AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2426, 12 September 1900, Page 14

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

At a meeting of the Tuapeka Agricultural Society on Thumlay last the question of inducing the Government to procure further land in that district for settlement was introduced. Mr 11. Cameron said the question was a most important one in the district, and also stated that he understood the Green Hills estate, close to Lawrence,, had been offered to the Government, and, though it was not one of any great extent or one suitable for cutting up into very small holdings, it was admirably adapted for farms of an area of, pay, 400 aeresT The Tokomairiro Farmers' Club was moving in the direction of getting the Government to acquire the Roxburgh estate at Mount Stuart, and he thought they should communicate with their member recommending that the estate named should, if possible, be acquired. Mr Osborne said he had received a communication from their member, Mr Beimel, who suggested that if there was an estate in the district suitable for small settlement the Government would favourably consider the question of acquiring it. Eventually a committee was appointed to make inquiries as to whether there were any estates in the di&trict for sale.

The Wooctvillo Examiner has reqeiveel a, Bulawayo Chronicle of Uie 21&1 J uly, in which

prime potatoes vrero advertised for sale at | 27s 6d to 50s -pev bag ; oiiiorw 3CK per bag, find ! eggs 4s 7d per clofpii 1 The Chrlbtchurch Pre j :> resents the attilvdo i taken up by the (\o\ eminent in backing the | member for Waiiavapa in Ills attempt) to j brin^ legislation to bear on limiting the profits, of frozen meat companies, and characterises their conduct as "an attack on entor- ', jirisc." The following is an extract from llie article : — The more we look into the ati tack upon the frozen mea' companies which the Go^x eminent seem to have taken up at ■ Mr Hoinsby's bidding, the more unfair and, ' indeed, iniquitous does it appear. The busli ncsj of meat freezing has not always been j carried on at a profit. For a considerable time it was far from being a remunerative undertaking. It i« well-known that one of the largest companies m New Zealand, which ha*, been in existence for soj.k; 15 ycaiv. pail no dhidend for year after ye;u\ and. in fact within the Isxzi four ye^is ils <-lia:'c-s changed hands at 50 per cent, below par. Now, owing to the sudden rise in the European market of the slieej) products in which the^e companies deal, they happen to have a good year, pud although the profile made •daring the- last rear or tv, o will not nearly compensate for the looses of the many Iran yeavs. it. is coolly proposed to limit their profits i'or the future. ■* Om v/ould imagine from the way in which tome legislators talk that frozen meat companies were the enemies of the human race, engaged in some pernicious form of industry which ought to be £uppve o «eil for the public good. As a matter of fact, as Mr Cairicrcs pointed out, tho^e oojurpaiiics were the salvation of Xew Zealand in the early eighties. They had a great s>trug%lf at first, some of them actually came to £rie±, and in fact had it not been for the shipping companies, who for the purpose of providing freight for their steamers found capital lo keep some of the frozen meat companies going, probably half of iho?e now in existence would have had to close tlieir works. "We never find members of the Ministry or their supporters suggesting that in the event of these companies incurring loss.es in lean years, Parliament rhould step in and give the shaieholders a dividend. A gentleman well known in commercial circles told a representative of the Lyttellon Times that the steameis now en the berth, which are loading grain for London at 25s a ton, phis the usual primrge, sre the last boat? which will be available for wheal-carry-in t at these rates, as the North Island wool will shortly be available for shipment. A meeting of the Ashburton A. and P. Association was h^ld on the 4th inst., when the Improvement Committee recommended that £100 should be spent on the erection of permanent building? in the show grounds, and that the cattle and pig sections should receive first consideration. The report was adopted. It was decided to diMJO^e .of the privileges by tender. Messrs Nosworthy Bros, offered a prize of £2 2s in the sheep class. It was decided to offer a championship prize for the best draught stallion, and Mr Grigg offered a special prize of £3 3s for the same clas<?. > Between two and three thousand sheep were yarded at the Wanton sale last week, there being a large attendance present. Top prices were realised throughout. One line of wethers belonging to Mr J. Kirkwcod brought 18s 2d.— Record. Large quantities of erain are being sent away from Ashburton and country stations in !he district for shipment, and some very large 11..- ■ ">'O being exported on growers' account. In the report of the speech of Mr M. C. Orbell, of Geraldine, at the annual meeting of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, on the subject of the shortage of sheep, the number of breeding ewes given — 8,200.000 — should have been foi the whole colony, not lor the South Island ; and the shortage of 665,000 was for the South Island between April, 1597, and April, 1599, not for the colony. Mr Orbell writes to the Press : "It may interest some of your readers to know that I underestimated the latter figures — they should have been 753,000. Since the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce I have received returns for the year ending April, 1900, and I find we have gone back another 40,000 in the South Island, and this is without any ' boiling down 'of old sheep. I understand that practically every ew e was bred from last season, and that as very few hundreds would cover all that were sent to the boiler, this indicates that, under ordinary circumstances, should have been, instead of 40,000 f-hort two or three hundred thousand short — making, soy, one million lets Mieep in the South Island in three year?." The annual report and account? of "the Canterbury Central Co-operative Dairy Company, for the year ended 31st July, have been issued to shareholders. 'The accounts show a balance to credit of profit and loss of £3310 4s sd. The directors recommend a dividend at the rate of 6 pei cent, on capital £550 to be written off machinery, plant, and buildings; that a bonus of fivp sixteenths of a meiinv ncr lb on butter fat be naid to sun-

