AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORL NEWS.

{ . The, twelfth annual report of the JJepart1 m-snt of Agriculture has been circulated. .The volume is much less bulky than those of the last few years, this reduction being effected chiefly by amalgamating the stock distrusts and placing a chief inspector in. eacli of the following divisions — viz?: Auckland, >Hawke's Bay, "West Coast, Wellington.Wairarapatßalmerston, „lifeirlboroxigli-Nelson-, Westland, Canterbury-Kaikoura, and Ofcagd. N 'It has been Jecided. td"issue more bulletins, _ thus - placing information^ in the hands oE settlers early, rather than wait for 'th© , j annual Volume, which is frequently-delayed! owing to. heavy parliamentary Tvork. ! ,T&© director of Xincoln - Co.'iege brought I a' serious charge "against some -wool-growers i, a few days ago. '".Anyone," he said, ;-" who goes through ( the woolrooms /in Christchurch cannot ~be- proud of tfie way, Canterbury farmers put up their - wool. - Canterbury farming can be decidedly -improved" .in this respect, and it should be improved, Sor buyers expect tlie wool to be baled carefully, and until they get, what they ■" exjje&f" you cannot- expect' a better differentiation .if)/'prices. You can -help -.the prices, also,, by getting a more evenline of ,she-2p" In *y our breeding flocks/, ,' 'The",Geovenamenjb biologist states that- the spraying atffpoiaioes in.the 'Auckland d£s-.. < t'rict = has '.b'eqn effeetiv,© in 'every -where prompt steps „ were "taken 'and.^his djxec- . • lions carried out.. ; He states that ; aS . the result' of 'spraying 75 ,pcr i ,'cent. 'of a crop, in' V pacWo'uk" af Otahuhu "taken- by. -the Government for' .experimental 'purposes _ .'has .'been "saved. „ r~\ . -. " " '' ' The officers of "the Stock- Department are making ,a determined .effort to prevent tha spread of contagious* mammitis ainosg xh& dairy herds of th© .Wairarapa and Fortymile -Bush.. " . . , It , is 'estimated that 200,000 ' frozen taar-i oases 61- lambs "have been exported to Lon--don and other ports this- season^ from^outh Australia.' - . A Carterton resident has -invented a milk- ' stirrer, which, Jt t is claimed, by keeping up ' ; .a -constant yet slow stirxing motion in milk ' *cans, prevents milk turning sour in— -hot I weather, assists to it,_"-and keeps it f -sweet and -fresh. ' , ! j 'Despite the high the country, 1 traversed' Ky the Otago Central is looking j fine ; -good - feed everywhere and crops j promising .well. - . -' • I , The grasshoppers are clearing everything before them at Stratford (Vie), and have now started on the bark of . Fruit trees. Hea-vy spraying by orchaidistt lias been • xindertaken, and- - ( rom this causti the gooseberry~orop, whien -is very late, has been largely' spoilt, the spray used rendering iho fruit unfit for consumption. ' The mafze crop in the Bay .' of Plenty district this season will -be smaller than, usual, as the area sown is 1500 -acres less. Mr A. "W. Rutherford, M.H.R., has been ; informed by tlie Hoo. T. .Y. Duncan ,thafc ; an anaual grant of £25 will be" made' by, I the Gcvernm-ent-v tp jthsf "Waiou District "Set- _ ! ' As'sdco'ation, for'tlie. purpose "of secur-, ing a weekly .visit from D» Jiittle- to Waiau.' "■'i.The^lJlßw "Zealand ,Times'' says that; thV 1 -New'''Zealand farmers 7 - Union - paid out afcout-i£lo-.000 in" milk: -cheques iasfc'- nionth.Nearly.half the " was distributed':. in ilie diskiot^bf- ElcefehuEa. • " -" - ,' -, The following" aairyiiig i^ems amSSiom. tha New Zealand~>Dairyinan -for December: — At a meeting- of the direcrtors of the Dalefield Dairy Company, "Wellington, it was stated that the- number of, pounds of milk received 'for the four weeks ending October 1 31 was 930,487, and the average test 3.71. The sum of £864- 6s 9d was paid away to suppliers. — Some time ago mention' was mads .of a shipment of liutt&r from , a Tauranga factory." We are now glad to be able to report that the Government grader, to whom consignments are now submitted, has classed it at 94^, the nigbest point so far reached by any factory in th® province' this season, and said to.be Ahead" of Taranalci by lg points. This butter cam© from the Te "Puke Paetory.— For the* period June to September 30, of this year, 1,500,0001b of milk has been handled by. the Cambridge Co-operative Dairy -Company. The season's output of butter has been sold to Mr Henry Hughes, of liiverpool. T-he -turnover on last year's operations was - £26,000, and the quantity of butter manufactured was 243 tons. — Some three years the Aorangi settlers near TTeilding out themselves adrift from ibe Cheltenham Dairy Company, and induced th© 'Welling--ton IFresli Food and Ice .Company to -erect a -creamery in the -leart of the.'settlementAt the annual meeting of the ..Dairy" Company, held some -months it was decided to take stringent" -steps to leco-veri^arrears of pwinig by the settlers. The Jatter, I acting Jippii legal adsdoe from a Pahnerstoni solicitor, Have decided- to fight the matter out.— The output at the Qkaiawa Taranaki, xeadied 156 boxes of' butter per {Hem. The., amount paid out lor October was £6000.— At &.e Hurleyville Factory, for *4he month -of Iffovember' the average tes* was 3.59, over-run 12.70, and 24,711b of milk . to^make lib of butt&r.— Work a* the ISTuhaka Butter Factory is reported to be going on satisfactorily. Last month seven tons of butter v/«re shipped away. — The Manna*

