AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 16

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

At Ih--> annual incct'ntr of the Egmont A. and P. Association th» report stated that the profit on the late show was £150. The finances were in a. good condition, despite the fact that £^50 had been expended last year on ground improvements. It was decided that in future there should be two judges in each of the live stock ctossos. The Department of Agnculturo has decided to discontinue to issue monthly reports j on the progress and prospects of the colony's frcitt crops. This ttep is taken owing to the apathy of fruit-growers in sending in returns. The Taranaki Herald states that the Government is bring urged to allow settlors in out-of-the-way parts of tho colony to erect light and inexpensive telephone lines in thoir own district; also to subsidise the work to the extent of pound for pound. The following officers wero elected at the annual meeting of the Invorcargill Farmers' Union, held on Saturday:— Mr A. Tapper, chairman ; Mr Richard Allen, treasurer and secretary; Mr John M'Queen, auditor and delegate to the provincial conference ; Messrs James Fleming, W. Halliday, A. Tapper, Colin Gray, K. Finlayson, James Fraaer, R. Coupland. John M'Queen, George Young, AI. Curran, D. Phillips, and Thomas Macdonald, committee. The Invercargill branch of the Farmers' Union on Saturday parsed a resolution requesting stock agents and prodm c firms to discontinue sending agents wito the country dutiicts to oanvabs for farmers' requisites, the commission gnen to thoße agent- to be allowed to the faimern who outer at the offices. j Although the Taranaki potato crop is fairly good this reason, it will not (sav-s an exchange) be .sufficient for local requirements. One hundred and thnty lots of sheep 1 were put through at thp Sheffield (Canterbury) tale on Friday in three hours and ahalf, or a shade over Oiie minute and a-half per lot. Some of the cion-, in the district around Lumsden arc not yet cut, and the ground is so wet (write* the Ensign correspondent) that the machines cannot get to work even now. A case is now before Mr Hawkiii3, S.M., at Greymouth, in which a farmer— Byinc— is sueing Charles Beck, as driver of a Grey-mouth-Hokitika special mail train, for recovery of £24, the \alue of four steers, which were killed by the tram in question. As showing the terrible nature of the drought in New South Wale* the following items from the Sydney Mail are of interest: Mr R. G. Dulhunty. the Dubbo inspector of stock, who has just returned from a tour through the district, speaks in a deplorable way of the drought raging therein. Stock everywhere are in <=uch a low condition that unless rain comes before the frost sets in they must all die. All tho animals in the district are, and have been for some time, artificially fed on hay, chaff, grain, and scrub. — From our northern correspondents we learn that in the Xarrabri district sheep are now too poor to be shifted to better feed. Many men are engaged skinning dead sheep. Chaff is quoted at £8 per ton in Narrabri and £10 per ton in some outlying placee. Maize is not obtainable. In parts of the Manilla district sheep are dying owing to the absence of feed. In the Armidale district waterholes and creeks are drying up fast. Water was «e\er so t-carce Jpflf nrA^^jFi *«" *rj JM&OSii fl^u,gh : ftm| jviojjk^