pliers; the balance, £1023, to be carried forward. Although the majority of the early crops in the Ashburton distiict ore looking extremely well, especially on the heavier lands; the grub has done a good deal of damage 1 , nnd many farmers have to sow over again. 1 - Many of the grass paddocks present a very poor appearance, owing to the ravages of the pest. The salei of Miss Alice de Rothschild'^ shorthorns at Waddesdon manor in July well attended and fruitful of remunerative! prices. With one notable exception the individual prices were not remarkable, but they, were sufficiently uniform to attain the substantial average of £39 7s 6d for the 44 head. Th" one notable price was realised for the thick-fleshed roan bull, Bashful Youth, which has figured prominently at the leading shows of the season, Mi Miller claiming him for South America for the handsome sum of 455 guinea 0 . Mr_ J. H. Brake, M.L.A. for Horsham, who is in London, has written that he has met in both London and the North of England a number of experts in the grain trade, amongst them the largest wheat buyer in 1 Liverpool. These gentlemen all agree that bagging rnu&t, by some practicable and economical method, be done awaj- with. There is one great advantage the Dane 3 haye p\ er xis in keeping tlioir milk _weet during transit from ths factories io the oitie?. ft is dona in this way : The milk is com eyed from the factory in large cans containing, *ay. half a ton of milk, and probably one-third of tbijj is frozen. ' 'Thc'miUi is frozen into blocks." ana put into crai*, which are then Riled up with fluid milk_ and it is so arranged that in; the hottest periods there are more frozen 1 -locks used, each cna being a'lcuHied to rnive been reduced to mill- by the time the can' readies its destination. In thi=j way the I ivczin milk keeps the fluid irilk sweet. A Hawke's Bay paper ?ay.- : The two heifera imported from Victoria for Archdeacon \Villiams's station pi To Aule arrived at VVelling- ' ton by the Morowai from Duredin on TV'edii "aday, odd were deported on Soames Wand. \ The--? ai'iwaL a-.e the pick of the .-tud-s of: .Sir fluperfc Cla'ke and the Eon. J. H. Angus, 1 and arc both in calf to thp best bull in Yic- . toria. Bolinda, Duchess of Derrimut (173 rd), ' is a roan heifer bred by Sir Rupert Clarke, ' and calved September 26, 189c'. Her dam, ' Bolinda, Duchess of iTerrlmut (75th), by Lord i " ndeilv, i^ , i f\eii yesii'^ old. and ha^ taken I t-cven fir--! and three .second prizes, besides ! ljeii'g four liinc^ chompiou cow of Au-lralia. i 'Hip heifer's sire it- the Duke of York, and the ! price paid lor this animal was 300 guinea*. The other heifer, Dcivnhv 17lh, is also a roan, calved July 10, 1593, and cost 250 guineas. She was su-ed by Waterloo, Burl of Soclibum, dam Dorothy 10th (by Lord Ys'ateiloo). The crdi'iary monthly meeting oj" ILe Tuapeka Agricultural Society was held at Lawrence on the 6lh inst., when there wa.