NEWS. NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2398, 15 February 1900, Page 6

NEWS. NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The Government returns of area under c>-op and enimated yields have been Grain published, and c.o not tell up Supplies. much more than wo knew and

siiFpeelpd. There is a large decrease in the area under wheat ond a smaller yield than last j car i< expected. Ne\enheless. the supply will exceed our own requirements for the ens-uing- year, and the surplus cannot be disposed of exespl by exportation. There is, too. a large quantity of last season's wheat still in the colony, so that there cannot possibly be any improvement in local prices unless a demand arUes elsewhere sufficient to induce speculative buyers to operate tor export, or to indues growers to ship on their own account. If the present stagnancy exlends over another seed-time there will" probably lie 8 still further reduction m orea ?ov n and by-and-byc we shall find out- local markets bare, it in the meantime improved London price« should ho.^e drawn our stocks over the sea. Cessation cf wheo throwing means increased area under 'jra's and idols and extended sheep breeding, so ihot, the ic-,uU may bo that a reversal of the existing condition of things will ta'-te place, and =heep be lev/ and whsat high, li has happened before, and will probably happen again, fo/ wo me all crearurcs- of circumstances, and the wisest cf in cannot see two inches beyond our nose-.

\Vork has been vgj-v plentiful driing the last ,i e.u- or two, and good iaen Sea i city !. a ve h:id no difficulty la obtainof Farm i:>g coiislaiu employment. This labourers. is ;> proof tlini fa: me is do not

hoard thtir money iv good limes, bur cle* ote it to inci-ecsed pro^iu't-'o" permanent in.pio^ omentj, and other channels which cau>e employment ot iibour of ;<ll kind?. When fanners make a profit on their operations everybody benefits thereby, because, excepting the production of mineral';, lh,e soil is the source of all wealth. One of the surest si§n-- cf prosperity of o, country is (he abundance of labour and the absence of unemployed men of any class whatsoever. This i-< true as p general rule, and certainly applies to this colony, but extraordinary infiui ences are fcomeiiires brought, to bear which ! cause a complete re\ersal of the natural order of things. For some years English farmer shave been complaining ol the difficult}- of obtaining farm hands-, and eoch year this trouble seems to be more keenly felt. A steady exedu? of farm labourers from the country to tho large towns has been going on, and is by «11 accounts still proceeding:, and things have come to such a pass that faraiei'o cai'i'ol procure men to carry on the most important bronches oi work on arable farms, and are compellr-d to put their land down in gra?», and do tl-e be-; they can with the i'ev.men obtainable. This extr? ordinary state of affairs does not seem to be due to the inability of iarmei's lo ei.iploy labour nor to a fall in the rale of wages, but to a, desire on the par!, of the rural population of the working olafw to migrate to busy centres where thej- say life is not so deadly dull, and there are more iacililici offered for amusement and recreation. It would be thought that this r-ort of thing .vould effect its own euro, and.that the markel for unskilled labour in towns would become o\ er&locketl, compelling the surplus l-.tboui' to return lo the country district". Such, however, does not appear to bo the cose, for the exodus has been going on for some year?, and formers- are si ill in want of necessary hands. Under the circumstances one would think Ihot the English farmers would endeavour to economise labour and make the most of the men that oic available, but it does not, seem to bo t,o. judging froi) whav we read and see in tho Home farm papers, i recently saw: an illus-

