NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2528, 27 August 1902, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

I have before me a return of sheep, horses and cattle in the seven colonies Lire Slock of Australasia from 1861 to of 1901, and giving the numAustralasln. bers at the end of each teu-

year period, and it is interesting to see how the numbers have increased a& the time goes on. For brevity's sake, I shall give the sheep returns in round' numbers — i.e., in millions. In the year 1861 Victoria headed the list with six millions, New South Wales second with five millions. Queensland four, South Australia three, and New Zealand two and three-quarter millions. Ten years lator New South Wales had gono up to 16 millions, and Victoria had only increased to 10 millions, while our colony had gained seven millions, and stood at nine and three-quarter millions. In 1881 Victoria's fioc'-s showed no increase, New South Wales an increase of 20 millions ! New Zealand three millions. In 1881 New South Wales had gone up to 61 millions — an increase of 25 millions in the 10 years ! The increase in Victoria was two and a-half millions, in Queensland 12 millions, and in this colony five millions; the number being upwards of 13 millions in that year. From 1891 to last year wo made about two millions ; New South Wales had gone down from 61 to 40" millions, Victoria from 12 to 9 millions, Queensland - from 20 to 10 millions, the total for Australasia being 88 millions. The total for 1891 was 124- millions, so that, deducting our flecks, Australia has suffered a decrease in; 10 years from 104 millions to 68 millions, a»" drop of 36 millions, and nearly the whole of this huge decrease has taken place through the drought in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. In cattle, New South Wales had about two millions in 1861, and maintained the same number until a year ago ; since then there has been a large decrease. Forty years ago Queensland had. 500,000 cattle, 10 years ago six millions, a. year ago four millions. In 1861, wo had only 193,000 cattle of all kinds, and have steadily increased tho number until the last returns, which showed 1,256,000. Our horse stocla has risen in numbers from 28,000 in 1861 to 266,250 last year. All the colonies show aa increase all along, and New South Wales leads with 481,000, having doubled her numbers in 40 years. There are nearly two mil hon horses in the whole of Australasia.

A "Young Farmer," of Otama, wishes^ foi information about timothy, Timothy and, among other questions.

asks whether it will do sown

with a grain crop. I know no reason why timothy should not bo sown with a crop, but I have never sown it in. that way, nor have I seen it done very often. "Young Farmer " may give it a trial, but he must bear in mind that it is * a "rass that wiU do no good upon a dry or li glit soil, and I would advise him not to 6ow it unleps his soil is moist and low-lying. It will not succeed on ordinary, ridgy land, and he had far better sow rye^rass and cocksfoot in that ca-se. Timothy is a good g>v.°s for a mo ret bottom or a sappy rivor fiat, autl will produce a hoavy crop of hay. TiiQ seed is very sraall, and heavy, weighing about 451b per bushel ; bnt as it 13 similar in appearance to the seed of Yorkshire fog, :t is difficult to tell whether it is free from a mixture of that gra-» o. not. A few years ago the Minister for Auricu'.turo caused tests to be made with a lot of samples of grahses and clover as bought in the ordinary niaiket. Of ten samples tested for germination two samples showed le&a thun 60 per cent, of germinating power, and none had over 70 per cent. If the average germination was 65 per cent, it would mean that 1001 b <jf feed would have to bo sown to make sure that 651b would grow. The samples of ryegrass and cocksfoot that wero tested gave much the same results, so thai it is evident it ih necessary to sow a good deal more 6eed than is actually required to give the ground a fair covering of grass. Any peed that eliows a germination of 65 per cent, entails a loss of nearly one bu->hel of every three sown, and when we sow a bushel of grass se»d we can only expect, at the most, that three-fourths of it has Mtahty enough to germinate and prow. In reply to "Young F- •mcr's" queiy as to quantity of timothy to sow, I may tell him that if he has suitable soil it is better to sow it alone at the rate of about51b per acre. As there are more than a million seeds in a pound of good timothy," to can figure out how many se -Is, if evenlydistributed, would fall upon a square foot of surface, and a( every se^sd grows, the.

The dairy-farmer can save his milk by using Nimiio axd Blair's "L-ctina," which it a splendid substitute for milk. It mixe« with water, and is readily taken by the calf at all times, and it tells its tale in, a very short time. Price 6d nar lb; SQ» per cwt...»

plants wil^ be thicker than the hairs on a cat's back.

A farmer on the Oreti River tells me that he is thinking of trying a Linseed as he is doubtful about oats Growing. crop of linseed thii season,