« a large attendance ot members; the prcidcu'; (Mr James Robertson) in the chair. The chairman mentioned that Mr R. Wood, who had' been deputed to inspect the draught stallions under offer to ths society, was present and. would give them a report on his iui=s;on. Mt Wood taid that, in accordance with instruction", received from the society, he had gone to Macraes Flat to see the hoi'ao McGregor, but the horse was not al the place where he had expected to find him. He had. however, made inquiries in reference to tho horse, and found him to be very well thought of in hi* district. lie hud been f-hown- several of his get,- and they proved lo be clean-legged, sound, and very fervicenble animals. He then went to Winchester, and paw the horse Xew Hope. Tim wa c j, in his opinion, a really good horse. He was nine years old, large (weighed nearly a ton), and had never been out of his own district, where he had never travelled r.t a fee of less than four guineas. Ihe owner (vnio almost relied on the horse for his living) travelled him himself. The owner agreed, in consideration of a guarantee of 70 mares, to bring his horse down, to this district for a fee of, £o ss, half guarantee. Mr Wood said he had also seen other horses during his trip, but could not recommend them. In reply to a question as to which 1-or^o he would rccommenck Mr Wood replied that personally he favoured New Hope. His stock were much larger than McGregor's, and his experience was that they could not get horses too large for this district. It was unanimously resolved that the society secure the services of the horse New Hope, and that members should have first- claim on his services. _ A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr Wood for the great amount of trouble he had gone to in the interests of the society. — Several members were appointed to canvass in Dunedin and the country districts for donations towards the prize fund of the forthcoming show. — After a long discussion, it was decided that the usual concert should be held on the evening of show day. — The following motion was cairied by a large majoritj- — "That the fecretary bo insliueted to wire to the Premier the society's approval of the emended tariff and their recognition of his efforts in reducing the duties on the necessaries of life and removing those on agricultural machinery." On Friday last, pays the Oamaru Mail, Mr Peter Martin forwarded two a cry promisincmares to Messrs J. and F. Wall, Martin" borough, Wairprapa. They were Tor>az, by M 'Arthur out of ionas. by Salisbury. This mare is a rising &ix-year-old, and was sold at the Awamoa sale last year to go to the Taieri. She was first as a dry mare' at last Taieri show, beating some of the best mares m the colony. The customers wrote for a pair of good animal*, and this one was purchased tojnakc a mate for a three-year-old filly by Herd Laddie out of Renfrew Jock maie, bred by Mr Henry Allan, Vvhite Rocks. They looked remarkably well, and should get a good name for tliis district. The Lander correspondent of the Dunstan Time* writes:— Ploughing operations,' with one or two exceptions, are completed. Sowing is now in full swing. ' The majority of the tanners this year are going in largely for sheep fanning, and are consequently putting down more glass than cereals. '"he lambing Reason has been an exceptionally pooc! one, indeed much better than has been experienced for years. A committee meeting of the Taieri Agricultural Society was held at Mosgiel on the 6lh h*6l. There was a large attendance of members. Dr Allan (president) occupied, the chair. Letters were received from the Waiheino and Dunedin Societies in reference^ to tho Taieri Society's request that separata judges be appointed" for the judging of thef country courts at the Dunedin Winter show. The former intimated that they were satisfied! with the arrangements as they have hitherto!

