OTAGO AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2416, 28 June 1900, Page 15

OTAGO AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL SOCIETY.

, The monthly meeting of the committee of the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society -was held in the board loom on Saturday, and attended by Mr H. V. Fulbon (president, in the •cliair), A. 'C. Stronack, P. Patiullo, A. Douglas, J. G-ow, \V. Charters, J. C. Gow, A. C. Begg, "James Hazletb, H. M. Driver, G. Roberts, IX Andrew, J. "Wright, R. G-awn, J. Blair, W. Blackie, R. Campbell, G. H. Gilroy, W. Souter, •J. Ross, and J. Angus. An apology was received from Mi H. Auckland. ' A considerable amount "of correspondence \vas received and dealt with. - Mr E. F. Duthie (tke society's secretary), • ■who was unavoidably called away to Wellington, -wrote stating that Mr J. A. Millar,'M.H.R., ■liad informed him that there would be little difficulty in getting the bill piifc through next ..session which would enable the society to purchase and hold the annexe building. The Hon. -John M'Kenzie wrote promising to attend to the matter, and, if unable through illhealth, to ask one of his colleagues to take the matter Tip. Mr J. D. Ritchie also wrote stating that lie would do all that, lay in his power to further the passage of the aforesaid bill. An extract from a letter from Major Robin ■was read, in which, he stated that the horse (" Kony ") that. he had received was standing 'extremely well, and that he wished the com"mittee to know that the Imperial remount authorities intended after this keeping their eyes 'open and encouraging New Zealand horsebreeding, and that farmers and others would cto well to breed more of the " Kony " stamp.— It was proposed by Mr A. C. Stronaeh and seconded by Mr P. Pattullo — "' That this question of breeding horses of this stamp be laid before the Agricultural Conference which is about to sit shortly in Wellington."— Carried. Letters were received from the secretaries of both the Seaward Downs Dairy Factory and Barry's Buy Dairy Factory, stating that their .total output did exceed 40 tons; therefore, in class 23, for the best lOcwfc of factory-made cheese, suitable for export, from factories ■whose annual output does not exceed 40 tons, r the Tokonui Dairy Factory lakes first prize, and ' Heathfield Dairy Factory second. Messrs 0. M. Smith and J. R. Mitchell reported in reference to the field turnip compe"tition, for which they acted as judges, and suggested that it would be a good plan to have the entries made before the seed is sown, thus showing a better spirit of competition, leav"ing it optional, of "course, for any competitor .to withdraw before the judges start on their visits ; also that in the' class for turnips grown on land not exceeding £5' per acre as per t county valuation, the valuation of -such, land be -left in the hands of the judges; also the ad.visability of closing the entries for these competitions at least one month sooner, and thus give the judges appointed the necessary time - during inspection to make the trip one of pleasure, as well as business. — On the motion of Mr G-. Roberts and seconded by Mr W. Blackie, a hearty vote of thanks was a-ccorded to Messrs Smith and Mitchell for the very satisfactory manner in which they carried out their arduous duties. Dr E. C. lievinge (medical superintendent of Sunnyside Asylum) wrote at length and offered a number of useful suggestions to the society "regarding several important items in the classes for roots, also returning the cheque which had . been awarded for prizes won at the late winter fibow as a donoStion to the society's funds. — It •was proposed by the President and seconded by Mr A. C. Strona-ch, that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to Di E. G. Levinge, and that the suggestions would be noted, and that the committee would endeavour to give effect to same at their forthcoming shows. — Carried. The Northern Rolling Milling Company " wrote regarding the letter which had been forwarded to the Hon. J. G. Ward, M.H.R., Minister of Railways, Wellington, by Messrs Stead and Co., of Christchurch, in relation to reducing the size of cornsacks, in order to reduce the ■weight of their contents, stating that they entirely disagreed with Messrs Stead and Co.'s arguments in favour of the two-bushel bags. They pointed out that Messrs Stead and Co. view the matter chiefly as London shippers, and thus did not take into consideration the utter 'uselessness which these two-bushel bags would he in the case of grain sold within the colony. "The numerous ways in which second-hand fourbushel bags were utilised, such as packing pota"toes, chaff, turnip 0 , carro t>, etc., were well 'known, and it would rather disoiganise trade ' to receive trucks of the afo> ementioned products comprised of two-bushel bags containing about •401b each. The President brought up the question of Slaving more judging done on the first day of ;ihe forthcoming summer show, and thereby giving more time on. the second day t° x holding

the grand parade, which he considered should be as great a feature of the summer show aa were the county exhibits at the Winter carnival.

He -would also line to see the society endeavour j to cater more for the public in the way of driv- ! ing competitions and other attractions that ' would tend to popularise the society. ' The following gentlemen were appointed as j Grounds Committee — viz. : Messrs A. C Stron- ' ach, P. Pattullo, A. Douglas, Jamea Gow, 'W. • Charters, A. C. Begg, J. Hazlett, H. M. Driver, ! and G. Roberts. A report was received from Mr KidstonI Huntei in relation to the results of experiments in turnip-growing conducted under the supervision of the committee appointed for this purpose. Mr Hunter concludes his report as follows: — "As the results of the above experiments, I am of opinion that, although the crop v/as late in being "sown, and the season being against it, the resulis, as a comparative test, are of mush value, and go to show — (1) that a poor

class of Eoil, no matter how much work is put

into it, will give no 'satisfactory results unless the plant food is present m a condition in which the young plants can assimilate it; (2) where the soil is proved to be awanting in the chief fertilising 2.>roperties required for the crop, a complete fertiliser — i.e., one which contains the necessary ingredients in proper proportions, — will give the best results."