LOCAL AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 8

LOCAL AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

According to a contemporary a farmer in the Greytown district reared a giant " porker." On being turned into bacon the leviathan realised £10 7s. The prices obtained for horses at recent saks («aye the Bruce Herald) go to show that th*> noblo animal is at present a valucb!o aife-t. Not many years ago a good draught team of three could have been purchased for about £50. At Mr E. Clegg's sale at Clarendon the other day an aged mare brought £46 ; two othcirs. which have so&n some work, each fetched over £40; and a seven-monfch-old and a two-year-old colt were run up to the very satisfactory prieoa of £20 and £36 10s respectively. The Fortrose Ploughing Association held its annual meeting on the- 13th infit., Mr Kidd (president) in the chair. Tho balance sheet showed a credit of £10 10s. Last year's committee was re-aDPointed, with Mr A. Christie as president, Mr K. G. M'Kcnzie vio?-pre?idient, and Mr J. R. Kidd honeorcetary. The match is to take place on July 15. The annual meeting of the Wyndham and Edendale Ploughing Association' was held: on the 13th inst. Mr J. Custaie (president) ocoupied the chair. The receipts for the y*ar amounted to £47 0s 3d;, and after payment of all expenses th&ie is a cash balance in hand of £10 6» 3d. — The present officers were re-elected for the ensuing year. — It was resolved that the match take t>lao» on Friday, July 17.— A class for single-furrow ploughs, with or without wheels, was substituted for tho digger class this year. Judging from what has bron said at'th© recent annual meetings cf the Farmers' Umions throughout the colony, writes "Rustious," in the Bruco Herald, it seemo pretty certain that the proposal to give compulsory preference to unionists is likely to meet with strong opposition from Hie farmers' representatives during the coming session. The principle seems rnopt unfair 8.9 applied to any branch of industry ; hut it wouM bo esoccially unjust to the interests of forming, »hould it. too, come wit am the scope of the amendment. At present it is quite within th-e province of the Arbitral *i«n Court to mata> prfferenee of employment for unionists on© of its awards in any oase brousht before it. And the courb has exwe'sod that ricrhfc on nianv occasions. Bub it has done so in a judicial spirit, and has considered each case on ii f s merits. In the majority of 'instances it has favoured the unionises on the frround that, a 9 every award that has bettered tho condition ot the worker has been the r-estult of exertion on their part, it is only right that they themselves should have prior claim, to the benefits to be derived from it. The Kai-tansrata oor respondent of th<* Olutha Leader wribes: — After a lonsr and woary harvest, and I believe the latest ever known in this difctriot. the last she-af has been garnered in. aud the worries of the farmer have ended for the present. Despite the lateness of the harvest the crops on the> whole are a Rood deal ahead of last year, both yield and quality being, better, a<» owiuat to the heavy rains last ye&r when the crop was in etook tYre was a great deal of inferior grain, while this year the sample ha» been very good, except in oaiS p s •wHtcs it lirps bee>n ratber hurriedly eot in ar<l the stacks have healed. The small birds ha\e also done th<Mr share of mifohief, the oai'lv-sown crops suffering J J erribly through th,» ravaijea of thrsei unscrupulous htt.lo wreitches. In spite of all that is done to keep down tho *»mall birds, thpy peem to inoreasa at an a'arming rate, and now -that tho cold weather is coming on, some united effort should be made to cope with the pest. According to tho North Ota?o Times, the poor potato yie-ld of this season h?s not affected every grower alike. A fortunate cror-par leased 25 aerea from Mr T. Liken at Boundary Crck. and from that area took 16 tons to the acre, soiling his crop at £3 10s per t^n. Tho prc«3 return wns rhereforn 400 tonp. nnd the caph rfCMVod wns £1400. cut of wliich tho rent (a *ma,ll nve) and the expenses liavo to b© paid. The fortunate cropper is expected to have eroiish left to maids a trip to Paris or buy a farm. Mackenzie Brothers at the Upper Nevis (writes the correspondent of the> Dun&tan Times) have put on to their country about 2000 fcheep, and have put up about five miles of femoing to keep them below the snowline. There if magnificent grass on the eastern side of the ralkvy where they have wintered their Bhecp, and 1 given a good winter theyVshould ge* a splendid clip of wool, and as the prioo of that commodity is now at a high level they should soon get a gcod return for their outlay. Jin view of the possibility of legislation being introduced during ihe coming session in the direotion of preventing the destruction of valuable land by mining either by