existed, and the Dunedin Society informed the members that the matter had been left in the hands of the town members of -the Dunedin Society for consideration. Judges were nominated for the various classes at the show. It was decided that entries for the show close en the 17th November. Ihe schedule was revised, the only alteration being that classes were added for purebred*mares or geldings in cart harness, first and second jwizetakers to be excluded : and for the best two-year-old thoroughbred filly. M? it. W. Tbsswill, of Christchurch, writes to the Press on the alleged monopoly of tho frozen meat companies, giving his experience of a transactioi he had with the Wellington Meat Export Company :—-During: — -During the past few weeks we have seen a good deal published about tha two Wellington meat companies ; and their alleged monopoly, and I think it only fair to state an experience I had recently with the Wellington Meat Export Company, which will stow that it was the Wellington farmers' own fault if they did not reap the benefit of the recent rise in the price of mutton and lamb. About this time last year, when in Wellington, I called on Mr Sladdisn, the manager of the "Wellington Meat Export Company, and asked him the terms for freesing on owrers' account. I mentioned that I ..would most likely have some lambs or sheep j in Pelorus Sound that T would want to have ] frozen. Be gave me an underdertaking to j freeze both lamb and mutton at the same rates as the Canterbury companies charged. 1 asked him if I would have to "book killing space, and lie said, " Oh, no ; you can always send in 500; anything more than that it would always be well to book, say, a week ahead." I therefore cannot understand how the Wellington farmers can ssy that the companies have a monopoly, when they are willing to freeze for farmers at the Canterbury rates, which, as an exporter, I consider are very fair. . . . As far as the Canterbury companies are concerned, I am quite sure that the farmers have nothing to complain of ; in fact, they have had the be^t of it all along the line. Toe Agricultural department has on several occasions imported and liberated consignmen + s. of pec-wees- (otherwise termed mudlarks).' The birds have, been liberated chiefly in Wellington and Hawke's Bay. They have Leer heard of in several localities, and are evidently thriving. The department regrets to learn, however, that several of these birds have been shot )fy petllers. It is in the interests of settlers to protect insectivorous bird?, which have been imported for their benefit, and settlers are warned tIM heavy penalties will be inflicted on any person detected destroying them. For the information of settlers it may be 'stated that the mud-lark is a black and white bird, generally found near streams of fresh water. It builds a cup-s>haped nesc of mud lined with straw, in the bough of a tree. The eggs, four or five in number, are about an inch and a-quarter long, white with red tinge, and marked at the thicker end with purplish blotches. Besides feeding on insects, the mud-lark devours the fresh-water snail, which is an intermediary host of the liver-fluke in &hcep, f=o pastoralists and agriculturalsts alike have an interest in the preservation of the bird. Dairy notes from the Lyttelton Times : — The quanaty of milk received by the Canterbury Central Co-operative Dairy Company during the past financial year amounted to 23,452,5661b, being an increase of 5,443,0861b on the previous year. At the request of a large number of intending suppliers in the Southbridge district, who have taken up s-hares, the directors of the company have arranged for the building- of a creamery at Milltown, Southbridgc. They are also having a second creamery built at Addington. The annual report aod balance sheet shows a credit balance on the profit and loss account of £3340 *.* sd. The diiectors recommend that the survihn should be appropriated as follows: — A dividend of 6 per cent, per annum to be declared on the paid-up capital, £513 ; £550 to be written off machinery, plant, and buildings ; a bonus of 5-16ths of a penny per lb on butter fat to be paid to suppliers,, equalling £1171, a bonus of 3 per cent, on wages and t-.iT.-ips to be pnicl ia employees: the balance, £1023, to be carried forward. If there is anything certain in this world, "ays a Glasgow paper, it would seem that it is tolerably certain that wheat will be considerably higher the next cereal year than it has been in the past. Estimates point to a diminution in the United States of something like 100,000 000 bushels, as compared with last year ; but already this estimate is discounted, on account of the improved and improving state of the crops in the United States. India will not be able to spare much owing to the partial failure of the monsoon ; but as a set-off, Russia and the Argentine are. both likely to have a large surplus, or there might have been such a rush up in price that it would have dond what Kruger has failed to do — "stageer humanity.' Unfortunately, we are not likely to have heavy grain crop«. There may be, and seem tolerably likely to be, a fair crop, but no "more. One thing seems certain, and that is that there will be little lodged grain this year, and that will be an advantage when harvest is leady, as it will allow the binders to deal with, most of it. There is not one grain crop that will be above, if up to, the average. Wheat, on the whole, is the most •promising crop at present, but even yet it is impossible to say which will finish best — wheat, oats, or barley. The farmers in the vicinity of Bunnythorpe and Stony Creek are sufferinp-Jirom the depredations of weasels upon the young lambs, and a large number of fine lambs have been killed. The Australasian states that the manufacturers of binder twine have settled their prices •for the coming season on a higher level than those ruling- last season, on account of the enhanced average cost of hemp, resulting from tho unsettled condition of affairs in the Philippines. The prices are as follows: —

Guaranteed pure Manila hemp twine, 83 d por lb ; mixed Manila, 7^d ; New Zealand, ■' s^d. It may be noted that the prices are ' based upon the coat of raw material up to date, the manufacture for the season being practically completed. They are not affected by the present or prospective cost of hemp. 1 The present New Zealand price of flax tv.-ine has opened at 4-^d per lb, but has an upward tendency. Farmers would do well to speak for their requirements early.

In reply to a question in the New South Wales Parliament, the Minister for Agriculture said it was estimated that about 60 per cent, of ex-students of the Agricultural Coileees have settled on the land. i