AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 6 May 1903, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Three informations laid by Inspector Wright for breaches of " The Noxiou3 Weeds Act, 1900," were heard at the Magistrate's Court at Invercargill on Thursday, «vhen each defendant was fined 10s and costs (£2 9s). Nominal penalties were asked for in each case, as sir.cc the service of t.ha summons defendants had oleared their lands.

A private cablo message received in Christelrurch. on Monday stated that tho Queensland Freezing Works had. been reOTjened.

During the present season one mill has threshed 80,000 bushels around the Amberley and Omihi district. The directors cf the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company have secured a site for a» freezing work.3 Rt Timarti. A meeting of shareholders will bs called to authorise raising the necessary capital. All kinds of stock seem' to he required in all parts of New Zealand from Otagc — sheep going to Canterbury, pigs to the North Island, and no\T Haw-era is coming to North Otago for draught stock.

A supplier of milk to the South Canter^ btiry Dairy Company ne-tt&d £95 0s 8d fotr 12 mouths" milk of nine cows, besides -which he reared on the returned skim milk calves which sold for a total of £17 3s and pig 3 £8 Bs, and from his Sunday milk kept hi 3 hoiwo in butter.

During last year the number of cattle slaughtered at the Invercargill Abattoirs waa 2833, of which 28 wers condemned.

The last of seven successive crops of cat.q from the same paddock yielded over 100 bushels per acre at Lakeside (Canterbury).

A return compiled by Mr W. J. Bardsley, secretary to the Timaru Harbour Board, show; the quantity of inmorts and export? ortorpcl at that po«-t for tha quarter endecE March 31: — Import.*: General merchandise 3341 tons, timber 676 521 ft (1503 tons), cral 7817 tons;— total, 12.661 tcna. Exports : General merchandise 167 tons, wool 13,676 bales, flax 116 balas, hides 448, wheat 11,141 saclw, cats 35 353 «aiks. bar'ey 674 sackr, flour 2369 tons, oatmeal 56 tons, bran hik! sharps 1078 tons, potatoes 1 ton. grass seed 9 tctns, chaff 43 tons, hay and straw 133 ton.-, tallow 497 tons, stone 19 tons, pelts 47 tons, preserved meats 3C6 ca=ps (15 tons), frozen mutton 203 332 carcases (3937 tons) ; — total exnortc, 15.065 tons ; total imports and exports. 27,726 tons. Comparing the trade for the quarter with previous lilce period?, the import of general merchandise has been exceeded several times (5033 ton^ in 1901), tbat of timber only once (854,296 ft in 1901) ; the import cf coal was the highest; yet reached for the quarter. The export of wool from Timaru is very unequal quarter by quarter. The export for the late March craarter waa the lowest for the D&riod for the last 11 years, except 1899. The exportf of wheat for the quarter was the lowest fop 12 years or more, -while that of oats was highest except in 1900 (1.222.203 sack*). The. export of flnir is a!=i in »i'°n"l ''le l&at tuiaaitiSi's figureg beuis towst &8A fciwaa

for the three preceding first quarters. Erin end sharps also show a reduction on three previous periods. Frozen meat shows a large increase, about 63,000 carcases over that of March quarter, 1902. In the March quarter of 1900 the number was 96,567. Tallow and pelte show corresponding increases.

Many years have elapsed since such a good harvest has taken place in the Northern district (writes the Christchurcb Press correspondent). During the present season one threshing mill alone has threshed 80,000 bushels of grain around the Amberley and Omihi district.

The subsidised steamer Norfolk, which Bailed from^Wellington on Wednesday last for South Africa, is praotically a full ship. Included in her cargo are 19,000 earosses mutton, 1500 lambe, 1500 quarters beef, 1500 live sheep, and a considerable quantity of butter, cheese, and poultry. The shipment of oats is very large.

The Agricultural Department ie being ■urged to station "a veterinary surgeon in Poverty Bay. The settlers are willing to make a contribution to the salary of such an officer.

