NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2397, 8 February 1900, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Years ago auction sales of stock were scarcely known in the old country, and Public the buying and selling was versus clone at fairs held periodically Private .Sjilcs. in various centres in each county or shire. Some of the larger fairs are still kept up in the United Kingdom, and alf-.o in Russia there are very large fairs held each year. Of lats years auction hD.le.i of stock have greatly increased, and j the copt to farmers and graziers of the middlemen's commi=sion must, in the aggregate, amount to a very large sum per annum, 'ihis means, of course, tl^at a numerous army of auctioneers and their satellites obtain employment at the expense of the producer, breeder, and grazier. The chief argument in favour of auctions is that they are so much moie c-x-peditious, and that the business in stock sales has expanded to such an extent during the j la't 50 years that the todicus process of ; haggling and bargaining at fairs is too s^ow, and behind the times. It cannot be denied j that stock cm be sold by auction at a much more rapid rate, and that bu-mess is thereby greatly expedited, and that the&e advantages are a fair set off again&t the agents' charges, but, on the other hand, buyers at a fair have more time and opportunity to examine stock before, buying, and are more likely to be satisfied with their purchases. I remember some i3O yeara ago there were country faiis held here and there in Canterbury, but they did not .succeed, and auction markets sprang up in their place. The fir«t essential of a market is that buyer and seller may have an opportunity of coming together, in order that the requirements of both may be satisfied. and that is the case in both fairs and auction marts, but in the latter the slow-meting mind which cannot enable- its owner to decide quickly is at a tlisacUantage compared with a smarter or more practised buyer, who can decide at a glance as to the limit of a beast's value, and make up his mind quickly what he can bid for it. With public auction salc3 has arisen the " trotting " evil, in which owner and auctioneer, by means of bogu3 bids, can deceive the public and swindle on unsuspicious buyer. In the open market — that is, privale dealing at fairs or on the farm, this danger does not exist, and it is then ju-.t a question of arriving ?t a compromise between the owner and a possible bii}-er. In private sales, too, a mutual agreement can be arranged regarding the terms of payment and time of delivery of the stock. In the colonies there are now no fairs, and it is a question of taking stock to the nearest or bert public paleyard, or doing business privately on the farm. As I have pointed out. there is much to bo said in favour of both methods, and in deciding which is the better, one must be guided by circumstances. One great advantage in s-elling through an auctioneer is that he is responsible to the seller for the payment, and it is his business to decide whether the buyer is a safe mark or not ; whereas, in selling privately, the former has to take some risk in that respect unless the buyer is well known to him as a sound iran. In my own experience 1 have generally found that a sort of middle course is best. Let a firm of stock salesmen know that you have a certain line for sale. They are pretty well acquainted with the farmers and graziers v.'ho are in want of such a lot. If a sale is made the firm in question gets the usual commission, and guarantee the purchase money. If no sale is made there is nothing to pay, and there is no driving of stock to and from a public saleyard. One drawback to auction sales is that stock may not be drafted in such a way as will suit a would-be buyer's requirements, while on the farm he can say, "I will give such a price if you throw out 5, or 10, per cent. I don't want mixed &ize3 (or ages) and can't take the lot as they stand." "When a producer has anything to ssll it pays him to attend sales occasionally, and keep in touch | with current value-,, or he may be at a loss when dealing with a bettor-informed indivi- ' dual . It is the custom with many to run down the stock-dealers, because they neither produce, graze, nor fatten, but live by their | wits in a manner of speaking. For my part I have done very good business with dealers, ! and in my opinion they are no more objectionable than any other cla-s of middlemen. , If an evil, the middleman is a ncce-sary one, : and only steps in when he sees a. margin of small profit. He is the man who profits by bad drafting ! at the ealeyarcls. He gets a mixed lot at a i little under rea.l market value, f-üb-divides, 1 and sells io small sheep-farmers at a fair pro- , fit. He generally knows whore he can place ', each lot ere he buys, and it suits many people to employ such a one to get them what they require in the way of stock. I see that the South Canterbury A. and P. Association has decided to petition Parliament to bring in a Bill imposing covers penalties upon anybody convicted of bogus bidding in respect to the auction sales of land and stork. If this matter > is taken tip by all the similar bodies in the colony there is no doubt that it will receive the successful attention of our legislators, al-

though, as I have previously -oointed out, the 1 number of representatives di-ectly interested in agricultural and pastoral industries is very limited.

