LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2604, 10 February 1904, Page 16

LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

A large mob of cattle have been driven through from Palmerston and placed on the -Uakerua Company's Estate. A year ago the land was a swampy wilderness, but theeffect of the. recent reclamations had boon ■wonderful.

I The following "Rural Notes" are taken [from last Saturday's Southland Times- — iho grass harvest is finished, and the grain, harvest has commenced. There have been, several excellent paddocks of gra-s in tho district this seaborn, and the seed has been secured, in fust-rate order. Oats are ripening fasi, and harvesting should be general m two or three wer^ks. It is thought that tho crop will not thresh out so well this j-ear as last : but there are many excellent paddocks to be seen. So far, small birds have not been very destructive, but vii some corners there is complaint about them. Turnips are doing splendidly, and tho rain of last Saturday has improved them greatly. It is believed that turnips this year wvl be a record crop for this part of the country. Stock are doing fairly well, although it n said that lamb= are not turning out so well as was expected. There is no wordi of disease among stock. — The usual battle with noxious weeds is it'll go'Vig on, and faimer-* and others are doing what they can to cope with the thi=llo and ragwort. Many farmers have successfully cleared their paddocks of ragwort by keeping small lota of aheep constantly eating it down. Even, on bush land sheep have completely kept it down. Tho=e who were late in getting sheep have not been so successful, as theplant was nearly full-grown before the sheep got to it. Next year, however, the experience of those who' have got it eaten down, and who have thereby been saved) the trouble and expense of cutting it, will be the means of others getting -heep on to affected paddocks early in the seamen. Several farmers declare that for feeding lambs ragwort is hard to beat —It is said that several of the settlers on Morton Maim have sold their farms to Canterbury buyers, and that several others are on the eve of doing the same. A farmer at Wcodlamdo was offered a tempting price for his place, the other day. and the intending purchaser wa* a Canterbury man. There is quite ai boom in Southland just now, owing to the largo number of northern buyers pres-enfc among us searching for suitable farms. It is a regrettable fact (says the Taieri Advocate) that the small birds seem to be. more in evidence this year than heretofore. Immense destruction of gvaki has been going on in all parts of the district, and the money value represented by such a io=s must be most considerable. It would certainly p.ay farmers to combine and take sustained and systematic action to check this great leakage in the results of their labour. Efforts have been made to jop& with the evil, but the measure of =ucces 3 achieved by the o o # efforts is visible in the wholesale destruction going on all around us. The Government is spending a lot of money in developing trade and adding to the prosperity of the country in opening up «cenic resorts for tourist traffic and so forth, but if it is animated by a true desireto mcrcaoe the. wealth ot tho colony it would be acting wisely in co-operating with farmers in a substantial way in minimising) this evil.

The Wakatipu Mail reports that the warm weather of the past month ha> p'ayod ha\oo with the crops'. Hundreds of acres of wheat and barley, etc., have been completely bronzed with tho sun's rays, which must militate against tho yield. Several farmers, are already harvesting oats, and it is found that chU cereal has dimin shed in quantity on previous year c . Tho root ciops have also suffered, and many of the f aimers lme had to put in second sowings.

A meeting of the committee of the Maniototo A. and P. A-Rscciatioii took place era the 30th nit., Mr R. Scott (president) in the chair. The Chairman said that tho lbu-iness was principally to obtain a report, of what had been paid in prize?, what a;r '- '. rf i < n - v, - <■'■ ' -^ir?. psiJl wlicf, was the financial result of the late show. Personally, he. was rather d.pippointcd with the show, not from a financial ponvt of view, but from a po'iit of view an official should take of the exhibit-*, which woe rot so. numerou= as ttey sliculil Icu o b*P" They must try aixl sr<H more- omp ■titirn It ro him that the =ctutv wa- -' n^ly throwing nieney at a few pecule. The

entries in horses were not so bad, but in the sheep and cattle classes the paucity was very noticeable. The amount they paid last year in trophies and cash amounted to .£B2 5s od, whic was a considerable advance on the previous year, the amount then •being £77 4s Od. Outstanding subscriptions amounted to about £40, which the secretary assured him were all good. The estimated profit of the year was about £20, which, ■with the credit balance they started the year with, would give a credit balance when subscriptions were got in of about £36. Several suggestions for the improvement of next show were then considered, and met with general approval. — Mr Kirk said 'he had heard it suggested at Blacks that this society and the Central Otago A. and P. Society should hold a -combined show once in say three years. The chief difficulty would be the question of distance, but he thought that could be got over. He also referred to the sound financial position of the two societies, and to the tendenoy to do away with country shows in favour of centralising them. This concluded the business.

The monthly meeting of the Tuapeka Agricultural >Society was held on Thursday last, when there was an exceptionally large attendance of members. Air George Smith (president) occupied the chair. A letter was received from the Minister of Railways in reply to the society's resolution (forwarded to tho Department) protesting against the introduction of the by-law regulating the weight of sacks of grain. The pith of the communication is contained in the> last two sentences : — ' 'I may say that this by-law was adopted only after long and serious consideration. The proposal was first submitted to the representatives of the agricultural and pastoral industry in November, 1£99, and again in December, 1902, and I have no doubt that once it has had a fair trial any difficulties that may be feared will disappear, and that the by-law will work favourably to all concerned." Mr Fraser moved : "That Mr Bennet, member for Txiapeka, be asked tc meet the Farmers' Union on a day to be fixed to discuss this question, with a view to his taking action in the House." After some discussion the motion was ca/ried. — Mr It. Gunn moved the motion standing in his name — viz., "That the Agricultural Society amalgamate with the Farmers' Union. ' In speaking in support of his motion, he said the membership of each body was practically the same, and that by holding their meetings -separately justice was being done to neither. Whereas if they were amalgamated, they •would have better attendances, and their rnteres-is would be better looked after. Mr C Mullins seconded the motion. Mr James Robertson said he had git en the matter some consideration, and was inclined to oppose the motion. He was satisfied that if they attempted to merge the Agricultural Soci&ty into the union they would iose their individuality altogether. Several members having spoken tc the motion — some in favour of and others opposed to the proposed amalgamation — Mr Gunn consented to withdraw his motion in favour of an amendment that the matter be adjourned to a further meeting — At the conclusion of the business the Chairman said they were all aware that Mr Byrne, who had occupied ■the position of editor of th^ Tuapeka Times, for a number of years, was severing his connection wich that paper, and he thought it would be a graceful act on the part of the society to acknowledge the services he had rendered it during his occupancy of the editofisl chair. He moved: "That the secretary write to Mr Byrne conveying the society's appreciation of his services on their behalf." Mr Drysdale seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation.