STOCK IN THE SUCH ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2398, 15 February 1900, Page 7

STOCK IN THE SUCH ISLAND.

I After travelling the South Island from ore ■ end to the other, the travelling correspondent ; of th-j Canterbury Times supplies that paper ' with the following information on the Flock ' of the country: — "i'Voin Nelson to the Bluff 1 there is no doubt a very considerable reduction ; in the number ot sheep and cattle, and as the sea=on liaj been a iavourable one ior feed, the countxy L at the piesent time very much understocked. Taking Canteibury first, as being the great centie of the freezing industry, the 1 shortage ot sheep is very noticeable. Nor, only are the paddocks full of feed, br.t at every country pals store sheep and cattle are keenly competed for. and dealers say that the trouble now is not to dispose of stock, but to get sufficient to meet the demands of the farmers. The enormous supplies Ihit came into Cantsrbi'ry from both north and south last year are not now forthcoming, and it is difficult, to sea where the stores are coming from to etit the grass and turnips that are growing so luxuriantly everywhere. The present price of freezers and the reports of the meat market from London are certainly not encouraging, but farmers are evidently not studying these points much. They know that they have grass running to waste, and they will have sheep to eat it off. The lambing no doubt has been a good one in all parts of Canterbury, some of the runs, even, having over 80 per cent o'" lambs. Lambs have done better this season than for some years pa"l, and the number and quality of those going into the freezing works have both been above the average. The clovers have clone so well every where this season, thai plenty of lambs over 451b in weight have come in that have had nothing but ' clover paddocks to run in. So abundant has , been the gra«s and clover everywhere that the rape ond turnip crops have not been valued as highly as usual : in fact, in one or two coses fairly good ciops of turnips have been ploughed in, preparatory to sowing wheat, as li c owners did not see where they were going to get stock to eat them off at a price that v. culd leave them a profit. " Turning xo the Amuri, and Ivlarlborough, whence came so many slore sheep Hat season, it is found that there are very few sheep j of any kind to spare. The season has cci- : tainly not been a bad one, but one or two j severe storms at critical times during the year j must have killed a good many sheep and lambs • on the nuio, and the surplus stoe_ that they i have to spare will be all wanted by the new ■ settlers at Starbcrough, Kaikor.ia, Cheviot, and other places no -cli, so that the Canterbury Plains will get very few sheep from this quarter. "'Wlien one goe 5 south Hie cry for sheep is just iia pronounced, and despite the low quotations ruling for frozen mutton, store sheep of all kinds are dearer than they have been for the past ]5 years. Alany thousands more sheep are wanted in Otago and Southland to eai the grass and the splendid crops of rape and turnips that are now growing there. Last year the supply o£ store sheep from these i parts seemed inexhaustible, and many thou1 sands were railed and driven north ; but thi6 I year there are none to spare. Fawners here J fully realise the mistake that they made j in the past in sending their breeding ewes and I ewe lambs away, and this year many of them j have reoolved to draft out their ewe lambs ! and keep them, no matter how tempting the ' price ma;/ be for fat lambs. Old ewe?. *00, j ' are being kept for breeding that in any other j j sesscn would have been sent to the buicher, i , but, -with all these precautions, it will take j two or three seasons to stock the country up | • again. As the country is very much under- j , stocked, the number of sheep and lamb? that I will fatten will be unusually large, fo that > unless farmers exeicise some self-denial ond | keep their ewe lambs and their best breeding ' ewes, the scarcity of sheep will continue. ; "The scarcity of sheep has had a wry i marked effect upon the cattle market. One . to two-year-old entile that two years ago 1 could have been bought in drought-stricken ' Canterbury for a pound a head, or less, are i now worth three times as much, and at these prices the demand greatly exceeds the supply. few people 1 aye been breeding cattle for I some years past, and there are evidently not 1 many in the South Island, and the farmers : cannot in this way eat oft" their surplus feed. j " Horses, too, have participated in the geneI ral rise in farm stock. Draught horses for soma time have been in demand, but no one I ever expected to see lieht horses and hacks I anything but a drug in the market : the cycle 1 has so completely taken the place of light ■ hacks that there seemed no likelihood of there ' being any keen demand for them again ; but the Transvaal war has completely changed ihe aspoct, and the rise in the light horse market has b-en most marked. Owner- are now asking £20. and even £25, for animal* that they would have gladly quitted al £10 or £15 a, year or two ago. As few light horsSs ha\e been brpd for pome years, and the Transvaal contingents have taken away such a large number, horses will be dearer tor pome time. ! Looking at the stockbreeder's prospects gene- ' rally, they are belter than they have been <x>r ' years, and he can look forward to getting a lair pries ior anything that he may breed. ' , To show the appalling magnitude of the 1 margarine question, I will submit f fey. facid for you to think about, says the editor oi the Owaolnna Journal. The output of^clemargarine tor the yar ending June 30, 1393, v»a-> ', b7, 800. 0301b. 'Thi-. enormous quantity of olen, if packed in 631b tub-, as we pack our creamery bt.tlor, would make t 1.466,533 tul«. The=e tub", if placed in a ro-v, would reach a di-tarce of 353 miles. , The,i tubs, il loaded in ordinary farm wagJ gons a a vie load our creamery batter, would iorm ?. proce^-ion 435 miles long, and with teams walking five miles per hour would require 85 hours to pass a given point. This enomioub quantity of oleo, would, if melted ' and run into a reservoir of proper dimensions, , form a i. olume of tallow, suet fat, and cotton seed oil sufficient to float four war vcasels the size of the Oregon.

' The Blackball mine has put on an extra shill of 50 men. Send lor Niiino and Blair's List of New Zealand grown Bulbs, containing all the Finest Varieties at reasonable Pricoa. Post, Tree on Application,