A recently-published report of much practical interest to farmers on the importance of superphosphates as a top-dressing for ehovs conclusively that while other forms of manure may be necessaryenough, and while farmers top-dress with ordinary farmyard refuse, these additions will not supply plants with the phosphate which is demanded as an essential item in their dietary. This was the great contention of Sir John Lawes, who worked out the problems of superphosphate manufacture, and demonstrated the beneficial results which follow its application. Yet another bit of farmers' science is to be found in an interesting article by Mr Warrington, who shows that the mere chemical analysis of a food is not to be accepted as a guide to its exact fattening powers. An analogous view, of course, is taken of human foods ; so mucbj indeed, depends cm digestibility. It is pointed out by various experts that tough foods, for example, equal apparently in nutritive value to 6ofter materials, do not fatten so rapidly as the latter. Another computation shows that 1001b starch equals in nutritive results 1471b of hay, 1571b of oat (straw, and 3741b of wheat straw. The lower animal, apparently, is as sensitive as is man to the question of the ease with which food assimilation ie performed. — English paper. There are numerous complaints (says the Field of March 21) concerning the present prices of boef, which seem to be out of all proportion to the market rates for 6tore etook. It is difficult to understand the fall in the former quotations, as there doee not appear to be any material increase in the imports of live stock and dead meat, while it cannot easily be, in view of the decline in the stocks of cattle and sheep in the country, that the home supplies have swollen to «n extent capable of depreciating the markets. Fat sheep make a better market, but with the rates for store stock so inflated, it is not possible to derive much profit by fattening them. Many farmers are beginning to reveal uneasiness at the prospect of being unable to procure oat tie or sheep to consume their large supplies of roots. The latter must be got rid of in some way, but it cannot be a prudent proceeding to buy in store stock at prices which leave no rcaconable chance ef their giving a profitable return. Better let the roots rot than pursue « course which will incur inevitable loss

A farmer living in Manitoba states that he can plough two acres a day against the Eng-lish farmar'e one, because he has lighter liorses, which walk faster ; long furrows with less turning ; ploughs wider lands : works from 7 a.m. until 6.30 p.m. : sends the team all on the one furrow, takes one himself, goes in behind to keep them moving; and last, but not least, he hae a commonsense plough. It is a light plough with a sharp share that cuts Hin instead of 12in.

A report of the flock of Suffolk Down sheep at the Colonial College, Hollesley Bay, Suffolk, England, shows the remarkable fecundity of this type of the British breeds. On March 2 last 100 ewes had lambed, and they had 186 strong lambs at their side. Since the «wes went to the ram there had not been a loss, and at the date the report came out only one ewe in the whole flock would not produce a lamb. • Suffolk Down Bheep have recently been imported in New South Wales.

The famous >ld Clydesdale mar© Moss Hose, the heroine of many a notable victory in the showyards of two decades ago. is etill wonderfully fresh at the age of 22 years at Montrave. When the students of the West of Scotland Agricultural School saw ler recently she was surrounded by a dozen of her descendants. Six of theEs off spring •were daughters of the great mare, five granddaughters, and one a great-granddaughter. These facts epeak ac to the fecundity of the old matron, and, as indicating the quality of her descendants, it is only necessary to mention that one of her daughters realised £1100 at auction, and for another £1200 was refused, while a grandson was sold when rising two years old for £1000.

The Kaiser has crone into the butchery business (says Tit-Bits). His name figures in the list of partners in a great German abattoir just inaugurated at Toronto, whpre 500 bullocks will be killed every day. The Meat will be taken by special steamers to

Hamburg, where it will be tinned for use in the German army.

