiag the exceeding vastness of the rabbifctrappicg industry, and the significant parb it plays in the prosperity of the district', ib might ise mentioned that the rabbits received at the Mattura works during two days this week •would mean in wages to trappers (on a basis of 5d per pair) £560 ; freezing charges to the company (ab £d a rabbit), £112 ; and a gross sum to the exporters (ab lOd per pair) of £1120. Besides this, the railways and a host of other agencies all get substantial pickings. To follow the figures out still further, and reckon down 100 trapping days in the season, at an average of 20,000 rabbits (and this is a low estimate), we find that the Mataura Freezing Works have been the direct means of bringing sudden death to no fewer than 2,000,000 of rabbits. Area fifty Ministers of Lands and a hundred rabbit inspectors with poison, and we guarantee that such a result could not be achieved in six month*. And still the powers that be have the audacity to say thab we are rabbit farming! " The Lyttelton Times, writing on the sheep •aarket, says : — " On account of the longcontinued drought a very large number of sheep are being forced into the market, as owners must either dispose of them or allow them to starve, feed being extremely scarce. In order to get rid of a number of the sheep both preserving and boiling down have had to be resorted to, and during the past; three months $h.e factories and other establishments have had

difficulty ia coping with the large numbers sent in to them. It is computed by those who ought to know, that duiing that period fully 250,000 tfheep psr month have beeu killed for fret zing, boiling down, and preserving, and that by the end of the present mouth fully a million sheep will have bpen killed in Canterbury alone. For the same reason a good many store cattle have been killed for preserving.

An article in a. recent number of the Woodville Examiner states that the pulsating milking machine, patented by Mr Cannington, of Ohrsslchurch, has proved a, general success on the west coasb of the North Island,

The following items &re from the Lyblelfcon Times of the 7bfa : — " A very flue three-year-eld shorthorn bullock was seat in for sale at the Addiogton market yßstercSpy by Mr S. Garforbh. The animal, which took fi-sb prize as a two-year-old ab the metropolitan show, had been grass-fed, and was estimated by nevf.ral competent judges to draw the beam at between 13001b*and 14001b. After sonifr keen competition it was knocked down to a Jocal butcher afc £11 15s. — A very nice lino of 32 vealers were disposed oj at the Addington marked yesterday. They had bsea purchased by Sir T. Hodgeon, from the Sfc. James itation, and were, without doubfc, the best line of the kind ever seen in these yards, being large-framed shorthorn and polled Angus breeds. They met with considerable coj»pabition { an<2 averaged the satisfactory price of 31s per head, nearly the whole lob being taken by the Ohristchurcb Meat Company, who intend to freeze therm for the Home market."