AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2369, 27 July 1899, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The committee of the National Dairy Association met on Thursday, and accepted Mie same terms and conditions of contract as those arranged by the North Island Association with the Shaw, Savill, and Albion and New Zealand Shipping Companies for regular fortnightly shipments of dairy produce ; to London. This is a step which should prove of great benefit to the industry, and is also of considerable advantage. to the shipping rovnpanies. It is rumoured that anthrax Jias broken out amongst; the cattle at To Puke, in the No rib. L>knd. An old settlor, by the name of Jb"efltf>ii, w*s operating upon an animal supposed to bo suffering from this disease, and got iiis blood poiaoned thereby, and died. A large addition is now being made to the fleet of vessels carrying frozen meat from. Australia and New Zealand to Gieat Britain. Messrs Turnbull, Martin, and Co. arc hav- | ing three such vessels built, and the New. Zea- ; land Shipping Company four. All these are being fitted with the Linde refrigerating machinery, consisting of a patent compressor, driven by a tandem compound stoam engine placed alongside. The power is transmitted through a steel crankshaft, having the crank's j set at the angle to give the .best turning effeot. ! The ammonia and steam • cylinders and the main bearings are mountol on a strong continuous bed, and th)3*bed in fixed .to a wrought sleel box, forming a stiff base, in Which are plaoed the galvanised ammonia condenser coils. Each coil is in one length, with the joints outside, and all are tested to a pressure of two thousand pounds per sqjjare inch, though the maximum working pressure ia only about 2001b above the atmosphere. The exhaust steam from the refrigerating and fan engines is conducted in. an , auxiliary condenser having a small independent compound ongine mounted on it for driving the air pump, the whole being self-contained. The condenser also receives the exhaust steam, from the electric engines. The water circulating pump is independent. At the Addington saleyards on Wednesday a purebred Highland heifer, one of those imported by Mr G. H. Rhodes-, of Claremont-, Timaru, was sold for £26 ; the highest price ever obtained in the Addington yards for a fat beast. I The Tapanui Courier says: — This season has been a record one for export of fat lambs from this district. Mr_N. M'Ritchie alone sent over 20,000 to the refrigerating works from Tapanui. The Egmont A. and P. Association has almost unanimously negatived a motion in favour of legislation being introduced to provide that all skim milk and whey from dairy factories be sterilised before being; returned to the suppliers. The .steamer Wakatipu landed seven purebred merino rams at Lyttelton from Aiistralia. They were sent to the quarantine -island. The New- Zealand and Australian' Land Company imported five, while the other two -are the properly of Mr "Watson Shennan. ' - .Dingoes are causing great havoc amongst the sheep in the Scone district, New' South Wales. The Waihemo Agricultural and Pastoral Society begins the year with a credit balance of £21. Mr T. Muir was elected president and Mr Miller secretary. Reference was m'ada to the services rendered by Messrs Gow, J. Ross, and Muir in connection with, the countyexhibit at the Dunedin Winter Show. The Lytlelton Times of the 20th says : — " Afc the Addington Yarde yesterday there was quite a. sensation - when the first purebred Highland beast ever offered at this market was submitted to competition. The animal was a barren heifer, a. prize-taker at tho Royal Agricultural shows in England, and was imported by Mr G. H. Rhodes, of Claremont, Timaru. Bidding started with £10 from a well-known dealer, and thenceforward the competition was in the hands of two of the leading butchera. Mr J. Knight's bid was £15, and the ChristchurcK Meat Company going 10s better, Mr Knight raised the price at ane bid to £20 ; his opponent putting on 10s more, lie quickly came with a bid of £25, and the company, putting on another £1, secured the animal at £26, the highest price over paid for an animal at Addington. Some halfbred Highland cattle from the imported strain were also offered, and Mr Knight secured one heifer at £7 15s and a steeir and two heifers at £7 >ach." Replying to tho toast, "The Farming Interests," at a South Canterbury dinner, Mr Guild described the farmers as the draught horses of the community, and said it was remarkable that every section of workers, from, the shoemakers to the lawyers, had their organisations for defending their interests, but the poor farmer was out in the cold. He held chat the farmer had been hit very severely during the past eight or nine years, and that he was ihe only man in the community who paid taxation on his debts. And the farmer was tho only man in the community to come ■ to the front and face the foe. It had come to

9, pretty pass when he had to compete with the grain grown by darkies in India, who laboured for 3d and 4d per day. The Government had 'relieved a good many their friends, but if it were not for the frozen mutton just now, farming would be at a very low ebb. At a meeting of the Leeston (Canterbury) A. and P. Association one day last week, while members were discussing the ages and ■weights of fat lambs, Mr T. B. Howson stated, as an illustration of what feeding and care will do, that he had reared purebred merino lambs which at three months of ago Weighed 391b. Experiments in controlling the sex among sheep have reached such a state in France (says an exchange) that the experimenters have reached the conclusion that this can bo done to an. appreciable extent. The rule seems to be that to produce the most males in the flock the ewes must be bred to rams over four years old, the average of observance in such cases being 55 males lo 35 females. When yearling rams were used with ewes ranging from tivo to four years the average was but 35 males to 76 females. Yearling rams, it has also been found in experiments carried on in England, but without the careful observation exercised in France, nearly always produce an excess of females, and the older rams, particularly thoee above four years, an excess of males. "Trapper" complains in the Southland News of pilfering of rabbits along the line. He says: — "Agents and trappers alike send rabbits carefully counted in bundles and crates to depots on the line, and complaints are regular about short counts. What remedy have buyers? None, and trappers are losing, which is causing no end of dissatisfaction."