LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2668, 3 May 1905, Page 20

LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

! Rabbit-trapping is now in full swing (says the Mount Benger Mail), and 5000 , rabbits ar-e daily sent from Miller's Flat to Edievale Railway Station. The Southland Frozen Meat Company's works at Ma^aura (says the Ensign) «r© very busy just now, and in the rabbit dopartment the services of several extra men have been engaged. About 1500 crates of rabbits are being put through daily, and 900 carcases lamb. The con-jspon-l-ant of the Southern Standard supplies tho following item;, relating to Heriot and surrounding 1 districts: — All our districts are in full swin? with the harvest operations. The weather is all that can be desirad and this state has been continuous for the past few weeks. Slacking is well forward, much of the crop being stacked without a shower. Should d;e weather hol.l good for a short time, all will be in stack To all appearance, the leiurns will be in advance of what wcro expected, both in oats, and wheat. The ingathering will not be -so late as was generally expected, and this can be attributed to the warm, sunny weather we have liad such a long spell of. Threshing has been commenced on some farms in our neighbourhood, the first to thresh being, I am told, Mr Jas. Finlay, Heriot. This crop was reaped.^ stacked, and threshed without rain, wl-ich is a record- The return was quite satisfactory. G^ass seems to hold out very well in the face of all the dry weather we have had, and stodk in general look very very well; in fact, the whole district looks progressive. The turnip fields, in drill and broadcast, have an excellent appearance, and appear to have done very well. To all appearance winter feed will be in abundance. Potatoes look well, as seen from Ihe main roid b«ing healthy, fresh, and green ; and so far there is no appearance of disease. They are not touched with tress,. as was usual in seasons past. Dipping has been having attention in a ger.eral way, and is now well nigh finished, thus bringing all necessary work to the front. Ferlets have again commenced visiting the fowlhouso3. _ They are making wholesale destruction in some places, especially where fowls a,ce houted. ' Writing on Wednesday last the Kakanui correspondent of the Oamaru Mail reports: After a somavyhat broken harvest, the crops have been secured in fair condition, though some of the wheat which had been threshed out of' the stook proved rather soft for milling. The yield in this district has been well up to the average ; indeed, m some instances very heavy returns have been obtained. The potato crops on the south side of Kakanui River, as far as I can learn, are only slightly affected with blight, and the sample and yield arc pretty well up to the average of late years. The turnip crop is very good, and in some places is the finest I havi seen for years Mr "A. Dalgleish has a paddodk of 70 acres which would be hard to beat in any part of the province. Also Messrs S. Holmes, Hille, M'Kenzie, and others hove fine crops, which should see the stock ihrough the winter in good condition. The milk supply at our local_ creamery is getting rather low, and it will take the suppliers all their time to keep the factory going fo.< the winter months. Last week I paid a visit to Mr T. Hedley's large dairying establishment, which proved highly interesting- Some 60 or 70 dehorned cows were driven into the byre, and, the doors being shut, the men stalled and tied this number in about 20 minutes. The oil-engine is then set going, the cows being leg-roped to an iron pin at the end of the stall. Then the milking tubes are fixed on to the long pipe which runs the whole length of the byre above the- cows' heads. The cups or suckers are then adjusted to each teat a<nd a screw turned, when the sucking commences, and the milk runs in i a small tube to a specially designed bucket, | two cows being milked at a time, and from the same tube. Aftor tho suokers are stopped, the milker strips the teats with fchft hands as in ordinary milking, so as to get the last and best milk f*-om the cows. was told that three men in about three hours can milk 60 cow* As to the after effect of this mode of milking en the covrs, E cannot say. _ Mr Hedley is to be- commended on his enterprise, this being 1 the First up-to-date milking plant north of the Taieri. The Chairman of the Wallace County Council (Mr D. Clarke) states that the bird nuisance in Wallace has been very much reduced through the use of poisoned grain. 3r Hirst also says that the birds have not being 1 nearly so destructive Ihis year as in Eormer times. Th© Kelso correspondent of the Mataura Ensign writes: — There is still a large quantity of grain in stook, and much uncut, and the present wet weather will have tho effect of darkening the samples very considerably, thus militating against top prices being secured. It is to be regretted that the demand for oats is po limited and the prices so low. Yet Is 4d to Is 5d is better now than Is 6d to Is 7d cix months hence. Shrinkage, storage, insurance, etc., more bhan eat up the other twopence. The keen lennand for sheep.^around here has in no sense abated, and record prices are still being paid. Farms about here continue to change hands, and the value of land within the past two years has risen enormously. [ understand Messrs Todd Bros, sold a Highly-improved farm at Crookston the other 3ay at £15 per acre. A number of rabbits E notice are being railed from Heriot-Edieya-le district. Around, here very few rabbits are to be seen. The South Hillend correspondent cf th© Winton Record writes: — The district is very jniet just now. Grain carting is about over ivith most of the farmer?, and some of ;hem have commenced ploughing. The report current is that oats are still on the | rise, but lot 3of them hav-ei been already parted with at Is sJkl. A good many of h-s farms have fine flocks of sheep on turn'ps, and the opinion is that lots of them rill be turned over fat very scon, and "that it satisfactory prices. Farms in the neighbourhood are- still changing hands. There s quite a chaugei on the Heddon Bush Sstate. Buildings' aro going: up on every hand, as the new settlers intend ' enoing "and draining their lands, operations nu'st remain brisk for some time to come, iideed, before many years have gone, there vill b& quite a change- for the better iv, he general appearance- of the place. Writing on Wednesday last, the Mokoreta - lOwespondea* of ths Wyndham Herald ■. :

