AGRICULTURE IN THE WELLINGTON DISTRICT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2513, 14 May 1902, Page 9

AGRICULTURE IN THE WELLINGTON DISTRICT.

The farmers on this coast have had almost j perfect weather all through harvest, and all are nearly finished, and the grain is all in barn or gone to market. There are a few small, out-of-the-way places, where a little threshing has to be done, but not much. ! Since the advent of so many traction engines and big mills the threshing is not such a | Jong job as it formerly was; in fact, I ' fancy there arc enough mills for the quan- ; iity of crop. Aided by the fine weather, J the season has been a short one-, but the j yield was better than that of last year, and there wa3 not the quantity of straw we usually get; bo I think the mill-owners and men have had a fairly good season. It is all contract work, or nearly so; in a few , oases the mill-owner charges so- much per j day for the plant, and the farmer pays the men. The crops turned out in good colour, I as there was no wet weather to injure them j to speak of; but some late crops wore i light in weight, not being able to get four bushels in a bag, but there was not much I of that, and the price of oats is now good. I am sorry to say some had to, or at least did, sell early, in come cases the want of money being the cause. I did hear of one selling at Is 9d, but 2s 4d has been about the ruling price until lately, when 2s 6d is freely offered. Wheat started about 3s 2d, but the price is now 4s, or perhaps more. However, there is no great quantity of j wheat grown on the Coast. j Referring to needy men having to sell, so keeping down the price of grain, the Sandon farmers have tried a new scheme. Under last year's amendment of the Local Bodies Act the counties are given power to borrow money to erect grain-sheds and also dairy factories, so the Manawatu County have erected a large shed near the tramline, and charge the farmers so much per ■bag storage, and so can more readily get an advance on the number of bags stored. I understand it is full. That is a step in the right direction, and I hope to see other counties taking advantage of the act. But It appears that road boards have not the same power. It is time we had some improvement made in the different Local Bodies Acts, so that ordinary mortals could understand their purport. Life is too short to tackle the subject as it is, and the present Parliament appears as if it were inclined to shunt it off to the next men. However, that is politics, which I wish to avoid. The yield of grain being good, a «' prices very good, it should follow that farmers are having a happy time ; but there is nearly always a fly in the ointment, and the fly in this case is the price of wool and sheep. Nearly all farmers on the Coast have sheep, and a good many have had a nasty knock through the slump in sheep that has taken place, and it is the price of oats that has pulled a good many through, and also helped the auctioneers not a little. To begin with, ]ambs. did not pay last winter, as the price in the autumn was too high — 8s in many cases; and with a big death raT;e, and no rise in value, many struggled on through : the spring, and in many instances you can ■buy the same sheep for less money than they cost as lambs. In face of the market for wool, there is nothing to warrant giving any more than present prices. Lincolns 'have had the biggest fall of all, a 8 shown at the sale of Mr Robert Linton's stock on April 23. The Government having bought the property, everything was for un- ( reserved sale, and four-tooth to full-mouthed rrurebred stud ewes only brought 7s 6d. These sheep have been kept as a stud flock * since 1878. and Mr Linton has been a careful breeder all that time, and they were i ■A nice lot of ewes. Another lot of old : crossbred ewes, dry, brought 7s 4d. I have fin idea that Lincoln sheep will come to the front .again shortly, and would advisp all ■ who have them to keep them pure. Purefeed "sheep of any breed are very few and far between all aione this coast, and purity , ©f eire you must 'have. What is to be the ' coming sheep to suit this coast? It is very bard to say. But one thing is certain : we Cannot go on much longer the way things j iare going. I must say that if the Land Purchase ?Joard make no wors<* bargains than the ' purchase of the Woodlawn property they j Kill dot ast yarr far snaac. There ftTfi <

' many inquiries -as to when it is to be open I for leasing, and it is time- that the incoming } man ■yras .afc work to .prepare for the next crop.. The surveyors have been a-t work for come time, but as yet they have received no instructions as to how it has to be subdivided. It is real good land, and on© paddock of oats threshed 60 bushels per acre; but it is better for growing grass or clover, and roots of all kinds do well on it. The price was £12 10s per acre. I expect to see a big rush for it. ■ There is a fair amount of land changing owners lately, at fair prices, all along the Coast — some at very high prices. Of course dairying is pushing out sheep wherever the land is suitable. Feed of. all kinds is fairly plentiful, but might be better. The autumn rains were a little late. Turnips are only middling, as a whole, but lambs are selling cheap, so the turnip-growers should do something out of roots this winter. The Farmers' Union is making solid progress, and I do hope the members will stand shoulder to shoulder, at least until after the elections, and also take a broad and national view of the situation, and not be led away by bickering over small local matters. I have been advocating farmers to unite for the last 20 years and more. I had nearly given vixt all hope, and it giv&s me much pleasure" to see the strides they have taken the past few months. My advice is: Stick to freetrade, and do not be too frightened of a reasonable land tax. The State must have money, and I consider land ought to pay a portion — better a land tax than protection any day. Give us liberty to do as we like with whatever we have to sell. Be it wheat, oats, or -wool, mutton, butter, or cheeee, labour or brains, let U3 be at liberty ! to demand as much as we can. get in pro- | portion to our several abilities. There is too much sameness in price. One man takes a lot of trouble and makes a nice clean sample of grain; but gets no better price than the" sloven who sends in a lot of stuff full of all sorts of dirt. The same with mutton— the buyer gives the same price all round. They say they cannot help themselves. I know ifc is hard to convince a farmer that his sheep are not as good as another's, or better; but still, in looking at the different lots of sheep coming in to be trucked, there is often a wide differenca. ANTIGUA OVIS.