being a good price because of the very large area being sown. No one can po&sibly say now what price oats will be at in six months' time, but it is good policy to grow more than one kind of crop every year. Dinseed will do on al-nost any kind of soil, but prefers a nice rich, sandy loam, as most crops do. Any good wheat land is suitable for linseed, and judging from Oreti farmer's description of his soil, I should imagine a crop of linseed would give a good yield. It delights in a free, open soil, because" it has fine fibrous roots which require to extend freely in every direction ; but I have 6een it do pretty well on stiffish land that ha 3 been deeply and thoroughly cultivated. As a rule, the land intended for flax should be deeply ploughed in the autumn for a winter fallow, and then re-ploughed and eearified in the spring before sowing. In the North of Ireland, where this crop is largely grown for fibre, it follows a crop of potatoes, and in Scotland it comes after a white crop on land which has b&e.i clown in grass for some years. Thr- inai.i thing is to have the soil clean and reduced to a fine and deep tilth, and free from any stagnant moisture, therefore it is a good plan to plough in high and narrow "lands," or "rigs," as they say in Scotland. As birds are very fond of the seed, it 's better to drill it, and if the seed is fresh ar.d pocd. abushel and a-half to the acre is plenty thick enough, as the plants require room to tiller out and produce strong heads. The seed should weigh 561b per bushel, and 20 bushels per acre is a fair average crop About ihe middle of October is a good time to sow, and it will then come in before oats which are sown earlier, as flax is a fast-growing crop, and is usually ready for cutting about three months after sowing. By scuffling the land in dry weather before sowing, all weeds are destroyed, and a clean soil is very important, unless the crop is drilled in rows wide enough apart to permit of the horse hoe working among the crop. I have mentioned 20 bushels as a fair average yield per acre, but under favourable conditions 30 bushels is not an uncomriton yield.

At the International Conference of Sheep-

breeders, held at Carlisle in Adulteration Juno last, Mr Mansell, well of Wool. known as one of the leading

breeders of Shropshire sheep, read a paper upon the adulteration of woollen fabrics. The conference was a very representative one. and included delegates from America, Australia, Tasmania, Nevr Zealand, Cape Colony, and Natal. Mr Mansell's paper dealt with the subject in most forcible language, and pointed out the depressing effect that the practice of using shoddy has upon the demand for wool. _ He stated, upon the best authority, that in" the Bradford district there are scores of mills in which 10 bales of shoddy are ufod for every bale of wool, and that in what is known as tho heavy woollen manufacturing district of Yorkshire, there are dozens of manufacturers who never buy a single bale ct raw wool and who yet are known as manufacturers of woollen goods. We can easily understand why wool sales are depressed if It ia true, as stated, that 90 per cent, of so-called woollen goods contain cotton, and that in nearly half of these there is 75 per cent, of cotton. Some time ago I referred to a bill which has been introduced in the congress of the United States, and stated that this "Shoddy Bill" is meeting with strenuous opposition on the part of manufacturers of spurious woollen goods. The fight is still going on, but it is hoped that the bill will eventually pass, and then all goods professing to contain wool will have to be marked and sold as what they really are. The object of Mr Mansell's paper is to stir up public feeling upon the matter in Britain and bring about legislation there similar to that proposed in the State?. It 1 is admitted that there are certain classes who require cheap clothing irrespective of its quality, and there is no reason why manufacturers should not cater for those customers, so long as they stamp the goods and sell them without attempting to impose upon the public. It is a fact that some people will have cheap goods, or, rathor, low-priced, for it is gen?*r.!ly the case that tho best is the cheapest in the long run. The State has passed stringent laws against adulteration of food and manures, and it would seem to be only consistent to apply the same principle to wearing apparel. Margarine cannot be pold as butter, or chalk and water as milk, and even pure milk is now reckoned as adulterated if it does not contain the standard percentage of butter fat, and yet the grasping manufacturers are free to work up filthy rags from Continental countries and sell the resulting material as woollen goods. Mr Mansell quotes several instances in proof of the pre\ailing adulteration. A Melton cloth, used ( for ladies' dresses, 42in wide, and sold at \6d or 7d per yard, contains no wool, being absolutely all cotton warp, the weft being entirely spun from rags and a little raw cotton blended together to give it strength — this is sold as woollen goods. There is a large demand, too, for a so called box-cloth from which cheap covert coats are made. This, also, is nothing but cotton and rags, but has a good appearance because the ait of finishing has now been brought to such perfection in Yorkshire t' at none but experts can detect the absence of wool It is also stated that Scotch manufacturers of tweeds who hitherto used no shoddy have been compelled to do so in order to compete with cheap English goods. It is a popular cry nowadays that it is a pity the millions of Chinese and Japanese cannot be persuaded to wear woollen goods and thus enormously increase tho world's demand for wool, but it seems that there are millions of Europeans who have yet to learn that they are wearing tweeds and cloth containing no more real wool than the material worn in China and Japan.

Mr Mansell's paper gave rise to a long dis-

cushion at the conference, A lVord for and during the unanimous New Zealand, condemnation of the prac-

tice of unscrupulous manufacturers, the New Zealand delegates spoke up for tho woollen mills, of this colony, saying that adulteration was unknown here, and that our tweed suits wear so long that we get tired of seeing them. This was spoilt, however, by another New Zealand delegate saying that in the case of our manufacturers the virtue was a necessity, as wool is cheaper than imported cotton and rubbish would be. It is the case that our colonial woollen industry is constricted by tho importation of shoddy Roods, and I am glad to say that the necessity for lesn'slation in England •tcainst the nalmuia off oi spurious woollen

* - goods was supported by the New Zealand members of the conference, and Mr Bealy said that the crusade should be pushed in the interests of the colonies, awd it was resolved to sejid a copy of Mr Mansell's paper to the Colonial Premiers' Conference, then sitting, and also to Mr Hanbury, President of the British Board of Trade.