contributes the following 3 otes : — A great cleal of crop is still in stcok here, and unless Ihe weather ooon takes a turn for thto hotter, some of tho crop will not be worth bringing in. It is getting very black and growing in .some places. The sample will not he very good now. There was a larger area under crop this year than there has fee on for some years, and the yield would havo been weill up to ihe average if the season had bf>en more favourable for getting it in. The turnips are doing well. The dry weather after New Year kept them back a good deal, but si-ice 'ncisture came they have made great progress, axid are> bulbing well, and I think there will be ample feecD for stock during winter. Our dairy factory is getting a very small supply just now — between 200 and 300 gallons. There will proba-hly be <vvo or three new erpphers next season, which will help to keep the fa.etory going. It is to be hoped the seittlers will support it better, as it is a great boon to the district. The Qaxmills are all busy. The wet weather has been against them lately, but they manage to keep going, although it is difficult to get the flax cut. M-ossrs Tempicifcon -Bras, have shifted to Mr Beange's, and have got a good start there, and will have another season's work. Messrs Mitae Bros, are nearly cut out for the present. The other niillo will havei another season's work — some of them more.

In Saturday's Mataura Ensign the following obituary notice , appears : — The death occurred at his residence. Croydon Siding, yesterday, after an illness extending over five months, of Mr N. S. Kingdon, a resident of the district of some 23 years' standing. The late Mr" Kingdon, who was formerly settled at Courtenay (Canterbury), was well known for his connection with agricultural affairs, having been for many years a member, committeeman, and once president, of the Gore A. and P. Association, chairman of the Gore branch of the Farmers' Union, and member and chairman of the old Gore Farmers' Club, beirtg much esteemed by all who knew him. He leaves a widow and family of six — five sons and a daughter.

The monthly meeting of the Waitahuna Farmers' Club was held on the 24th ult., Mr J. Cowan (president) in the chair. Mr Hammond handed in a petition, with signatures attached, requesting tho Tuapeka County Council to take a vote of the ratepayers as to the adoption of rating on the unimproved value in accordance with Act passed in 1896. The secretary was instructed to collect the other forms of petition circulating, and forward them, along with the one just handed in, to Mr Alex. Fraser, Clarke's Flat.— The proposal emanating from the Tuapeka Agricultural Society to hold the show alternately in Waitahuna and Lawrence instead of having an annual show in both places was considered. After the matter had been discussed, the secretarywas instructed to write to the Tuapeka Society stating that the club could not fall in with the proposal. — The secretary was directed to make application to the Tuapeka County Council for the usual subsidy on money spent in buying small birds' eggs. Brought before the magistrate at Gore last week on charges of failing to eradicate noxious weeds, James Thomson said it was impossible to keep ragwort down by cutting, the only way to kteep it down being to put on sheep. Hugh Smith, was in the same position as Thomson. Ragwort on his farm had been kept down by feeding sheep on it, and it was only on a small patch to which ho had been unable to get sheep owing to floods that there was any ragwort. He held that ragwort was not a noxious weed, and that it should be drawn from the list of sheep. . Sheep did well on it. — These and other charges are awaiting a Supreme Court decision, it having been, contended in another part of the colony that the act does not provide penalties for breaches of its provisions. Mr S. Watson, of Windsor, has obtained one of the best harvesting" returns of the season from 84- acres of two classes of wheat. We hear (says the Oamaru Mail) that the yield will be in the vicinity of 70 bushels per acre, possibly a trifle more. We have been shown a sample of velvet from Mr Watson's crop, which is a perfect picture to look at, th c berry being of beautiful colour, and the quality in every respect excellent.

Th© Glenorehy correspondent of the southland Times writes: — We have been able to rejoice in some beautiful weather here for the last two months, taking it on the whole, there being a few showers and sharp frosts now and again. Harvesting with the exception of the Earnslaw Estate' which has not yet finished, has been completed everywhere successfully. Mr D.unery, having within th© last few months bought the Mavora and Mararoa Stations, is at present mustering his sheep *of the Rees V a^ley Station to take to the former places. Next week two steamers will be engaged in shipping 8000 sheep across the lake to JS icholas, a distance of 20 miles, from which place they will be driven. This is the largest mob of sheep ever- shipped from the district and the Rees Valley is now stockiess, with the exception of some cattle and nine red deer which were lately liberated there.