The -wisdom of putting up fruit pulp for export in small tins, as advocated by the officers of the Agricultural D-epartir.ent, has been demonstrated in a- shipment of pulp by the Austral. Referring to this shipment, Mr J. M. Sinclair states that it arrived in excellent condition, and that the whole of it cold at prices ranging from £29 to £31 a ton. This prioe, Mr Sinclair says, is considerably above the figure usually obtained for Tasmaaian fruit pulp. In regard to the London fruit market, Mr Sinclair, in a memorandum to the Minister, writes: — "The prospects for the first shipment of Victorian apples and pears, if in sound condition, are considered good by Covent Garden salesmen. Although it is known that large stocks of apples are held in store in Canada and the United States, no heavy shipments are arriving. A very considerable proportion of the fruit from those countries Las not been in good condition. It has been found that apples taken out of cold stores in Canada and the States for shipment do not keep long afterwards, and some varieties deteriorate very much during the time of ocean transit."

Threshing operations are still in full swing in the Tcmuka district (says the Timaru Post), and the yields promise io be quite up to the ordinary average, and in many instances surpass last year's. The potato crops, too, are satisfactory, but the recent frosts have, in places, somewhat seriously affected the tubers. There is a considerable demand for diggers, and, as the crop 6 are good, very fair wages can be earned on the commission or contract system, especially about Orari. Large consignments of hay, straw, and corn axe being sent out of the district, via Timaru and Lyttelton ports, for foreign shipment.

As a result of a number of meetings held in various parts of the Aehburton district a butter factory will probably be established a>t an early date at Tinwald, with creameries in the vaiious outlying centres. Promises of liberal support have been received (writes the correspondent of the Christchurch Press), and it is hoped that arrangements vill shortly be completed so as to have the factory in full work in the early spring.

In response to a request from South Canterbury farmers to establish freezing worke in the district, the directors of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company have secured a. highly suitable site at Pareora, and it ie understood that a meeting of shareholders will be called to authorise an increase of capital, and that if this is sanctioned the South Canterbury residents will be invited to take up shares

"A man would require to be a capitalist to go in for land on the ballot system," writes "Aggravated to the "Waikato Times, "as besides the expense he is put to in examining the land, travelling to and from the inacoessible blocks and the keeping of his family, he has the further comfort of knowing that he TCay be several years before he succeeds in drawing one section, and that one may not be much then. I think it would be time enough to ballot sections when they could not be got rid of in anyother way."

An instructive meat test took place recently in England. The Halifax woikhoufie authorities had cooked 201b of English beef and 20ib of frozen beef as a test. In their report the committee stated that the meat was submitted to them without any intimation being give-n as to which was Englkh and which was frozen, and they were unable to detect any material difference. The particulars of waste ascertained in the cookintr were as follows: — Net weight of English beef on cooking, 151b 13oz; dripping, lib lloz;— total, 171b Boz. Net weight of frozen beef after cooking, 151b loz ; dripping, lib 13oz;— total, 161b 14oz. Thus there was a difference in favour of the English meat of lOoz. Whereas, however, the English meat cost lls 3d, the co.-t of the frozen was 8s 3d, leaving a net gain on ohe frozen, after deducting 3d for the extra shrinkage in cooking, of 2s 9d. The committee mentioned that on the quantity of beef consumed in the workhouse — namely, 7001b per •week — thk represented a savma of £240 per annum if frozen meat were used. The board subsequently considered benders for meat for the next three months. Quotations for both "Engli&h and frozen beef and mutton had been asked for, and a tender offering each kind was accepted, the quant itiee to be ordered under each head beinsr left to the discretion of the house committee. The prices in the accepted tender were: — Beef, English killed. s£d per lb; frozen. sd ; mutton, home killed. 6|d ; frozen, s_d. One member intimated that when the matter came before jho house committee he should move that all foreign meats be used. The board's requort for quotations for frozen meat haH had the good effect of bringing down the prices for English meat. Reports reach the "Win ton Record that grain in the Winton ditsrict is not threshing out quite as well as was expected from the appearance of the crops before they were out. Many district farmers inform the> Southern Standard that the results of th^ir oat threshing are disappointing. Wellgrown fields of oats, apparently quite as heavy a3 last year's, failed to yield anything like a similar quantity. The yield in many cases is fully 15 and 20 bushels per acre leflo.