NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Theso have already bc-cn published in tho Witness, but theie are cne or Agricultural two aspects of the position. Statistics. which have not been alluded

to. Accoiding to tho calculations mad© by tho Agricultural Department the amount of wheat roquired for seed and bicad, together with tho quantity exported prior to the end of February last, will lea\ a us short of our requirements, until tho next crop i 3 a\ailable, by 36,152 bushels. As there i*» a great deal of wheat so much damaged as to bo unfit for making flour, tho deficit mentioned will bo under the mark unlo-s a large quantity of damaged wheat has br<-n used for seed. At all events there is every prospect of the colony being quite bare oi wheat by the time the ingoing crop is r<"a f 'y for threshing, and tho market ii likely to o] oil at a fair pi ice irrc~pc-cfi\e of the vjimi of wheat for cvporl. Now. whnt is tie p'o-p'ct for the ne\t_cr-}p, -i turning that rho ri;ir!.ot i-. ciuitp bar- rf wheat on the Ist of M.Th next, wl.'-n tho cioo may begin to (omo in. It is estimated that' 200,000 acres ,tn- sown with v.l.eat Hi s year (37,000 an os me le than !:<-t yeni). and tl at the yk-ld will "he* ?5 bu-h< '-. Tl.at will brim in 5 000, COO Du-hc-k in all, and that wll have h me i our rpqri'emenis for tho cn=uing 12 v "/iU - Accosdi'ig to the- Government < i m.i >, uo f.-.ii-ume about 5.000.000 per ai iiuui. <■<> that there vri'l bo nothing availab!i fc- 'ce<l uuVst. the yield aveioge-, moro th mi 2o bu-hek per aero-. It may bo that to <.-Am>;u'd aiea of 200,000 acres is below tho i» j>k, lii.L in any t^c- there is bound to Le a lai',-o el< fi"iency. If tboro aro 225,000 acres k mi, zf'\ rite yield should hepprn to run to 2o 2 Lit hels, we should got about 6.000,000, and lnie no for all local requirement-. I fancy that tho averape consumption cLtcs no 1 p mount io "-o much as six bu-hr's per a'.n; m for c~\ery man, woman, and child in the eoYuv. and I fear that the deficit foreshadowed hy the statistics will turn into a suipki-..

On turn-ng to tiae summary gixine; the actual acreage ancl yield of wheat during the last hripji reason-", I find that t*ie =ma!lest acreage was last yoar and tho largest in 1898. with 3C3 000 cere — moie than double that of la-t jcar The. yield that year was also the highe-t — 3?4 bushels per acre, and the total result 13.000, C00_ bushels. The average yield for the past seven years works out {o about 27.12 bushels, and the average total yiHd 7,240.000 buehol=. Tho area of tho last oat crop w's about 43,000 seres less than that

of the previous year, and the total yield aboiit 4,000,000 bushels less, and there is every probability of there being a small stock on hand when, the next crop comes in, but the Agricultural Department does not furnish so many particulars regarding the disposal of the oats as in the ca-se of wheat, and, as a matter of fact, the oat crop is nowadays of more importance than the wheat to the majority of farmers. The past year shows an increase in both area and yield of the potato crop, and the quantity available is put down as being 206,800 tons, but I am inclined to think that a. very large percentage will be found unfit for keeping any length of time, and the price will probably harden later on, e\en without an outside market.

"Highlander," Southland, writes to say that, having read a good deal in Mixing Home papers about mixing Seed Oats. different varieties of oats, he is thinking of trying a mixture of dun oats and long Tartarian?, and asks for my opinion upon the matter. He says that he thinks these two kinds should answer, as both have the same ho bit of stooling, and should therefore rjpen together at harvest time. I am not quite clear as to "Highlander's" meaning about the stooling or spreading as applied to the oat 3. If stooling refers to the spreading or tillering out of the plant from the root, I cannot see how that should affect the time of ripening together of the two kinds. X by stooling he means the spreading out at tho head, I am afraid he is mistaken, as the Tartarian^ havo not a spreading or branching head like duns or Danish, but have all the grain ranged on one side. As I am aeked for my opinion upon the suggested mixture of seed, I answer that I certainly do not think it would answer, because duns and Tartarians would not ripen together. I have never tried the two together, but I have grown them in the same season, and always found the Tartarians much later in ripening when eown about the same time-. My experience is that Tartarian oats are the last to ripen of any oat. "Highlander" says that his object is to get a heavier yield. We all havo that desire, but I do not think tho best way of attaining it is to mix different kinds upon the same land". Good tillage, clean land, good peed, and plenty of it. eowu early will ensure heavy crops if the land is capable of doing it and th© season fairly favourable. We occasionally get oats to yield up to 100 bushels per acre, and without trying to grow two kinds together, therefore I do not think it advisable to depart from longcetabli&h&d custom, notwithstanding anything that may be quoted from Home papers. I appreciate "Highlander's" kind remarks about my notes, and I hope to hear from him again. If lie decides to adopt tho plan he proposes I trust he will make known the result, whatever it may be.

It has been suggested in tho House that tho Sheep Tax should be Stork Tax, decreased, and that the amount should be made up by a cattle tax. Some time ago I drew attention to the unreasonableness of one class of stock being taxed while all others go free, and it would be only fair and just to make all 6tock-owner= in the colony contribute a fair share to this method of raising revenue. At the same time I think it is right that tome allowance should be made to cattle owners, seeing thTifc they are liable to have condemned cattle destroyed under tho provisions of the Stock Act, and receive only half the market value as. compensation. On the other hand, it can bo taid that she-c-p-owners annually lose a good many sheep from one cauee or another, and got no compensation from Government. Last, autumn the majority of farmers experienced a severe loss of lambs, in some cases the mortality amounting to 20 per* cent., so that it cannot fairly be said that cattle-owners would be hardly treated by having to pay a tax per head of their stock As it happens, however, many farmers possess both sheep and cattle, and if a reduction of the Sheep Tax means the imposition of a cattle tax it will simply amount to shifting money from one pocket to tho other.

The agricultural returns show that during the past year two horses, 49 pigs, and 2095 cattle were destroyed by order of stock inspectors, and that the amount raid a* compensation was £3551 that being half the market value of the condemned animals, with the exception of £46, which was paid as full value for a few head. Therefore, cattleownors were taxed to the- amount of about £3500 durinar the year, while tho Sheep Tax brings in, I beliete, about £20,000 per annum.

An liish farm paper .mentions a case in which Kerry ewes had three A Prolific crops of lambs in 13 months, Ewe. and all doing well. This, the paper pays, is a record for any breed of sheep. The Dorset horn sheep can bo got to breed at any season, and instances have been known in which these sheep have done wonders in breeding, but I think) cases are very rare indeed in which a ewe has three crops of lambs in a little over a year. AGRICOLA.