SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 1 July 1903, Page 8

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

fFKOX 008 OWH CORRMKMIDIKT.) The rainfall (2.25 in) was moderate during the month, but the weather The WenthM was cold and windy, and and thero was a fall of enow lin the Farm. or 2in desp on the 25th. Th& principal farm worlc just now is threshing or carting grain to market. Ploughing has been commenoed here and there, and will become general as soon as the threshing, carting, potato-lifting, etc., is finished. A large area will probably be ploughed, but it is unlikely there will be such a large acreage as usual under oate unless the seed ©an be sown in due time. The unpleasant experiences of this season should be a lesson to every farmer not to sow cereals long after the best period for sowing. For a few years back the seasons have been later than they used ta be, and no one can foretell if the cycle of bad seasons (if there are periods of bad and good seasons) is at an end. Some farmers attempt more than they are able to accomplish in due time, even by working an extra day in the week in harvest time, and the result is unprofitable. Now that the rearing and fattening jf stock is profitable, more attention should be given to the pasture and forage crops. There is toa much inferior pasture everywhere, ana many farms would carry much more stock if the paddooks were broken up every three or four years. New pasture is earlier in spring and later in summer, and is much more nutritious than old pasture, where inferior grasses have usurped the places of a good deal that had been sown. If it were practicable to rotate the live stock as well as the crops it would not be necessary to break up tihe pastures so often, but it is not desirable to keep mixed stock on every farm. Reverting to the crops, reports from every locality in Southland are to the effect that the yield is much under tho average. But, as usual, there aro reports of very satisfactory returns in some cases whore tha conditions have been favourable. The stuff winch has been a good while stacked is yielding better than that which was threshed nocn after being put together, and the grain is in good condition for storing. A great mistake was made this season in commencing the threshing two or three weeks after the crop was cut, because loss was sustained either by the grower or the buyer through the softneaa of the grain. A good deal of the crop was not very dry when it was stacked, but tho stacks are in good condition where all damp sheaves were kept on the outside rows or near the top of th« stack.

There is a very keen demand for sheep at the present time. At a Lire recent sale email elore lambs Stock. sold afc 7s 2d, and other

sorts from 8s 5d to 10s 6d, the last being good store lambs. The price paid for fat lambs during the first* half of the month was about lls 6d, and sellers felt chagrined wjhen they saw stores selling at within a shilling of that sum. Cull crossbred ewes about three-parts fat sold at 11s 9d, which shows that there is such a scaroity of wethers owing to the heavy exportation^ of lambs that inferior sheep nwkst be fattened for local consumption. Broken-mouthed ewes fatten rapidly on soft turnips or new pasture, and it is profitable to dispose of tUiem before they become gummies. The flocks have been largely depleted of lambs this season, which has been one of tho best for fattening lambs. One cannot help noticing the healthy appearance of sheep exposed for sale of lafc years — quite different from tho appearance presented by ehoep several years ago, when large number of boilers were bought for brooding until tho pastures became foul from lung and intestinal worms, co that the lambs died in large numbers from these parasitic pests.

Colts should have in winter something m addition to what they can pick up in the paddocks in order to develop into healthy and large-framed animals. Swedes are a valuable adjunct to oatto and chaff. Oata are considered too heating for foals, and experience eeoms to show that oaten chaff along with swedes is sufficiently nutritive, and that they thrive better when there are no oats added. The swedes should be chopped in email pieces, as foals are unable to break them with the nippers. Some farmers turn their working horses out at night with covers, as they consider tha* they are healthier in the open than they are etabled. A horse that has had an attack of weod or one which is afraid to lie in the stall may do better in a paddock, but in other cases horses are probably better stabled unless they have a dry «*""s to lie in. It is not tho rest obtained in cue stable that is injurious to the honse, but fcfio lack of adequate ventilation. If there wpjo no lofta above, the stalls there would ba sufficient ventilation, but it is too much to oxpect that this old-fashioned plan of stable will be- abandoned (or a while. There lias been a good deal of horse sickness prevalent tbia 6eason, oaused by chaff whic'a

Jud baen heated. The symptoms are those of spasmodic colic of an aggravated kind. In ordinary colic "the temperature and pulse are not much above normal, bat torses suffering from tho effects of heated chaff* have a high temperature and a rapid puke. Musty chaff or oats- are apt to induca diabetes.

The turnip crop is not nearly so good aa it looks from a distance, «a Tamils. the root growth did not keep pace with the tope. But, considering the late sowing, the crop is better than it was expected to be, and as stock have been kept off the paddocks us long as possible the -turnip* in. many places will last till the end of August Tbs eoft varieties are better for late souring, as t&ey grow more rapidly than tbe others. Tfee DevomSiire greystone; is perhaps- the best of these. There is » variety called Komney March which is said to be very suitable for sowing with grass for fattening h mbs. Swedes are the most fattening, but are too hard* for lamb 3, and would coon make ewes broken mouthed, so that they are unsuitable for sheep that are kept for s few years. The comparative feeding' values- of equal weights of -turnips; reckoning the brtst food at 100, are as- follows: — Swedes 5, yellow turnips 4£, white turnips ft. Young sheep will, however, extract more Eutriment from, the eoftest variety owing to fc&ihg aiKe ta eat much more of it per day. Half an acre of soft turnip? for every hundred lambs should be sufficient,, and about the came area of rape- would suffice if the forward lambs only are fed on it.

Arrangements nave been made by the Southland Education Board, High Jgricultiiral School Board, and the cxcEdncatio*. cutive of the Farmers'

Union to hold classes for instruction ence a weak, beginning on July 4-, during the next three months. The lecturers will be the Farmers' Union veterinarian (Mr A. M. Paterson, M.R.C.V.S.), who takes up veterinary science, and Mr P. W. Hilgendorf, M.A., BSc., who deal* with agricultnral chemistry. At present the classes are to be held at InveTcargiH and Gore, but * complaint has already been made by one branch of the union that these centres are favoured. It is a. good sign that an interest is being taken by farmera in eoioatifie education, but I think that it was wise to commence with- two of the principal centres in order to find out if a sufficient number of people would attend, the course to make it worth while holding- classes. I think there will not be many of the younger men m attendance, but hope that I shall be mistaken. This is a. splendid chance of acquiring scientific knowledge, and although we may deem it sufficient to be farmers, but not agriculturists, the scientific knowledge should at least make farm life more inleeresting than it i*. The following extract from J. F. Eraser's "America at Work" should? be of interest in this connection : — "Early in 1902 the lowa Agricultural College made a useful departure. Thinking it had something to teach the practical men of the State, it gave for a fortnight a cpecial course in stock and grain judging. Four hundred people, from, every county in lowa, and all the adjoining States, took advantage of t>hi« opportunity. University graduates worked alongside men from rural schools. Everybody was on. the alert to learn. From 6 o'clock in the morning to8.20 at night they were busy. Th» following general programme was carried out during the enlir* two weeks: — From 6 till 7 a.m. and from. 8 to- 10 o.m. T grain judging; from 10 to 12 a.m., stock judging; from 1.30 to ♦ p.m., stock judging,- from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m., meeting' in the college- chapel, where various topics of general interest were discussed each night. Surely that was an interesting and suggestive sight: four buntired practical men, old grey-beard farmers and young graduates fresh from Yale, going through a fortnight of scientific instruction on the judging of stock and grain."