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Otago Witness, Issue 2652, 11 January 1905, Page 7

»blr ba judged that the -late gale has -t&- ~ riiiced ■ the barley- returns by about 25 * per-cent- Clovers-are likely to have suffered j in equal proportion. There _are very few good crops of rape=' about the Southbrids?e district. "Turnips- are only just being; so wn.. As " a practical illustration of the prolific nature of the" ryegrass seed crop in the Ashburton 'district this season, Mr H. J. Harrison, of Doric, took in to Rakaia on Thursday a rubbed out sample'Tirom a crop •which he has just cut, and which he estimates will yield 45" bushels .to the acre. Another well-known Rakaia "farmer incidentally mentioned that the season .promised to be one of the best they have had for some years. The crops are late, but are now looking remarkably- well. Fead is- abundant, and --lambs' are fattening off exceptionally, well, and fetching big prices. Crop prospects in South Canterbury (says the correspondent oj the Christchurch Press), though not : quite 6O good as was the case last season, are still very high. The area under crop is rather smaller than last year. The effect of the "continued" wet weather has been to cause less grain and more roots to be grown than would otherwise have been the case. Of late splendid weather has , prevailed for bringing on the orops, and ■wheat, oats, and barley have, during thepast month, made vigorous growth. Gener- , »lly speaking, - the growing grain is in a • very healthy condition, rust and blight being the, exception. Taking the, wheat crops" all .over -South -Canterbury, the threshing - results trill probably show an average -yield of 25 bushels per acre, though in some localities the returns will be fully 60 bushels ■> per- acre. The average yield- of oats may, be set down at about 35, bushels per- acre. Barley is only grown- on a- very limited scale" In South Canterbury, and th© average- yield will'probably run about 35 bushels .per acre; • The ■unseasonable weather lias been very destructive of stock in the 'centre of the North Island. In some parts the cold has been- unprecedented for this time of the_ year. The ranges are snow-covered. On" Birch's Station 450 sheep died in a night after being shorn. Thirty-five of a mob of fcorses being driven through from Waikato also died ~in one night after being turned into a- paddock. The drovers employed Maoris to bury them. The weather is still ■wet, and the roads are terribly rough. The ; - coach -from here to Waiouru has only -got^; through three times this season, and the \ journey is a tedious on© through mud in j strong waggonettes. ■j.^e Greytown correspondent"'of the Wairarapa Leader says th© bumble bees have completely ruined the bean crop in that district. The bees- attack the flowers, piercing, holes through the bloom and billing the bean. The ■ Marlborough Poultry Association 'mad© a request to the Minister of Agriculture that the department should either undertake the management of an egg-laying competition 'or supervise one arranged by the association. Mr Duncam has replied that at present he is not able to entertain either proposal, as -no ' vote has- been passed for 'the purpose. ' The association- is still hopeful of holding the competition. While in "Stratford this week, Mr J v A. Kinsella, dairy commissioner, will confer aurith; the managers of the Technical School *egaiding*the proposal -to establish a dairy- j ing class. at the*school. • r j The lambing in the Rakaia Gorge district \ "this season is reported to be a light one, the cause of -this being tihe excessive amount of cold weather that has been experienced during the last few months. The. returns -from the Masterton Railway Station for the past four weeks show that 3000 bales of wool and "11,500 sheep were railed away. - The wool still comes in dowly, owing to the broiken season. The Gothic," which left Wellington on Thursday for London, took about 50,000 oases of butter. The Burton Butter" Factory at Motueka was totally destroyed by fire on the 4th. The building was owned by F. W. Thorpe, Mayor of Motueka, and was leased by Rankin and Sons. A large stock of butter in 'the store was lost. The insurances are £400 on the building and plant, but the lessees (Rankin and Sons) are uninsured.' As showing the activity of the flax busi"ness in Southland, "4536 bales^ weighing 900 *ons, were received in the Bluff stores dur'inpr December. " Tuesday's -New Plymouth News says that triiile in New ;v Plymouth Mr Kinsella, Chief Dairy Commissioner, suffered a relapse of the enteric fever contracted in South Africa, and,- was laid up for two days by a malarial Bhaking fit. ■ A small farmer in th© Wendon Valley disJfcriot shears each<-'year 200 'sheep (says th© Standard). Three yearß. ago he sold iiis ".clip during Christmas week, and it - realised -£26 12s. He sold- this year's clip on .Thursday- from the 200 sheep, and it Bralis'scT 3546 12s. A Masterton pettier (says . the" Age) had a lather curious experience with two of* his Bheep'a few days ago. They became "cast," and as they were unable to stand he took them tohis woolshed and " doctored " them with half a bottle of whisky. As a result i of this "doctoring" the sheep slent for two days. _ 1

