FARM AND STATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2454, 27 March 1901, Page 14

FARM AND STATION.

(CcnttnveiJ from 'pane 7.) OUR CANTERBURY AGPdOULTURAL_BUDGET (From Ohb Own Cobkt.si?ohdent.) CHRISTCHURCH, March 23. The last of the crops are being gradually got into the stacks or threshed Harrest. from the stook, many farmers persisting in the latter practice, despite the bad reception v. hich stook-threshed samples receive from merchants. Threshing is progressing but slowly, the market offering no inducement to hasten deliveries. Yields vary, some being excellent and others very disappointing. On the whole I think the official estimate for wheat will not be realised, whatever may be the case with oats. As a rule, the most satisfactory results have been obtained from the light plain land 3. Merchants and millers are able to pick and choose, and are getting good parcels of milling wheat at 2s 2d to 2s 3d, and of short feed oats at Is 3d to Is 4d on trucks at convenient stations, these being the only lines for which there is any demand. Either a rise of 6d a bushel all round or cheap freight to England or the Cape is needed to make the grain-grower contented with his lot. Sheep prices keep up marvellously. Twotooth crossbred ewes were Lite Stocfc. sold at Coalgate last week and at Ashburton this week at 235. Of course they were very good, and unquestionably cheaper than toothless ewes at 15s or 163. The Culverden sale generally sees high-water mark, but this year its records have been beaten. It must be said that at Culverden the sales are of thousands as against hundreds at other markets. This year the Amuri sheep are hardly so good in condition as usual, being white in the wool and showing other signs of unfavourable condition. Lambs having fattened slowly, a good many farmers are holding over the ewe lambs, which at a store value of 13s or 14s are cheaper 1 than two-tooths of corresponding breed and condition at a guinea. Even the Down cross ' lambs have not done well this year, and the prospect of having to take low prices for these a* store 3 has, no doubt, assisted the demand for English Leicester rams, sheepfarmers generally looking for a series of similar seasons, favourable or otherwise, and being afraid to be "stuck" with black-faced lambs or hoggets. Some 20 year 3or so ago a good numy of the Down cross ewes got into the breeding flocks on the plains, and did much harm to the wool, which in those day 3 was a more important consideration than the mutton. An even line of halfbred Down ewes is not to be despised, as they are very prolific, good mothers, and to Down rams produce a very choice, early-maturing lamb— or as frequently lambs. The ewes fatten quickly after weaning, and are really good mutton. J he wool is the one weak point, and this does 1 not matter much at present prices. The trouble begins when these ewes are bred to white-faced rams, and the female produce in turn bred from, mongrels being thus produced. In a plains "cockatoo's" clip ot perhaps a hundred fleeces 15 years or so ago there would scarcely be two alike. The small iarmer knows better now. being alive to the advantages of "one brand and one earmark" m ewes for breeding marketable fat lambs. There is at present a good choice of ewes for farmers, and how the price is kept up is a I nuzzle. Some North Island sheep/from the i Lrewhon and Hatuma estates, Hawke's Bay ; were offered at the Amuri fair, having been ravelled by road to Foxton. shipped across 1 kJi i * na **p ea M the East Coast (via Kaikoura) to Culverden. They were twoj tooth Lincoln cross ewes, of rather rough ?A a i \7\£ Ut dXI not look dear at 163 6cl to 163 9d, the prices at which they were knocked down. Tens of thousands of «heep have been and are still being, brought from the North Island by this route, in the hope of finding buyers amongst the Kaikoura, Waiau, Cheviot, Horsley Downs, and Glenmaik settlers Some ol the farmers have feared to Day the hish prices for young sheep, and have" bought aged ewes, amongst -which there will be a heavy mortality if they get a bad winter or spring. Merino ewes were sold at Culverden a* over 12s which three years ago would not have fetched 12 pence. Needless to say, there is no buying for boding down this season. The iaU in. export mutton has not made mneh ditierence to the price of fat sheep. Ewes are worth more for breeding than for the butchers, and the latter therefore direct their attention to wethers as better value, and pay more than exporters can give. Lambs five simply beyond the reach of the general trade. A good deal ot both mutton and beef is being brought fiom Wellington ior. local cqnsumn-

tion. TJpef freezing for export has stopped at present, but no doubt) will be resumed shortly. What has been put through lately ha^ bp»n of good quality, and there has been practically no disease amongst the animals — m conli.i it to the state of affairs when the trade Ijogan, uhen two or three prime beasts in almost every mob were condemned. No doulit this is duo to the enterprise of graziers in ha \ ing their herdi tested and refusing to buy any beast which has not passed the test. Mr Duncan will be wi^e if he lestricts the uso of tuberculin to responsible practitioner?. Store cattle are fetching prices fully proportionate to those of beef, and dairy stock are at pricp* which have not been known for years. Pat pigs have advanced, but stores are not quite t-o high as they were a few weeks \go, tlur indicating the near approach of the c'o=ft ot the dairying fea-on. Horses have been decidedly weaker lately, but those offering have n it been of a kind to make quotations. There is nothing to add to the note I sent you la«t week regarding this The institution. Mr Bayne met Agricultural tho governors on Wednesday, College. but elected to go into matters in committee, deferring a formal reply to the charges and conclusions of the Committes of Inquiry until a subsequent period. What the governors intend lf> do next is int known, but it may be assumedthat they haic not gone so far without being prepared with some course of action. That part of thr> resolution of the governor!? which leaommenclfd the separation of the offices o£ director and professor of agriculture was deleted from— not added to — the report of the committee, so that it may be taken that what; the governors want is a combination of do-me.-'.io Putociat. export in agriculture, and advertising agent. Reading between the lines of the leporl, it appears as if relations between the director and his staff had not been too cordial. The most direct complaint that I can Eec is that a student who made an offensive remark to a lecturer, after being heavily fined for disobedience, was not dismissed from the college by the director, as recommended by the staff, only a fortnight's restriction being imposed. Anyhov?, Mr. Bayne is going, and it remains to be seen whether the change will bring students who will learn agriculture and conduct themselves properly to the institution. It is certain the college is not going on satisfactorily at present, but if the go\ernors have discovered the) reason they have not disclosed it in their report. The annual show at Cheviot was held on Thursday in fine vi eather, and Cheviot. -was, aa usual, made the occasion of some festivity. The Hon. C. H. Mills was, the chief orator. Ho was pr i much pleased with his reception, and witn'the appearance of everything at tho settlement. Mr\7. W. Thomson, M.H.R. for Clutha, was amongst the visitors, and he also was pleased with what he saw. The railway is beino; pushed on, and the Waiau will bo bridged before long, bringing Cheviot into direct communication with the north. There is a great demand for land in the WaiauKaikoura district, and the Government is being persuaded to buy Mount Parnassus station, on the north bank of the Waiau. The prcperty i 6 owned in England, nnd is generally supposed to be a good paying one. The sections recently settled at Lyndon (Waiau> are said to contain some poor, cold land, but the Wainapa country (north of Kaikoura) ia said to be capital country when cleared and sown, and though there were complaints thafc two of the blocks were withdrawn from tha ballot at almost the last moment, this a-etiort was justified by the land being capable of much eloper settlement than was at that tim« planned, a mistake having evidently been mad° by Hip surveyors in their estimate of the quality of the lnnd. There is a vast quantity of land on the North-East Coast adapted for close settlement, and it is in a way unfortunate that its value, is being raised by the railway before settlement takes place.