have to be driven miles to water. — Our Hughenden correspondent writes that, tho outlook in the district is eerious. Cold weather is setting in. Central district; graziers are sending stock to the Flinders to relief country. Tho meat companies, commence operations at the end of this month. The majority of fat cattle are coming in from the Gulf stations. Over 20,000 wethers are on the road seeking grass. The importance of breeding the richest; buttor strains of dairy cattle has j (says a writer in the Melbourne I Lealer) never been so fully realised! .by Victorian dairy-farmers as dur- ! ing the past season, when the export of j butter to the English markets fell so far short of the previous year. No doubt tho severity of the winter and the shortage of good pastures had much to do with the j diminished output, but the fact lemains that our herds ha\e not been brought up to I that stage of perfection which can compare j with othor prominent butter-exporting countries. Tho Governments of South Australia and New South Wales have imported stud j cattle of pure dairy breeds, and qiiite re- ( cently Xew Zealand has followed these ! example". The records of the butter testa j hold at the leading Australian >hows during i the past »earion indicate that Iho Jersey is- | playing an important part iv the develop-, i ment of rich butter cows. The pure Jersey j and cioases of the Jersey with shorthorna j ond Ayrshires have won all the leading Australian prizes, and this fact speaks highly for the quality of the Jersey for blending" with other pure breeds, such as the short- | horu and Ayrshire, in the production o£ deep j and rich milkere. ThJ3 being .-o should en- , courage dairy-farmers to give more attentions to tho breeding problem. It will readily be granted that the Jersey is the richest of all the breeds in butter production, and! being bred s-o long for the one object, th&y impress their progeny strongly with then: special qualities. No matter how much food I the Jeisoy cow may consume, she doc nobI fatten so readily as the ehorthorn. Herpford, or even the Ayrshire, and a^ a t^cacral rule her periods of lactation are lengthy and profitable. The persistency of milk-spiing, however, is one of tho prime features of the Jersey, and it is here where so many of our dairy cows fail. The want of knowledge, generally speaking, in stock-bi reeling i= a menace to the dairying industry. Duiiuty the past decade the Americans have been paying careful attention to tho breeding of dairy cattle, and it is notable that they have been using the Jersey largely in their herdp. " During the past year," it is officially stated, " 1300 Jerseys were exported from Jersey, realising £25,000, and most of the animals went to Denmark and America." Whilst tho Ameiicans are judiciou-ly blending tho Jprooy with the tJiorthorei and the Ayrshire, they are also giving particular attention to the mating of the etud animals, careful lecords and observations being regularly made at the experimental stations, while such information is disseminated through the dairying community. Experts 'tire told off to ad\ise and instruct dairy-far-mers in the practical methods of building up their herds <xi the best possible lines, and in all this is there not a lesion for the authorities here? From recent American advices we get particulars of the '" Raise-no-Wheat " movemeuc which is said to be spreading through the south-western areas of the United State.". Hndreds of farmers were to sign a compact; not to put m an acre of wheat in iSSQZ. The reaioii is to create a great increase in/ price next year, but the scheme is erofc likely to succeed, as for every farmer that; will abstain from cropping in one division of the State there will be two or more putting in as much crop as possible in the other division. A customer of John Tubb, the .Winchester horpe dealer and livery stable man, made it, singular mistake one day. He had hired_a< horse and carriage for the day, and tLes ' beast bolted the best part of the way homo from Cranberry Park to Winchester ki tho evening. Arriving at the stable yard, the customer remonstrated warmly with TuLb", paying that this was the hottest specimen he" had ever had palmed off on him. and generally relieved hia feelings. Tubb said noj thing tijl the man had finished, then quietly drew hits attention to the fact that when tha horse had been harnewed for the return/ journey the reins had been buckled to th 6 rings of the collar instead of the bit!— Live Stock Journal. Experiments made in the T'nited States with the Polled-Angus breed of cattle show that where purebred bulls wero crowed oil) shorthorn cows the offspring a*> a rule wero black and hornlesa, with ftoe size and! quality, frequently weighing over 5001b at) weaning time. A pure bred— not a grade—* bull dishorns the calves and makes them one colour and type. ,The calvea when born are very small, making the loss in cahing, especially heifers, practically nothing They are very prolific, good mothers and suekeiv=, and the bull has no equal as an improver. An officer of the Department of Agncul-> ture has informed the New Zealand Times that tho rise in the price of grain will be/ the cause of a largo increase in the area o£ land under crop in the Ashburton district next season. Mr James Stuckcy, of Te Rangitumau, Wellington, has purchased the draught stalimn %)4 V Jtftcariln'T l^'o* *1S« z - Stix4

IBookJ, rising three years, bred by Mr John IM*Farlane, Drummond, Southland. Mr iStuckejr, who left for the "north by the •v^aihora, also took) with hhn 42 Southdown tram lambs, bred by the late Mr S. Garforth. Chnstehurch Press. Since- its inception (writes the Mataura iEnsign) the Southland Farmers' Co-operative has manifested signs of healthy, $olid growth and prosperity. To cope with its increasing business the directors recently decided to erect large and commodious premrises in Gore. A site at the corner of Gorton and Afihton streets was secured, and a, contract for the building (plans for which irere prepared by Mr A. Little) let to Mr Thomas Latham, who has now brought his *ask to a satisfactory and creditable conclusion. The building ip 75ft long by 65ft ■wide, and, besides affording accommodation for the extensive stocks of farm requisites and general merchandise carried by the association, provides storage for 22,000 bags of grain. . iL Much practical work evidently awaits the general conference of the Farmers' Union in June (says the Southland Times), and as 4he members already number 23,000, with i a daily increasing roll, they should be able •to secure for the agricultural interest fair j representation in the new Parliament. Last j session the Premier showed evident signs of • having had about enough of the Labour '■ party, and a determination not to be fur"ther dictated to in the direction of class legislation, and the Government, seeing how the cat is likely to jump, will quite probably "be glad of the chance which a strong agricultural representation will -undoubtedly give them to shake themselves free from the presumptuous domination -of the labour organisations. The Farmers' Union should — if properly organised and well directed — ibe aT>le to carry many seats at the general election which now, very much by default, are occupied by verbose nonentities whose only object is the parliamentary salary and {pickings; who have no stake or material interest in the country, but make a business of politics. The farmers as a body have too strong a sense and realisation of self-interest to return political adventurers — "carpet■baggers" the Americans call them — and we certainly hope to see a much smaller num- , ber of these in the new House. j