( Three thousand four hundred and eightyj six boxes of butter, weighing 1743cwt, and \ 185 cases of cheese, weighing 214cwt, were r shipped for London by the New Zealand Shipping Company's s.s. Ruapehu recently -through ~ the Lyttelton Harbour Board's cool 'stores. Two thousand and four boxes of butter came from Canterbury, 1132 from Gtago, and 350 from' Southland. The cheese ; was from Canterbury. t A phenomenal increase in land values has apparently taken plao& in the Wakanui dis- ] trict, Ashburton, recently. Three years ago I the Government valuation of land in No. 2 j Ward was £225,464, while on the recently "published roll the total valuation is given as £315,383, an increase of 40 per cent, in three years. In No. 3 Ward the old valua-- ; Jion was £246,899, increased on the new roll ( to £424,008, or an increase of something 1 like 70 per cent, in three years. [ -Blackbirds have done considerable damage j to the fruit crops in the Ashburton County rthis season; Another record -has been created by the Christchurch Meat Company (Limited) in the output of fertilisers. During the week from ' December 17 to 24 the company mixed, bagged, and sent out from Islington and Smithfield 433 tons 17cwt. It took 244 railway trucks for its distribution, besides what was delivered 'at the works in farmers' own drays. The large numbers of stock that are now being brought out from England (says the Christchurch Press) necessitates the enlarging of the landing stage at the ; quarantine- island. At one time the arrange"ments sufficed for landing the small crates in which the -sheep were carried 1 , but the crate® are now so much larger that some of " : them have to be floated ashore after the sheep are taken out. The landing stage- not only requires "enlarging, but the approach needs widening. Kails have re- - cently been laid, and a trolly built by the caretaker, and while this is some help in , -handling small crates there is not room, for landing- the large ones. .Stronger slings are, also needed for the crane, as a breakage occurred recently, but fortunately 'it .happened before. the crate left the deck of the launch, or otherwise some injury to the sheep the crate contained, if not loss altogetherj might have occurred. It is hoped that the Stock Department will take this matter in hand at once, as there are other consignments of stock to arrive this year, besides the numbers on the island to be removed. . . The committee appointed by the- Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria- and the Central Fruitgrowers' Assiciation to draw , tip a scheme for the information of the ; Minister of Agriculture (Mr Swinburne), 1 with the object of dealing with the starling j pest, has recommended:— That the Govern- ' ment should be asked to contribute up to ■£500 for the first- year (1905), conditionally ]on municipalities contributing an equal j amount, "any less sum or sums contributed j or expended by a municipality or munici- ; palities to be met by an equal amount by , the Goyernment. It ie also recommended ; that the amount to be paid for the destruction of starlings should ' be at the rate of _6d pei dozej. heads. At this rate, £1000 would -pay for the destruction of 480,000 birds. The committee has fixed the price at 6d per ' dozen heads, as it considers this amount necessary to ind'uee persons to take up -the work of destruction as a business. It jalso recommends the Government to offer a. prize 0f "£250 for an effecti%'e means other than, poisoning of destroying starlings, and suggests tHat the Government should introduce legislation "next session to make j the "destruction .of starlings -compulsory. The Minister is ' also asked to be good enough to tg&e "steps to give effect to these proposals .forthwith by notifying the municipalities, agricultural * societies, and fruitgrowers' associations of the recommendations, particularly with a view to securing the necessary funds. The. report will be considered by Mr Swinburne. Sheep imported by the undermentioned breeders (says the Ohristchurch Press) were released from quarantine on Thursday: — Mr A. Murdoch, Riversdale, Southland; | Messrs Little Bros., Ngapara; Mr W. Grant, Timaru ; Mr J. Reid, Oamaru ; Mr D. Grant, Temuka; New Zealand and Australian Land Company, Dunedin ; Mr L. White, Rafeaia ; and Mr T. Reid, Oamaru. One of the oldest settlers of South Canterbury, Mr Edward Acton, of Fordlands, Pleasant Point, died on Thursday last, aged 71. Th© deceased 1 , a native of Exeter, the son of a clergyman, was educated for the medical profession, but giving up the idea of a profession, he oame to New Z-ealand, landing at Wellington in 1855. He came j down to Canterbury, and began his career j as a. colonist by sheep-farming at Alford j Forest, Ashburton. He soon after, in part- ] nership