WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2685, 30 August 1905, Page 21

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

" What a fine winter we have had," is sti'.' the general remark on nl The hands. The past week has Weather. been as good 1 as any, although very changeable As th/ 1 Yaukes visitors tell us, "we get no | weather here— only samples," and the samples have been vei-y small all the week : , a sprinkling of snow in the morning, in an hour or two nice warm sunshine, with now and again a - slight frost at night. Yesterday there must have been a. good fall of snow up-country, as I can see the hills are white fairly low down to-day Grass is not making much growth as yet, and it is to b& hoped that we ©hail soon be favoured with a more regularly higher i temperature, with warm showers, as the ! eyres in some pJaoes are in need of a better bite- than they 'have, in order to enable them to produce the* early fat lamb. As it is now near the first of September, we may hope to have warmer weather" almost immediately. The milkmen are also in want of more grass, as many of them try Dairying. to have as many September calves as they can get. Given an early spring, September calves are all right; but in most districts I think October is soon enough to have cows come into profit ; but it all depends on the season and the locality, and also whether the cows have been well wintered. However, the busy timo; is near at hand, and all who take an interest in their work are pre- , paring for the campaign by seeing that the 1 yards and sheds are thoroughly cleaned, and in some oases white-washed. I should like to see the paint or whitewash brush more generally used; but the industry i? young yet, so I suppose we must have patience until we get educated up to see that cleanliness is the sheet anchor of the butter tr-ade; as where filth is it is impossible to manufacture a good sample of but- , ter, and quality is the object to keep in mind, whether it be butter or fat lambs. Since the advent of the fat lamb trade, a great deal more attention Rep a. has been paid to the growing of fodder plants for fattening purposes, -so thai (he cultivation of the rap^i }]lant ha? largely increased on the West Coast, _ and it is coming- to be understood that to succeed in raising fat lambs for export it is necessary to grow a patsh of rape to "finish" them on. Although there may be plenty of grass there Avill always be a Jargo percentage that will not get quite fit, whereas if they are put on rape for a w-eok or two the great bulk will go off. I may mention a case in point. A farmer in Kiaranga County tolls me that last year he bred 2700 lambs, 400 of which he got away off the mothers. The balance, 2300, he topped off on 31 acres of rapo, except under 100, which were not fit 1o go, when the last draft went, and beingsnoh a small lot, he did not persevere with them. Even the culls are now a beautiial little- lot of hoggets. Previous to this, the owner says he was never abl© to get more than 50 per cent, of his lambs away as fat, so that with an expenditure of about £30 he was able to double his output of fai; lambs, which -norks out about 20s to k:os per hundred — that is, on land that is suit- j ab. l e for growing rape, and does not require a great deal of manure to produce a crop. The rape plant bojng a gross feeder, there is little u-o of trying to get ! Rape- a crop off poor land, but | growing, any land that will g-row potatoes will produce ;i good crop of rape, without manure. * Although we have very good patches of land, still on the average farm it is necessary to use a considerable amount of manure to ensure a crop ; and the land must be well | picpared ancl brought into a good tilth. A ' good dead of argument is going on among ' practical farmers as to whether it is better I to plough land for turnips or rape early ' in the winter, or leave it until spring, anil , sow direcoly after the plough. There can I be a good deal said in favour of both views. | In respect to turnips, which are, or have been, generally grown on new land, as a first crop, sown broad cast on the rough, ' uneven soil, covering the rushes and i-ub- | bish, I have always found winter plough- j ing give the best results, as the rushes have , time to partly rot and consolidate, and tha soil has a chance to get sweetened and niello wo-d by expo&ure to tha air, so that a finer tilth is obtainable, tog-ether with a bed. On such land it is advisable to uso the roller before sowing the seed, as well a=> rolling- it in. Another objection to the Jafe plotighing of new iand is that if it is a dry spring, and the land gets hard', it , ib impossible to make a good job of it, and I bad as I like ploughing when the land is wet, I would rather have new land ploughed when very wet thau attempt to do so when it is dry and 'hard. If the land has been previously under cultivation, and is possibly full of weed seeds, the better plan in the rough and' ready style of farm- . mo- in vogue is to plough in the spring and sow ri'-shfc away, so as to give the turnips or rapo an equal start with the weeds. However, it is to be hoped that a better, urjs-

