AGRICULTRAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 14

AGRICULTRAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The high prices ruling for dairy prodiice in the Home market are having an effect on the price of cattle in the Wairarapa district. Dairy heifers are now bringing nearly 50 per cent, more than was the case two years ago. The manager of the Morven Hill . station (Mr M'Whirter) cannot be accused of negligence in the matter of putting down the rabbits (says the Dxmstan Times). Altogether he has over 3000 traps laid down on his run. He says thai it is either kill bunny or kill the station, and he prefers the former.

At the laso meeting of the vincent County Council the question of poisoned grain was brought up by Cr Partridge. — Or M'Whirter said that the poisoned grajin ivas-no "good at all. It would not affect fowls or horses when fed on it. Phosphorised oats were infinitely better for the purpose. — Cr Kane said he had received a letter from one man, who said that his horses had' eaten the best part of a bag of poisoned grain and had suffered no ill effects from it. — Cr Lakllaw said, in his experience the results of using poisoned grain were very satisfactory. — The Chairman said the reason why the grain was obtained from Kem.pthor.ne and Prosser was that it was a quicker way of getting it. — Cr M'Whirter said that phosphorised oats were less costly than the wheat preparation, and money should, not be wasted in getting the latter. — Cr Rutherford also spoke of the grain, as being \ unsatisfactory. — Cr Kane thought that a sum should be voted for th& purpose of destroying the, small birds. He thought that' the Government would have to step in. — Cr Partridge said that not one council had a Fatisfacto'ry method of coping with the peat. — Or M'Whirter proposed- that Is per 100 be given for eggs, eonfiried. to sparrows and linnets. They* were the irtcst destructive. — After some desultory talk Cr M'Whirter agreed* to alter ,his motion to include all the small birds with the exception of starlings, which he thought should be protected. — The Chairman thought thej would have to expend all the county revenue 'to pay for eggs.- — The motion of Cr M'Whirter read — "That the council vote £5 for each riding to be expended on eegs and heads at the rate of Is per 100 of all small birds, starlings exoepted." — Cr Kane wanted starlings included, and so clid Cr Partridge. — The motion was carried. I

Mr Simon Fraser, M.L.C., chairman of the Squatting Investment Company, had a somewhat doleful story for the shareholders at the half-yearlj meeting, held in Melbourne the other day. The drought which had for bo long prevailed in the North of Queensland had, he said, not broken up yet, and the great bulk of the merino she«p country Avas still looking like a desert. It was estimated that not^ 40 per cent, of the sheep alive three or four years ago had escaped extermination. On the company'B property an attempt had been made to keep ewes alive, and £10,000 had ben spent for fodder in the shape of maize and oats. Some sheep had been sent to the Darling with the expectation that -they would be sent back at the shearing time. But even this expectation had not been, fulfilled. Altogether about 70,000 ewes had been saved by artificial feeding, and these would have to form the nucleus of the new flock. ..Before the drought the company had succeeded in wiping off all its indebtedness with the exception of £50,000. Now, however, the outlook was so unpromising that no dividends could be expected for some time. There would, of course' be about 1000 bales of wool this season, and there was some wool in London nrot yet disposed of. There were some important purchases made at the late Royal Agricultural Show of leading sheep for both Canada and the States. These have since been largely increased by selections made from the flocks at Home. Mr

G. M'Eer^ow, who represented the Shrop-i shire, Southdown, and Oxfordshire Sheept "Societies 'of America at the international conference, has made some very largo-purchases from many of the leading flocks, and has left England with a grand selection of sheep of very high merit and character. # Among this selection are some five or six very grand Oxford Downs from Sir J. T. Sobbs 1 s flock afc Maisey 'IJampton, including the first prize two-yeaf"-old ram at the Royal Show, from Mi* A. Brassey's flock. He has secured at ai long figure the pick of his yearling rams, one> that is what may be termed a tiptop "ram, an<£ a selection of some eight or nine other grand! rams. From Mr J. O. Eady's flock one o£ his^grand lot of yearling ewes has been taken not out of the first-prize" pen, but a far better ewe than any of that trio. And, lastly, bufi by no means least in value or importance, a trio of lamba each from the flocks of Messrs J. White and T. W. Jeffreys' have been included in what is one of -the strongest Oxford! exportations that have left, the country for a very long time. Soulhdowns to the number of nine or ten have been taken from the noted) Pagham Harbour Company's flock, which will! j take a rare lot of beating in the States, whilsti j a Shropshire or so has been selected from tha | flock of Mr R. P. Cooper, at Shenstone. The? | Lincoln breed also secured Mr M'Kerrow's! attention, and he took a pair of grand eweu from the flock of Messrs S.- E. Dean and Sons 1 , .of Dowsby Hall; Dorsetf'HbrnsT were selectedr ' from the flock of Mr W. . R- Flower whose position of pre-eminence as a" breeder of^thia variety is beyond 'dispute ;. whilst a small and' select lot of Hampshire lambs were taken from the flock -of Messrs J. Dean, and a typical selection of Cotswolds from Mr H. A. Mills's* i flocki ,

The number of 'lambs to be- now seen in thd gras3 paddocks between Timaru and Orari isi truly astonishing, considerably over an increase of 100 per cent. It is to be hoped thati the cold and wet snap which set in yesterday, j says Saturday's Timaru Herald, will not Jong continue; if it does it will prove fatal tq many of the little strangers. Tho Melbourne Leader says that a ' fox; j which was killed at Campbelltown was found !to contain, lo young ones. The bonus of 2a 6d per head, considering that the skin must: | be handed in, offered by the -local shire ia ] not sufficient inducement to trappers to- ex- v ( terminate the pest. r At 'the luncheon in connection with the v Staffordshire show, a leading English breeder. -said the success of agriculture in Great Britain." I now almost entirely depended on keeping- re- , gistered stock. " It was no use breeding foiv I exportation without a Herd Book or a Stud' | Book. The registered animals were no more trouble, and ate no more than the others,' whereas they were worth double the amount of unregistered stock when, they had to be sold for exportation.