with the K&nnaway Bros., took up the Clayton and jSherwood Downs country, j in the Fairlie district, and after some years of back-country squatting, Mr Acton and Mr Walter Kennaway bought 1500 acres of land near Pleasant Point, and Mr Aofcon farmed it, Mr Kennaway coing honic. A few years ago the partnership was dissolved, Mr Acton reta'ininpf the farm. H© took an active part in certain lines of local public ! affairs. He was a member of the first *GeraJdin& County Council, and for many years was a. member, andl for some years chairman, of the Timaru Harbour Board [ He was a leading! spirit in the_ establish- ', merit of the first Timaru freezing works, which formed the nucleus about which the present large works at Smithfield have i grown up, and was chairman of the com-

pany which carried on the works. Of late years Mr Acton had withdrawn from almost overy public organisation cave th© Farmers' Union, of which he was one of the most enthusiastic members. No person in the district in whioh he dwelt so long was more sincerely respected. He married a daughter of Dr T. O. Rayner, of Temuka, who, with & family of 12 sons and daughters, survives him. The butter shipped from New Plymouth last month totalled 27,767 boxes; and of cheese 817 cases. At the end of December 17,034 boxes of butter and 435 cases of cheese remained in th© Moturoa Works, but since then 13,884 boxes of butter and 434 cases of cheese were shipped on the Gothic for the Home markets. A Peel Forest correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes: — The bush has now quite recovered from the effects of the snowstorm in 1903, and is looking splendid. The sheep are in first-class order, and th© wool is beautiful and clean. Lambs are at present splendid property, as can be seen by the following figures: — Three years ago £28 10s w.as invested in 40 ewes, and since then the net profit has amounted to £80 12s 6d. The profit for the different years were, first year £26 0s 6d, second year £23 15s 6d, third year £30 16s 6d. Mr George Witty, M.H.R., having communicated with the Minister of Railways upon the subject of the proposed Farmers' Union Picnic to Ashburton, with a view to ascertaining if reduced fares would be granted to those participating in the picnic, has received the following answer from Sir Joseph Ward: — "Referring to your tele- , gram of December 21, ,1 regret that, after ; going into the matter, it is not possible j for me to , accede to the request. Factory rates are not > applicable to Farmers' Unions or any other unions, and many applications tof a similar nature have previously been "declined. The union can, of course, obtain holiday 'or excursion fares. I would like to . have met your request if it had been possible for m© to do so." "A Satisfied Canterbury Farmer" writes as follows to the Lyttelton Times: — After 1 repeated requests by a friend, I determined ' to visit Southland, and I take this opportunity of expressing my opinion, not with any desire to appear in print, but to try " and disabuse the minds of my northern friends who, like myself, were somewhat sceptical a? t> the reports of the produc- , tiveness of Southland. • I feel sure that if farmers, speculators," and others interested! in the future prosperity of the colony would visit this part of New Zealand, they would find, like 'myself, that there are other parts of our fair country that compare more thai: favourably with Canterbury. I have seen, ' in Southland, land that I feel certain is capable of producing any cereal quite a? well as any part- of Canterbury. It is the finest land in New Zealand for growing white olove-r, so much prized as a perma nent pasture. Nowhere in the colony have I seen such well-kept farms, such happylooking and prosperous people. Nowhere have I se&n the stock, both sheep and cattle, looking better. An? person interested in sheep must notice the condition they are • in when they como off the shears. I consider ther> is no place in the Australian colonies — and I have visited them all — that offers such splendid inducements to men with limited capital. The dairying industry^ j i,s in a flourishing condition, the farmer netting quite as much as his northern brother. I The flat-milling industry is also in a • flourishing condition, and there -is every ; possibility of flax being cultivated' as a i special crop in the future. In conclusion, I would recommend all those _who are der sirous of purchasing- land to visit South- ' land, " and I am satisfied that they will -follow the example of many pf our late Canterbury friends, and become Southland farmers. i The Levels County Council have received two requests lately for Tiave to cut cocksfoot on the roadb. The council do not give this right to any on© person, as it is at the option of every property owner to cutthe grass in front of his land. Although grass seed crops in Ashburton County are somewhat baokward at present, there are indications that there will be an abundant yield, and th© seed promises to be unusually heavy. l