l torn, will soon take Hie place of the present ■ one. and the Old Country way of twice > ploughing- and thorough "working of tho land before sowing- any small seeds, come into vogue. As I have said, there are some lands that will grow rape without manure ; 1 but it is a crop that cannot bo spoilt by giving it too much feed. What manure, and tli-e quantity that can be us-e-d at 1 a profit" must bs left to the different dis1 ti-icte to determine, for what would be profit5 able in one place might b~£ money thrown. - away in another. In all lands, however, there can be no question about the titility > of thorough cultivation, and in a season. 3 like this farmers cannot do better than make a start to prepare their turnip land by i beginning to plough, so that if there are i any weeds the seeds will burst, and on . rough land they can bs kept down with 1 diso or tine harrows until the time comes s to sow the turnip or rape seed. If, on the other hand, it is stubble or grass lea land. . free, from pushes, it might -be .advisable to L plough" a second time. The time to sow ' must also be left to the farmers in different 1 localities to decide. As a rule on the West Coast rape should be sown in the end of ! September or October, and turnips in No1 vember and December. ■ la my last notes, when mentioning 'that some" cows had died through Salt. eating- lead paper, I said it ; showed that they wanted ', something 1 that was neither in the fodder nor the soil, and questioned whether it was | not salt they wanted. A few years ag - o farmers became impressed with the fact that salt was of great value to the wellbeing of stock, and salt boxes were to be seen, standing m many ' padlocks through the country ; but for some reason — carelessness or laziness, probably — these boxes are now lying empty, or broken up and thrown in .he ditch alongside the fence. Salt is etilJ as valuable an adjunct to fodder as ever. Still the fact remains that a very j small proportion of any kind of stock ever I get the- chance of "tasting -it. .Farmers will i tell yoir that they never- found • that their j stock consumed a quantity of salt, and in j their opinion it was little use in bothering < to supply them with it. If they would only , consider the small quantity the majority of ' human beings consume individually, and J remember that if % they are deprived of it j altogether they would feel the want of it I very much, both as a condiment and as a •health, preserver, they would look at the matter in a different light. After all, it is i littla matters that require attending to in every trade or business to ensure success, and the lack of attending- to so-called trifles very often spells failure. No doubt if tho providing- of salt to stock involved the spending of much money and labour the stock would bo much better supplied with the small amount they require than they j are at present. I am glad to be able to report that th-s supposed outbreak of this Anthrax. fell disease in a herd of cows near Halcombe haa been pronounced not anthrax by the Governi m-ent veterinary surgeons, who assert that the deaths were due to impact of the stomach through eating old dry grass. Consequently cattle owners in the Wellington province can breathe again, for an outbreak of anthrax in the district would have meant ■ a great cakmity y as «o far anthrax is an unknown disease in the southern end of the island. While waiting for the Government vet.'s verdict I was trying to find out | a cause for the outbreak should it prove to be this fell disease. I have known the farm since it was first cultivated, aixl know that there has never been any bone manure sown on it. However, we are back to where we were, with the duty before us of fighting- the importation of dis-easod bones ! at any cost. There have been a number of clearing e.iles of dairy* cows, which passed Stock Sales. off fairly well, but the. sales have been very erratic, some being a regular frost, whi ; o another next day would prove quite i boom. Good co^s are worth about from £7 to £8 a head, and when snything good romes on a market they sell readily. I :-co by a report of Mrs Jennings's (Taranak:) sale (a former resident of the llanawacu), the pure Jersey and grade cows brought phenomenal prices. Purebred cows sold at from. £12 to £33, averaging £18 ss ; Jerseybulls, £16 10s to £21; yearling bulls, £il to £14-; grade cows, £5 to £12, averaging £8 17s; while one springing heifer brought' £17. At Feilding- 43Q0 sheep and about 280 head of cattle were sold. Sh-eep are still booming, ewes and lambs selling tip to 295, good wethers 20s 6d, hoggets from 9s 7d to : 17s 3d. Th-ere was also yarded another lot of purebred Romneys on account of tho executors of the estate of Iho late Mr Wm. Baker, which met eager competition— 2o | ewes selling at 4gs ; 22 ewes, in lamb to a Ccbb ram, sgs; 24- ewes, four-tooth, at 6g^ ; . 6 ewe hoggets, <U«s ; 8 ram hoggets, slgs ; etud ram, B£gs : the Cobb-bred «tud ram ; bringing 20gs. These prices show that thero is no abatement in the value of sheep. Cattle, however, show no improvement, and there is little use in quoting prices; but I think no shall see a, rise when the spiinggia?n comer* AXTIQUA OTIS. Dr A. R. Falconer has been appointed public -saccinator for the Blueskin district i in, succession to Dr Gauit,