LOCAL AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 15 April 1903, Page 8

LOCAL AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

The Clutha Leader of the 7th inst. says: — The supply oi milk at the Stirling Dairy Factory runs into 700 gallons a day. Foi v short time in the flush if the season the supply totalled 1000 gallona daily. Th company id at present paying 4Jd for milk testing 3.6, with a prospect of a still higher price in th© course of ths next month. The Stirling factory is one of the most successful concerns of the kind in the | .olony, a tribute to «reful and judicious 1 management.— A case under the "Noxious I Weedb Act" came before Mr Cruickahank, 1 S.M., at Clinton on- Friday; when Patrick 1 Kean wa3 charged on the information or ' Inspector Bruce with failing to clear Canadian thistles at th« props* season. Defendant, wh« pleaded '.Guilty/ was fined 30s and 19s *>sts. . The past has Been a very favourable year for -wgedsr-and they have been very hard fr. keep ddwn. With, a few exceptions, however, the settlers throughout the district have made bona fine efforts to -omply with the requirements of the law. The Mokoreta correspondent of the Southlaud News says: — The crop*, on every faro>, I I think, are very good after all misgivings. ' and the yields should be considerably abovo par, a fortunate circumstance, especially to those whose turnins are not what they ■ should be. Grass, "too, is fairly abundant, I and stock of every kind looks well. Mo;fc I of the farmers are milking for the factory, ' and have done well, especially since New I Tear. They ire paid monthly. and I hearlof handsome heques being obtained. NewZealand flax, so Jong neglected, is now becoming an exceedingly important article, or commerce, jid if eagerly sought after. Its manufacture is now quit? an important industry. There ari at present .two flaxmills between her and Wyndham, and I hear that other four are projected. These, when started, will provide employment for a large number of people, besides bringing money into the district. , The nonthly meeting of the Tokomairio Farmers' Club was held on the 2nd inst. Mr It. Ferguson (president) in' the chair. Several nominations were received for judges ' at the forthcoming show. Mr Moore paid! ' that he tbough' it advisable that the fafc .stock should be judged by one judge this year. Air Driver seconded. When "nut to the meeting, however, it was no 6 to alter the present system — "fae sub-com-mittee appointed to consider the question

of improvement .to tht Show- Ground reported that it is desirable to erect a grand stand on Hie ShowGround sufficient to hold 200 people^ at a cost .not exceding £150. (Mr Moore asked if anything else w # as not more desirable than a grand stand — for instance, enclosures for sheep. Mr Scott said exhibitors were to be considered as well as the public. He thought tha* stock pens such as those at Balclutha should be made. Mr Moore said he thought plans for the stand should be prepared in the meantime, and submitted to a full meeting of the club, and it could then be decided whether anything was more desirable. This suggestion ■was agreed to. It is very disheartening (writes a contributor in 'ast Wednesday's Tapanui Courier) to learn that in Canterbury the harvest is finished and threshing- -yields sp^ndid, whilst here grain gathering Is only starting and the weaiher — last week, fov instance — atrocious. Rain made the grain .paddocks like a bog, and farmers are looking, for winter to be on before all the crop is garnered. There •will be damaged grain in large quantities for a certainty, and even the old resource A pig-feeding- cannot be resorted to, as the "fellow that pays the 'rint' " cannot be got an any numbers. Pigs have never been so scarce and dear as at present, and supplies foi ordinary purpores cannot be procured, let alone an extraordinary quantity, if jhere is a large bulk of damaged grain to consume.' The expanding poultry trade will absorb damaged wheat, but oats for that purpose are not eagerly sought aiter. Fortunately the nriVe of stock— espeoia-ly fatsis -keeping up "to a fair payable limit; and therefore most of the farmers in this district ■vyill pull through without serious loss, even with a bad harvest.

