FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2371, 10 August 1899, Page 6

FARM NOTES.

REARING A DERBY WINNER. As with human beings, soawith horseis — and for that matter all animals — the effect of good or bad education is never eradicated. The fault most frequently found with racehorses is that they are disposed to be badtempered. Without allowing this for a moment, it can bo emphatically stated that badtempered horses ire seldom born, but often made by wrong treatment and careless breaking. One of the first and most important of the horse's early lessons, after being shod and handled in the stable, is to learn to bear the bit. From this he proceeds to more active schooling. When the yearling gets used to a moving body 011 his back he is led out into the yard or paddock and made to follow with others behind a steady old hnrse. This he will in most cases readily do, although sometimes lengthy trouble ensues; but firmness be exercised until it is fully understood that the rider- is master. — Strand. ABNORMAL APPETITE IN SOWS. Every observant pig-keeper has noticed that sows after having been shut up foi a time will frequently devour heating stable manure, which contains % considerable quantity of ni- , trogon, as also does the carcase of a young

pig. The want of salt in. the food of a brood sow will frequently tend to reduce her to such a condition that this cannibalism will show itself. An opportunity to lick a lump of rock salt, a handful of crushed or dissolved bones, or » small quantity of phosphate of lime will often prevent the acquisition on the part of th«'brood sow of this morbid appetite. In fact, the food of the brood sdw must, like the food of all parturient animals, be mixed with brains, so that the foetus is healthily developed without any undue strain qn the health of the maternal parent. ' ""• BRITISH AGRICULTURE IN 1898. In view of the fears expressed some littl« time ago that wheat-growing in Great Britain was fast becoming an extinct industry and that in the near future we should be entirely dependent on outside supplies, the annual returns published by the Board of Agriculture will be read with more than usual interest. The figures given show that the tendency to turn arable land into permanent pasture, which was to some extent checked iv 1897, has once more set in, and that last year there was a decrease in England of 90,000 acres of land under plough and a gain of 4-7,000 acres of permanent grass. Scotland and "Wales, however, maintained and even increased their area of arable land. It is, nevertheless, satisfactory to find that notwithstanding this falling-off in the breadth of plough lands, there was a marked increase in the area of the wheat crop. The acreage of wheat planted in Great Britain in 1898 was2,102,000 acres, an increase of 213,000 acres or 11.3 per cent, over 1897, and of 408,000 acres or 24.1 per cont. over 1896. During the past five years the smallest area under wheat was in 1895, when only 1,417,000 acres were under that crop. Fortunately for growers an improvement also took place in the price. The year opened with wheat at an average of 34s 6d per quarter, a price to which values had been steadily tending sinco the rise which commenced in i the middle of 1897. Soon afterwards the opi orations of Mr Leiter, whose corner in wheat 1 and its unfortunate results to himself are now I a matter of history, pushed prices tempor- [ arily up to tho average of 48s Id, only to dej clino in September to 25s sd, the lowest I weekly average of the year. Subsequently values again appreciated, but the year closed with a falling market, the last week of December showing an average of 263 lid. It i is long since such exceptional fluctuations j have occurred in the corn markets. The ! maximum weekly average of 48s Id had not been approached since 1882, and the range" of • prices, amounting to no les3 than 22s 8d between the highest and lowest weekly average, was greater than had occurred in any year since 1863. It is to be feared, however, that British growers benefited but to a small extent by the effects of Mr Leiter's operations, as their sales were principally made during the four 'ast months of 1898, and during that period the average ranged from 253 5d to 28s 4d per quarter. Thus, although the general average for tho whole year stands at 34b, the highest level recorded since 1834 with the exception of 1891, when it was at 375, it is scarcely probable that farmers as a rule have realised anything like this quotation. Stock raisers, on the other hand, cannot have prospered as well as those who depended more on grain-growing. The. average prices" for British cattle and sheep show that the recovery in value 3 which occurred in 1897 was lost during the past year. The same applies to imported beef and mutton, the reduction in value being particularly noticeable in the latter. But despite lower prices there seems no tendency to reduce our herds and 1 flooks. There has been an increase of 122,000 [ head in cattle, and perhaps the most satisfactory feature is the augmentation in the number of yearlings in the English and Welsh breeding countries. At the same time, looking back over a series of years; the increase has not been commensurate with tho increase in population. For example, between 1871-75 there were 134 cattle (excluding cows) for every 1000 persons in Great 'Britain. There are now only 113 per 1000 persons. We purchased last year 569,000 head of live cattle from abroad as against 618,000 in 1897, and during tho same period we ate 664,000 foreign sheep as compared with 612,000 head in 1897.