if tration of six single ploughs held by as many 1- men and drawn by six pairs of fine Clydesdale 0 horses, ploughing a let el stubble paddock.' h Now, if that farmer wanted men for other it work, such as draining, hoeing, hedge-clipping, 3- etc., he could put those 12 horses into three 3- double-ploughs and thus do the same amount lI of work with three men. The illustration I is rejer to wss a, half -page advertisement of a h certain pattern of plough, and was re-pro-a duceel from a photograph, but it serves to show if the style of farming adopted, ana the cone servative ideas of present-day farmers in the is country which is supposed to lead the world .= in the excellence of its agriculture. I suph pose those six men and twelve horses would g not turn over wove than six or seven acres >- per day, while three colonial ploughmen with c tho same horses would probably do their nino acrns per day. A farmer would indeed be an curiosity here who employed six single ploughs t to do his work. If a colonial farmer should i- happen to be short of hands he would gei; - three-furrow ploughs and do the fame amount :1 of work, or nearly so, nilh two men and ten i- horses, thereby gaining four men and two hcrse=. Of course, the bulk of English f aimers c consider it indispensable to plough their heavy n Itnds in narrow lidges. making a lot ot leering - and finishing, which could not be so well dono n with double ploughs, and the paddocks ared too small, in mos-t cases, for the convenient 1 working of three-furrow ploughs; but prejui dice and a stubborn adherence to old fashions is nl the root of Ihe matter, and under no c circumstances will they depart from the me.l thods of their fathers and forefathers, f j - I have been favoured with a copy of this almanac for 1900, and find it fully f The Live Stock equal, if noi superior, to its pre-J«ui-iia! deeesiors in the quantity and c Almanac. excellence of nuttier. Besides tits ti\,tial elaborate breeders' i tables, lisu of societies, foirs, and other tabuhujd information, necessary lo breeders and; - owners of all kinds of slock, it contains 50 0 -pedal article's and about '!0 good illu?tra- ! iio-'.c. Kac'ng men will find interesting resd1 ins in an article on "Stout Horses : the Ktayeis of t!i9 Century," which describes the ; main failures in the breeding of racehorses . during the last hundred years. Tnis article 1 is illustrated by a portrait of the famous sire _, Oryillc, foaled in 17C9, frequent winner cf :.iipor;ant races, and sire of winning slock. '. A timely article by Mr Stein describes " Homo , of -the Troubles of a Cavalry Officer," which j should inter&st our mounted volunteers and all asi'j'ra.U'i to the "' bubble reputation at the , cannon's mouth.'' Sir W. Gilbsy contributes a c.cor^ arriole on "The Breeding of Polo Ponies.'' Sir "Richard Price writes very sensibly about "Agricultural Shows, ' and dis- ' curses the means whereby their popularity ;_ can be maintoined. It appears that the publio __ tasto in the mother country is very similar ' to thai, of the colonies, and the writer deprecates tho fact that multitudes of visitors are drawn lo the show.- more by love of exciteiT)crl than o. wish to pee nr. j t-clas-j animals. 1 The jumping contests are the attraction, and no show seems to be able to succeed which ; d<:33 not provide them. Shows are rapidly ; multiplying in Britain, and if a certain class of people cannot get the excitement they want ' £>t one place they will go to another. '"' Fracture i of Horses' Limbs ' is the title of a prac1 lical article by Dr George Fleming, • F.iLCV.S., and a well-known authority upon veterinary surgery. Mr Yera Show suggests so:r.e methods of "Popularwng the Hackney," and this is followed by a useful article about the "Essential Points- of Heavy Geldings, And How To Produce Them.*' "A week or two ago I hod a note about mules and their uses, and I see that Mr Tegetmaier writes in tho sams strain in this almanac about the " Utilisation of the Mule." The writer draws piiention lo the fact that mulo-breeding can be made a usettil adjunct lo horse-breeding, as an inferior mare unfit for breeding useful or salt-able hor 0 e stock will, when mated with a good donkey entire, produce a mule of size anci worth. A r>roiessor from the United States gi--e= his impres.-ionp of British stock from v. hat he saw during a visit last summer. Be was sup:i-cd at the poverty of flesh carried by ihb Briti'h-fed bullocks lie saw in the mark?t,s, anci when told that the pravailins- de-ln-'iid «a, for lecui meat he could not help thinking how absurd it is for the prize animals at tLe shov.-& to be "'oaded with so much fat, either in the breeding: or tat classe--. The W'-itor s-rtid he was convinced thai there is more really prima, high-flavoured, beef killed in Chicago than in zll the markrls of Greit Britain ond Ireland, notwithstanding the fact, thtc. the greao achie\omentf= of the British nation or? supposed lo be due lo the potent influence of the "roast beef of Old England." A reiv'ab-9 p.iticle Driven hints aiir! '•"Uggeolions on the ""Formation of a Held." and a welioualified vri-"-er deols with "Wool and its Proauec:*. " There are able article* on many o;be. - 'tib'ects. too numerous to particularise in t>3 space of a note, and in addition to all j lhc-3 vp-=?ia! -/ticks there ore reviews of all I the varieties of live stock, being brief descrlp- | (ion- of the position of. and progress made , by^rl.e difiVvenl breeds duringthe past ycnv, [ ezc\ o:ie i'sivig dealt with by on exaert. The oinionoc is- publishe-i by AJessrr Yinton and Co.. liDitdo'i. and is sent post free for Is 4d to an\- purchaser. In an artlc'.e upon this subject: in the Live Stock Journnl AlmauDc tho V. 00l and writer sets forth Die causes its Prospects, which have brought about the recent good demand for fine wools. The article in question was written fh e months ago. and piior to the improvement in the demand for coarj-sr wool, and the writer. Mr Bowman, F.H.S., Edinburgh, gave it then as his opinion that a rise would be «een in coarse wools eve long if only in sympathy with that iii the fine*.- grades-. Not only, ho says, are the prevailing fashions in favour of fine dress material, but woollen underwear i&- al c o becoming much more general, and will probably continue lo do so. This, in conjunction with the falling off in supply of merino wool owing to the long-continued and severe drought in Australia, accounts for the ■•harp rise which has taken plr.ee. Mo points out. however, that coar=e wool i-j required for n greoi many purposes npar. from those which, depend upon the prevailing fashions in dre's, and mus: be in request at a price which fluctuates according to the supply. For those requirements, it is evident Ihot the former who nrorlucos the bast quality of long and crossbred w 00l will alwa3"d have the advantage in the market. He repeats what, I think. I have more than 'once Paid in these notes — nomely, that it i.- tifelep-3 for a Fticop farmer to oudea\ our io produce wool according to the prc-fiJiiig demand and continually be changing hia Hock to Ihat end. Ho must determine vhich class of sheep is best suited to thft nistrict, soil, nii'l other circumstance 1 :, r.nd then use his best 3fforts lo got the finest qua-ity of wool possible from those sheep. Tho

V - - ■ -■ fleece goes in at the mouth, and its con-ditioi depends wholly upon the feeding and man agement of the flock. The use of good ram; and judicious culling of the ewes, togethei with good feed must result in producing gooc wool of its kind. AGEICOLA.