• The Dipton correspondent of the Southland Times writes:— Harvest here is in full swing. The season is certainly a late one, and fears were entertained that the crops jrould be light, and that there would be but little chance of saving them even should *hey ripen. These" fears have proved ■groundless, a« the yield promises to be fully •up to the average and most of it will be got in in good condition. The threshing mills are tmtting in an anpearance, and a good price is all that is wanted.— Chaff-cutting is quite a 'feature of the season's operations. The hand and horfie-nowei machines have cone down before the steam chaffer and ibagger. Mr William Harisson Has invested ill one oi Andrews and Beaven's latest, a machine costing something like £100, with which lie is doing much work.— The dairy factory is progressing under the manage-ment-of Mr T. Swale, whose output is. giving general satisfaction. . The adjourned meeting of the Waitahuna Farmers' Clufrwas held on the 4th met., Mr W. Livingston (president) in the ;hair.— A letter was received from the secretary Tokomariro Farmers' Club stating that his committee suggested the club should ascertain on what terms the Government would place the services of a veterinary surgeon at the disposal of the districts •of dutha, Bruce, and Tuapeka, after which the matter will be" considered: The opinion was expressed that there would scarcely be A'ork for a veterinary euTgeon in the three districts named. To collect- the fees from the farmers to make the salary would hardly be possible.— The small bird nuisance and -fche ragwort question' were discussed at length. JNo definite jonftlusions were arrived at, further consideration being postponed till next meeting.— The Chairman said he thought it would be a good idea to have a book in the club room in whioh a record could be kept of their ear-marks and brands. There were •large numbers of sheep going astray just •now, and it was impossible to tell whose ear-marks they carried. They had a number of strange sheep juat now among theirs, and they did not know to whom they belonged, whereas if they had such a book es he Tjroposedfor reference, it would be an easy matter to say who they belonged to. The meeting agreed that the chairman s idea was a very practical one, and should be given effect to. Mr Craig moved— "That the secretary bo empowered to procure a 6uitable book for the purpose described by the chairman, *nd that each member of the club hand in Jim ear-marks and brand for the purpose of having them in Bame." 'The motion was seconded by Mr Batemen and carried. At the Wyndham Magistrate's Court on the 7th inst., James A. Dodds was charged Ibefore Mr M'Carrhy; S.M., on the information of Robert Wright, inspector of noxious •weeds, with a breach of the "Noxious iWeedsAct, 1900," in not clearing hia farm of v Canadian or Californian thistle after notice to do so by the inspector. Defendant pleaded "Guilty." Mr T. M. Macdonald, ■who. appeared for the inspector, said he was (instructed in the circumstances not to ask for a severe penalty, but only such a fine as would serve to impress upon defendant «. sense of his duty; and ako to let the pub9io know that ,he~act was being administered, and that any proved breach of it would be visited with punishment. The defendant had done little or nothing to destroy the thistles until he had received the summons. The consequence was that the weeds had seeded and were still seeding. This ■was the first prosecution under the act in Southland. His Worship said the defendant's neglect would injure or ruin not only bis own land, but also the land of his loigliboura, and it was his plain duty to keep his land clear. As the defendant had pleaded guilty, and as it was the first prosecution in Southland under the act. he would be fined the minimum sum, 10s, with costs amounting to £1 Bs. If other ca'.es were proved before him t a severer penalty would be imposed. The Western Star says: — Mr John Ewan, of Drummond, whe has recently returned from at rip to the Old ' Country, brought with him a high-bred Clydesdale colt, Garthland. The North British Agriculturist contains a fine portrait of the colt. He was bred by Mr Wm. Hunter, Garthland, and cot by the Prince of Wales-'s horse Prince Bobert out of the great breeding Tom mare Darling. He is thus a full brother to the record-breaking " "how korse. Hiawatha, •which has won the Cawdor Cup five times, including this year.? show. He also won the Prince of WaWs gold m-=dal at th Edinburgh Highland show in 1899 Garthland is built on the same line* as Hiawatha, and shows a marked resemblance to the recordbreaking champion. iarthland may safely be trusted io make a name "or himself in New Zealand. We congratulate Mr Ewan on hia !atest purchase, and feel confident that farmer 1 ; will show their appreciation of his enterprise by booking: their mares to the high-bred Garthland. The following notes are from the Palnvereton Times of the 10th inst. :— The Waikouaiti Dairy Factory Company has raised the price of milk to lO^d'per lb of butter fat* i& addition to * boons which will be

declared -xt' the end of the season. The factory has already turned out 95 tons of cheese this season, and it ie expeoted that before closing down from 20 to 25 tons more will be manufactured. — Farmers whose crops are in stook have had an anxious time during the past fortnight, and had the weather not fortunately taken up on Wednesday, a large amount of damaged grain would have been the inevitable result. Several of the Dunback and Green Valley farmers had their grain in fit&ck before the rain commenced, but the bulk of the crops in the Shag Valley, Goodwood, and Waikouaiti districts are still out, and, as harvesting operations have been almost at a standstill during the past ten days, very little progress has been made. However, the weather now ueems more settled, and, given a fortnight's absence of rain, harvest as far as this district is concerned should be pretty well completed. Farmers who have already threshed state that the yields have exceeded expectations, and, as the crops in the district are uniformly good, we may fairly anticipate one of the best gram-pro-ducing seasons for many years past. Correspondents of the Winton Record writ 0 as follows : — Oreti Plains : The farming community are busily engaged in harvesting, and advantage is taken of every opportunity the weather affords to get the crops led in. There are some splendid crops to be seen around here, and a goodly yield should be the result in many instances. All that is required is a good wind to dry the stooks. The weather of late has been very broken. The turnip crops are, on fche whole, looking fairly well. — Drummond : The weather lately has not been favourable to harvesting operatione, but what good weather we have had has been taken full advantage of by the farmers to get their crops in. Most of the cutting is about finished, and stacks are going up quickly all over the plain. It ifl to be hoped the weather will improve quickly, although at the time of writing t doea not look ;oo well. The season is very backward, and all farmers are anxious to get their crops safely stacked.— Wairio : The weather for the last week having been fine, a large amount of harvesting has been done in this district, and given another week as warm as last, cutting will be about completed. However, as there has been no winds, crops are still too damp to stack, and several farmers are wishing for strong nor'-westere. It is a glad surpise to many of the farmers to see the way their crops have stooked up, as many expected to see o failure after -he wet spring and summer that we have experienced.