This, the last year of the century, seems likely to diatinguirfl? itself by tho Tito rather alarming increase of Dangerous Pests, two destructive pests — I namely, swine fever and Hessian fly. No remedial measures are of any j effect in either case, it being of no use to i physio a pig seized with this fever, nor to j endeavour to save a crop once attacked by the fly. The pig must be destroyed at once, and every means taken to prtvent the spread of this most infectious and contagious disease. Tho Hessian fly in this year vury wide-spread, and I have seen it in districts where unknown hitherto. The leaflets issued by the Government Agricultural department contain a full description of th"fc methods in which the fly attacks the grain, and strongly advises burning all the straw, carings, and stubble, if possible. The safest plan is to gif» up cropping the land infested for a few years, and deTot* it to roots or some crop not liable to attack. It has been proved that this fly will, if grain is scarce, breed on certain gra,sses,_aad it will

therefore be necessary to clean up all the rank growth of grass and other herbage around the margin of fields where the fly has appeared. It is probable that the prevalence of this pest and the low price of wheat will be the catise of a much diminished area of n heat being grown next season, more evpecia'ly as sheep husbandly is proving a much more profitable bianch ;uit now, with evpi-y probabilily of a continuance of good prices for foine time to come. Stocks of wheat in the colony are now so large that an entire cespation of wheat-growing for a year or two would have little efieut upon local prices, unless a sufficient rise in London values takes place, and our stocks become laigely reduced by exportation to that metropolis.

Mules are almo«t unknown in Britain, and seldom seen in the colonies, About the only use to which they are Mules. put being that of packing

fencing and muslerers' camps over the ranges, where the tracks afford no foothold for horse*. As mules are in great demand just now for the British army in Africa a little information about them may be of interest. The name mule is usually taken as meaning a cross, or hybrid, between a horse and a donkey, but a cross between a canory and a linnet or a goldfinch, is also called a mule. The offspring of a male donkey and a mare i« a mule proper, and the offspring of an entire horse and a donkey mare is called a ' hinney." This latier is very rarely seen, owing to the repugnance of a stallion to have any connection with donke3*s. The mule is, moreover, more useful than a hinney. Mares have little love for jack donkeys, and those required for breeding mules have to be confined in a sort of crush-pen for being stinted. Tt is s-aid by good authorities thai female mules Cannot breed to either horses, as^es. or mules, but there seems to be a diversity of opinion about the correclncss_of that statement, A veterinary surgsoji with the army during the Tirah campaign, reported that one of tho baggage mules ga^e birth to a foal. This question has bean threshed out in tiie Field, and Mr Tegetmeior, the wellknown naturalist, invariably -pronounces against the genuineness of alleged cases of mules breeding. It has been a' most invariably provt d in these discussions that the alleged mule was merely a mare bearing a strongish resemblance to a mule. When a mare is in foal to a_ iack donkey her period of gestation is rather longer than when carrying a horse's foal, the average being about 575 day?. When mares are breeding mules they are very liable to abort, and a mule foalis generally very w eakly-looking when young, but as donkeys and mules are longer-lived than horses, the young mule 3 are slower in growth, and take longer in reaching maturity. A writer in a Home paper some time ago said that he had seen a donkey doing regular work at 75 years of age, and thers is an old saying extant to the effect that no one ever sees a dead donkey. It is said that donkeys frequently live to 50 years if treated well. A mule is not consideied fit for staady work uutil five year old. The narrow hoofs, small bone, thick and short head, long ears, shabby mane, and scraggy tail of a mule show the donkey blood, while it takoo after the horse in its coat, colour, neck and croup, heiarht, and teeth. Mn/o^ can neither bray nor neigh, but have a weakly sort of a croak. A mule's skin is thick and tough, and, therefore, not easily galled, while its sure-footedness, patience, and endurance under heavy burdens render it very useful and fitted for carrying heavily-loaded pack-saddles. Its obstinacy and kicking power* are proverbial, but its hardiness, immunity from disease, and other good points r,re a fet-off pgcanst those undesirable qualitie-. Mules aie largely bred and worked in Jb'rance, and also in the United States, where the bulk of tho work on large prairie farms is performed by them. Americans say that mules are quicker tbon horses, require less care as to shelter, no shoes, and are more healthy generally. A pair of good mules will go at a sharp trot in a waggonette all day long, requiring little food and water. In South AiH erica, too. few horaOi are seen, mules being used for a.l purposes, to which horses may be put. Breeders of mules say that males preponderate in the proportion of abottt three males to cne fernaV Mules aie easily trained, and where largely used troops of them aro led by an old mule mare called the " godmother " of the troop, who has a bell suspended to her neck. When different Troops meet there is no confusion in separating them again, as each one knoiys the bell of its leader, and they rDnge up in order behind her without any difficulty on the pa-rt of the drivers, or muleteers as they aro called en the Continent. AGEICOLA.