LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2672, 31 May 1905, Page 9

LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

There has been a keen demand for sec- j tions on the Waimea Estate (says tho Matajura. .Ensign), a. jiumber of Canterbury Bettlers having secured areas; Farmers in the. district are also buying largely, ajid at the present rate of progress the whole estate should be disposed of in a very snort time. The Clinton correspondent of the Clutha Free Press writes that some of the rabbit t~a,ppers in that neighbourhood have had a good innings lately. Three brothers earned i over £28 for their last fornight's trapping. ! The Clutha ILeader states that Mr D. Murray's oat crop from two paddocks at Glenfalloch threshed out on an average of 80 bushels an aore. A rabbiter at Dumbarton Bock received a cheque for £29 10s for a month's work (says the Mount Banger Mail). There is evidently money in despised bunny after all. The turnip crops throughout the Balclutha district are all round not likely to stand very heavy feeding (says the lieader). On the flats some heavy crops ar© to be found, and on parts of Inchclutha holders are asking and getting as. high as £7 10s an acre for good swede turnips for eating off. The following stock items are taken from Friday's Win ton . Record : —We hear that Mr, Roys, of Ringway, lost every one of his rams after dipping the other day. — -Good store - wethers are the only . class of sheep which do not seem to have suffered much by the recent drop in prices.— The fat lamb buyers throughout the district are unable to give, within one shilling per head of what they were giving a few weeks past. The cause is a slight ' drop "m the London market. — A nice, line of bullocks fattened by Mr John Henderson, of Otapiri, was sold during the week to an Invercargill buyer. Tne line reflects great credit on the fattening capabilities of Mr Henderson's farm. — A line of two-tooth ewes which were bought at the Marar-oa sale were re-

sold at a satle held during the past week at Castlerock, and the operation resulted in a loss of 3s to their owner after paying commission and other expenses. Th»© Mataura Ensign states that there has been a keen demand for sections on the Waimea E3tate.' a number of Canterbury settlers having secured areas. Farmers in tu© district are also buying largely, and a* the present rate of progress the whole estate should be disposed of in a very short time. Mr Andrew Ramsay Mackintosh, sheep farmer and Mr Geo. Horrell, farmer, both of Clifden (writes the Otautau correspondent of the Winton Record), are patentees of an appliance for the use upon the binding tables of harvesters and the like. Its claims are stated thus: — (1) An appliance 'for the binding-table- of a harvester or the like, consisting of a tapering angle-bracket adjustable upon the binding-table substaniv as and for the purposes specified and illustrated. . |2) - v^i- u< purrose in dicated, in combination, a tapering anglebracket of metal, a wooden plate secured thereto, a bolt securing the forward end of said angle-bracket to the binding-table of a harvester, and a curved slot receiving a bolt, by means of which the angle of the appliance in relation to the. binding-table-may be adjusted substantially as specified and illustrated. The catalogue of the ninth annual winter show of the- Tokomairiro Farmers' Club, to be held on the Prince of WaJes' Birthday, June 3, tells a tale of steady prosperity and increasing popularity. There are 175 prizes to be given by the club and its admirers. These, axe very judiciously divided among the various interests, and they amount to a total of over £110. About £12 worth are to be given for the exhibits of butter alone, while 20gs are set apart for the more strictly domestics products of a farmer's household. Under this- heading ara tho tables of home-made requisites and the bays, which are always a great feature of these winter shows. Grain and roots have £22 laid aside for them, while the owners of fat stock are allotted prizes to the value of £23 or £24-. For the field turnip competition £20 (more or less) has been devoted. The show promises well, and should prove a great suocess. Are sheep likely to com© down in price, and is there a prospective early rise in cattle? These are two- points agitating ih» minds of farmers a.t the present time (remarks the Winton Record), and so little can any of us see into the future that the answer is practically decided by the position each individual stands in on the market. If he has already bought and is well stocked with sheep, you. will invariably find j the answer ia "There is going to be no fall." If, on the other hand, the speaker is bars of stock, foe invaraibly inclines to the belief fch-at prices mu-«t go down. Thnse vi ho have sold out of sheep and gone in for cattle to fatten profess .o see quite a certain rise looming ahead, as they maintain that two articles in daily use for the same purpose cannot remain -o widely divergent i value as beef and mutton at the present moment, anc, iiicii.uu. . c ouinion of the man who says that sheep are going to maintain their value, argues that that being so cattle must go up in price. We give the problem up; periiaps some of our agricultural . eeers can propound a solution. Meantime, it is a significant point that meat m the cities has dropped a penny per pound. The Poolburn correspondent of the Mount Ida Chronicle reports: — Although, we are creeping towards the second month of winter the-ne is nothing in the weather to indicate that such is the case. Indeed, wi<<h the exception of an odd night's frost the weather has been exceptionally fine — and dry The past autumn has been the driest we have- had for years. Luckily, the white crops were so far advanced before the dry spell set in as to escape disaster. There were soane very nice wheat crops grown, yielding up to 45 bushels per acre, while few orops were much unden 40 bushels. The qualii" -' '*• wW* >"« also excellent, "/wing" to the cold, wet spring oats did not grow muc~ suaw ; nevertheless, they gave a good yield of nice quality grain. The yield was in all cases considerably above expectations. Chaffing stacks seem smaller in bulk this year than usual, biit the superior quality will no doubt make recompense. Eigbteen-inoh straw yielding a 50-bushel crop, when cut into chaff, can safely be called "prime quality." The Valley is gradually working into the lamb export trade, and in spite of the dry weather the past season has been excellent for the fattening of lambs. It was surprising to see the condition shee)> came off paddocks that looked parched and burnt up, and where when walking across the grass, crisp and brittle, cracked off beneath the feet. Cattle I aire in good condition to begin the winter, and while the same can be said of horses i they have not as nice am appearance as is tisually the case at this time of the year, their coats being inclined to "stare."