The Kokonga correspondent of the Mount Ida Chronicle writes:— Taking the reason all round, it may fairly be considered to be the best one, both for crops amd pasture, and for stock thriving and doing well, that has ever been experienced in the district since the time that closer settlement began, ay for the last 20 years. Prices of all kinds of farm produce have been good during the 6eason, but it now appears that a considerable drop is to take place in the value of oate. The latter appear ro be an enormous crop all over the- Soulh Island. Prices for sheep, which went back a little about two months ago, recovered themselves considerably, and settlers here are expecting to meet a good market at Waipiata at the next sale. There is, some fear that owing to the large drafts that have been taken from Southland to Canterbury lately the northern buyers may be by this time fairly satisfied, with the numbers they now hold, but as! tfte turnip cropa in Canterbury are reported to be enormous, *<t is wonderful how many sheep they can fatten up there, and so they may still want more. In accordance with notice given, Mr T. Green, chairman of the Southland County Council at last Wednesday's meeting moved— "That ragwort be included in the list of noxious weeds." The Chairman said that expert evidence had been obtained of the danger to, and death of. etoek caused by ragwort, and a report had been given by Mr Gilruth, Government vet regarding an experiment made at Auckland His experience waa that most of those in opposition to the proposal bad properties infested with the weed, and they did not care for the expense of clearing it. fhe Chariman mentioned that Mr Paterson, the veterinarian, was present,- and would throw some light cm the eubject.— Mr Paterson said it bad not been absolutely proved that ragwort was the cause of the Win ton disease, but the evidence, so far a it went, was conclusive. Wherever they found che weed they also found the disease. It had been known in Canada for 50 years, and only where the weed was growing, showing the connection between the two.— Cr Raymond eeconded the motion pro forma. He said if it .were carried it would be practically placing in the hands of inspectors power to compel anyone to. eradicate the weed, and, by continuous prosecution, ruin any man they chose. He knew of a man with 50 acres of land, and it would require a regiment of soldiers to- -clear it of ragwort. Where there were sheep there was not ragwort — it was a- luxury for them. — Cr Hamilton agreed with the previous speaker that sheep kept the weed down. He believed the loss of horses -and cattle at vvinton had been caused by the- weed.— Cr M -Queen said the question did not affect him personally, as he was a hheep farmer. They might worry he farmers for years, but they would not eradicate the weed, and the only way to keen it dovin was to put fchecp on the land on which it grew.— ln the course of a reply to a question, Mr Paterson said that •the Home "tainy" was altogether different from ragwort.— The motion wa= earned by five votes to four, the voting be>ng as follows:—For: Crs Green, Fleming, Ronald, Stuart, and Hamilton. Against: Crs Raymond, M "Queen, M'Calhun, and RobertIfc is currently reported (says the Wyndham Herald) that the business of a company which consists of purveying dairy supplies, and whose ramifications extend throughout Southland, is to be ccmertcd into a cooperative- conoern. The Wyndham Herald ttate* that fcheepworrynig dogs are causing much annoyance in the district. One farmer, who in a single night lost from this caiue five sheep ha.s become desperate, and threatens to shoot any dog he finds on his property. About a srore of n^cn are at the present time engaged i« cutting noxious weeds on Crown lands and reserves in the Southland land district.

Sunday- harvesting has been protty general down south of Late, and many paddocks now eonta-in siooks of golden sbpavc=. A somewhat unusual sight (says the "Bruce Herald) has 1 ;pn wune.<=s<>d by Clarks-viJlo residents during the last two or three fine nights. A Clarlcsville farmer, who is evidently despairing of obt-ainmg fine weather in the daytime, has been engaged reaping bis croft, through the night, with, the aid. of.

a couple of buggy -lanterns in front of Lie binder.