,toki-" Dairy, Eaotory.,' is 'now receiving 43,00015 of milk> per" day^ The Xaponga;; Creamery of this . company-.- is putting- ■ through- 18,0001b rdaily. s -; The . total output - jperday is- 75 boxes. - ' >- ' r Tne 'Government instructor in dairying; reports tbat'Uie quality" 'of "Butter -being ex- '„ ...ported ! Queensland is^ steadily improv''.ing:' ' " ... - -~\> t < --" - ,1 ' ," \ • " Professor SI ML 'Baboock. says : con- ^ sensus of opinion to-day among those who Lave given the .most thought to this 'matter is that the- .per cent, of fat in. milk — is -not affected by the-' character of food. _ 'Although there - ia~ a , small falling-off the - shipments of mutton from Argentina to Great- Britain o£ about 1150, 000' carcases^ it must be borne ,iv mind that this jyear Argentina has sent 800,000 carcases to South Africa. - - , ' -» In, striking contrast to the „ dilatory aad lialf -hearted methods ■of the Government in -dealing with English and^Scotck necessaries' v is^the energy, with which tb/* ixßh,department is conducted. The latest .move in the Green Isle (writes the London correspondent of-the x lPaßtoralists' Review) is to' put the fruit-growing-, industry upon, a firm, ' secure, vand 'up-to-date basis. / A show", of fruit and a- conference was- held .in IhiDlih for tilts purpose, 'and some idea of the scope of ihe' movement .may be formed from the fact that there- were over" 27oo, en-tries. Sir Horace Pltinfcet,- the Secretary of the Department, detailed- .what -Bad. been done to rouse enthusiasm and stuily^of the -subject. He-said the inquiry began in. the first year of -their operations, wien. they sent experts to see what had been done, by-farmers-in the North of , Irelan^rand; the reports of these- experts . bore -exceßexnV- testimony- to. -'the enterprise and'iiid'us^iry'-.of'tHe farmers in I -.many parts of IHster:/, Some- idea aiayi be gained of the .increase in fruitgrowing-, a& from, the .single -station .of /Annaghmofe," Comity Armagh; the^consignments of .strawberries had^risen by steady"annual increases from 100-tonsxih-ISSS^to 700 -tons in "190*J "" - ." A meeting of- shareholders of the Eairlie' Saleyards Company was held 1 at*OFaiflie after . the?, last stock "^sale,- "Mr Good Win in ith&- . chair.- IThe question , of -building a sheep dip' .at' -the - yards brought forward. Mr F. .K. Gillingham moved; Mr Hamilton seconded, and it was carried — "That the stecpetary ascertain haw many 'sheep are* likely to hi dipped at 4 the yardj and get a -.guarantee from settlers as to number, the information 'to be~ submitted to, a meeting to be held next sale^day."-^A .good deal of discussion ensued over -the day for the sale, - 'it being generally thought that Thursday was, a. much, better day than.Monday., Some of the^ auctioneers, however, being I.—-unwillingl .—-unwilling- to-' change, it was moved' by Mr John M Ihtosh, " seconded by Mr F. R. Gilling- , ham, and carried, 'that sales -in. future be lield in \ the Fairlie yards " every, fourtk. Thursday^from date, and in" February andT March . an additional sale be held at" an interval -of, a fortnight. The secretary was instructed l to notify the '-auctioneers; " - Mr Rider- Haggard, in an article on "The Small Farmer-in England,"' in the November-^ Windsor Magazine,' says: — "In the neighbourhood' of the ./town of Epworth, where* the famous Wesley was born, and ' -where" may be seenu the parsonage whence Tie was rescued 'from the" fire as ,a boy. ift&re are hundreds of acres "of small holdings. . ./ . In summerr they present a beautiful picture, covered 'as they- are with, crops of various hxtel -.-"." '. None of these' small tolders 'seem to be afraid of the -winter, •when, 'thfe -ordinary -labourer sometimee thrown out' of -wort/ or of ha t ving"t6 come^ upon, the .parish for' c relief. -Jndeed, Tnahy' of <them/prosper well, even" in -these 'days i 'of -narrow agricultu-ral. .prdfits. Thus,-, near; "EpwortK, alone, X-was-tolcT of 23 men, now." f arming'/froin. five to a hundred^ and twenty acres, • of ,. 'w-hom, had" 1 begua life as a labourite . .- .. Throughout .'the meet., of Eneiand,"," Mr Haggard adds, "the mdi-, Vidcal" -who begins- as a labourer must ex^* pect bo end as a labouier, and' is. fortunate if "be eeoapes- tHe workhouse or some other -form of" charitable relief in his old -age.** IBut wily should ffc- be. «>?