making it compulsory to re-spread the top soil on the surface of land dredged or by other means (says the Mataura Ensign), Mr J. A. Millai, M.H.R. for Duraedin, accompanied by Messn S. B. Paterson and J. M'George, on Thursday last drove right through the valley of the Waikaka Stream (this being the largest "dry land" dredging field in tihe colony) from end to end, and inspected the whole of th© country. From inquiries made, Mr Millar states Uiat the cost of returning the surface soil to dredged hind would range from £5 to £25 per acre. Prom what he saw (some swampy land being turned over in many cases) he has not yet made up his mind as to the expediency of tfte course suggested to be taken. He was, however, much, impressed with the evident riohEe&s and fertility of the district from an agricultural point of view, and also with -its suitableness foi a railway being constructed through the valley. For the year ended March 31 the Vincent County Council expended £145 5s lOd on the desbruofcion of small birds. The twenry^eighbh annual winter show of the Winton A. and P. Association was held on the 17th inst, and, as usual, tho exhibitions of almost ©very product that can be produced on the farm were of excellent quality «nd maintained the high reputation for which the district is famous. Compared with last year, tho entries were not quite co numerous, there being a slight falling off in roote and grain. The backward season accounted for tha diminution in the classes nanied, but although quantity was lacking, the general excellence more than made amends. By far the strongest competition was in manufactured edibles, and' it is safe to say tliat but for the keen interest manifested by the ladies of the district in this important branch, the popularity and revenue of the association would be largely affected. The display of turnips was the bc-st yofc made, and it was the opinion of competent judges that the exhibitssurpassed anything yet seen in Otago and Southland. In the dairy department, butter occupied a prominent place, and reflected credit on all concerned in its production. The poultry a'so cam© in for a good deal of admiration, general improvement in every class being distinctly notice-able. The Merivalo correspondent of the Western S'ar writes: — This has beeai a re~ oord year for 'harvesting, putting up stacks ■ and taking ihem down again. I was going to record a finish only for two small patchea standing in stook. The creamery is still taking in milk which, however, is getting gradually less. The manager, Mr Andrew Dunlop, of the "Waiau Dairy Factory, has made, a name for the district by carrying off fu\-t prize- in the small factories at the Dunedin winter (show. The Waipahi correspondent of the Bruce Herald writes: — Harvest operations are still unfinished, ajxl the chences of getting the outstanding crop in are very unoertain.-' There is not a large quantity of crop out, only odd fields here and there, and three or ! four dry days would see- it safely in the stack, but the trouble is to .get those few dry days at this late season of fche year. Nothing great has b&en done so far at rab-bit-trapping, nor is fjnything likely to be done, for the reason that the rabbits are getting scarce. They kave decreased nearly 50 per oe-nt. since last trapping .season on. account of tho wet spring and summer drowning so many of the young ones, .and their natural enemies, tho ferrets, a.nd the weasels, are getting numerous. I think in a few years fciie rabbit pest will ba -a. ibing of the past if people only give the rabbits that are loft attcmtion at the proper time. Tbe Hyde correspondent of the Mount Ida Chronicle writes: — Tlie recent hard 1 frosts put an abrupt stop to all farm work, suoh as ploughing, etc. Several of our farmers have a goodly area turned over and come have been sown with rye for feeding off. No threshing has yet been done in the district with the- exception of Mr A. Arthur, who has threshed part of his crop, consisting of Ganton and dun oata. These turned out very patisfaotorily, yielding about 54 bushela of firsts per acre. As the paddock was pl'Ouflfhed out of lea, this is an excellent yield. Mr Arthur .has beon busy lately with his chaffcutting plant cutting chaff for come of our farme<rs, for which good prices have been realised — up to £3 159 per ton be : ag obtained. Sheep for fattening are now on the turnips and are doing well, and as the crop generally is vary good a considlerable number of sheep will b» fattened. Wo (Wanton Record) understand that tho top price paid in Inveroargill Ihis season foi oats was Is Bid, given by Messrs Henderson amd Batgar to Mr Wm. Cox for a line of 500 sacks on trucks at Harringtons. I It is only right to «iy that the sacks con-tain-ed a prime sample of the Hamilton, milling oats. Our informant states that Mr Oox. haa bern offered the came price for the remainder of rl*o crop, but that fie intends keeping the balance for seed. The course of lectures agreed! upon between delegates from the Southland High Sohool Board of Governors, Education Board, and Executive of the New Zealand Faime>rs' Union on agricultural chemistry and veterinary science is to be eommemopd early in July. The lecturers are Messrs HilpfMidorf and A. M. Paterson. On the Saturday the former will leoture at Invercargill and the latter at Gore; on tli« next Saturday the ordei will be reversed, and so on throughout the course of future lectures. The fee for the series will be 10s 6d, and tickets are to be available shortly. In the meantime the classes will be established at Invercargill and Gore- only. A hopeful- Mataura distriot farmer states that if the weather keeps fine he will bo abls to start cutting his crop in a few days. And this in midwinter.— Ensign. The new preservative, glacialino, was used 'n tihft manufacture of the butter of Wyndham Dairy Factory (says the Farmer) which carried off aU the principal prizes at Dunedin show. In tho manufacture of the very successful Edf-nclalo choese, Mr James Sawere used a pure culture prepared by Mr Sinplcton, tho Government's Canadian cheese expert, from a Haneen culture, imported from that firm's American laboraitory. It wag at Mr Singleton's rcqueet that Mr Sawera used the culture. The- fact that the American culture was used with flitcoess indicates clearly that laboratory-prepared cultures can be imported to tho colony without der»lopiag sterility, a fact generally doubted hitherto, aud declared by colonial authorities to be impossible. As ehowino: tho diminution in the number of rabbits ihis yoir, a Waipahi correspondent informs us (CLutha Leader) that as far as ho knows there. 19 not a single trapp«r at work in that district this season. In former yoars at least 20 men were making a living — and a good one at that — rabbiting during tho months from February to August. _Waipahi is not sinfrular in this respect ; it is the aame, more or less, throughout the district.