AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2663, 29 March 1905, Page 22

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL

NEWS. It is calculated that about 60,000 sacks of barley will have left the Marlborough district at the close of the present season, representing a value of about £54,000. The apple crop in the Marlborough district this year is said to be the best ever experienced. A large quantity of apples are allowed to waste for want of a profitable market. The potato blight has spread throughout the Poverty Bay district, patches of it being observable at Orniond, Patutahi, near Mctu. Messrs Dalgety and Co. shipped, per Waikare, on Thursday, 100 English Leicester rams, bred by Messrs Threlkeld, The i Terrace, Methven. These sheep are for use in the flocks of Messrs Robertson Bros., or Colac, Victoria. Mr Threlkeld, of Inglewood, sent by the same vessel 10 ewes and one ram to Hobart, for prominent Tasmanian breeders, and also a grand stud ram to Adelaide, to the order of ilr E. W. j Van Senden. , On Friday last (reports the Timaru Herald) the usual stock sale at Studholme Junction was held in the new yards erected by the Saleyards Company of that locality, and this being the first sale in them, a brief opening ceremony was gone through. Work was commenced under the most favourable auspioes. The weather was- beautiful, and the attendance was a record for Studholme sale 3. Mr J. H. Mitchell, chairman of directors of the company, before the sale commenced, made some opening remarks, giving- a resume of tha operations of the company sine© it was started. He then requested those present to drink success to the new yards. Mr E. R. Guinness, for Messrs Guiness and LeCren, and Mr Gus. Jones, for the Canterbury Farmers' Cooperative Association, also expressed the best wishes for the success of the yards. The yards presented a very fine appearance, the yarding being unusually heavy. Owing to the unfamiliarity of the yards, it was difficult to estimate the number of sheep, but good judges out it somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000.' The yards seemed excellently arranged, and the large entry was a good test of their working capabilities. No fault was found, exce.pt that there were not sufficient large pens. This will, however, probably be remedied, as the company intend to erect additional yards soon. It is also intended to instal a shearing shed and sheep d*x>, which will be of great benefit

to the farmers in the district. The sale \ was very successful. j At the Cheviot show, held on tho 24th • inst. (writes the special correspondent of the j -Christchurch Press), there was a record at- . tendance, and the entries as a whole exI celled those of any previous year. The sheep were particularly good, and the prime condition of the fats and freezers reflected great credit on the breeders. Cattle were poor in quantity, and there was a lack of competition, but the quality was pretty good. The lack of interest in this section is evidently traceable to the closing down of the creamery and the resultant discouragement of dairying. Horses were of good quality throughout, and the pigs excelled all previous records. This year an innovation was made, a section being set apart for poultry. The result fully justified the experiment, the exhibit being of capital condition. The produce and home industries classes provided as popular as ever, though there was a slight decrease of entries in one or two eases, and the numerous exhibits were the object of critical appreciation by the large crowd that thronged the building during the afternoon. In a word the snow can be set down as the most successful yet held at Cheviot, and the officials and exhibitors alike are to be felicitated.