AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

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

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

If the experimental shmment of chilled beef chat the N.Z. Refrigerating Companj hap, sent to England is landed in anything like the condition that is being shown by a few carcases of beef that were chilled at the same time and retained by the company here for testing purposes, unqualified success should attend this latest effort to further develop the moat trade with England and other countries. Last week the manager of the Refrigerating Company sent us a prime piece of chilled sirloin, portion of a quarter of beef that had been cut up by the company after having remained fn a chilled state for 48 days. It presented Ihs Brig-ht 'appearance of freshly-killed" meat, was firm to the touch, perfectly fresh and sweet, and gave full promise of being a first-class table joint. This, after being cooked on the fifty-second day after it was chilled, it turned out to be. Ifc was quite impossible to distinguish it from fresh meat, and proved to be as tender a joint as could be desired, well-flavoured, juicy, and in every way what an excellent piece of roast bcof should be. The Refrigerating Company has every reason to look forward with confidence to a thoroughly favourable report on the shipment sent Home by the Tokomaru.

The secretary of the Masterton A. aud P. Association has (says the Wairarapa Daily Times) received the returns from. London for the sheep and lambs which were judged alive at the last Mastertcn show, and afterwards frozen and sent Home. Prizes were awarded as a result of the judging on the day of the show, and special prizes, were also to be awarded, on th,e report of the London agent, to. whom the Jambs were consigned for sale on owner's account, the net proceeds having to be handed to the owner, with a detailed account of sales and returns. The lambs were killed and frozen at Wellington. With the exception of a 'second award in one class, none of the London awards correspond with those given on show day at Masterton in the lamb class. Perry Bros, got first prizes, Mr W. C. Buchanan being- well to the fore. Altogether 152 lambs were sent Home, and the averageweight was 38 3-51b, and the average net returns per head 15s 7^-d. Last year tho average weight of the lambs sent Home was 36ilb, and the average net returns 14s lid. There were 37 sheep sent Home. The average weig-ht was 60 1-3'b, and the net returns 19s 6|d. Last year the average

Weight was 601b, and the net returns 17s j 104. I 'The excellent results produced on some }ioils by a dressing of lime hare always )een known. It is an element of plant life, jmd tho recent discoveries connected with Jhe activity of nitrifying soil organisms hare helped to throw more light on the reason of its usefulness. It corrects acidity of tho fcoil, warms and opens the soil up to the jun and air, and, as an alkaline base, ia ■Essential for the nitrification of the organic matter, as well as Being necessary for the transformation of iDotDsh salts into carbo- j >iata of potash, which is the assimilated form of this ingredient. As is well Shown, many noils are naturally so well provided with this element that it would bo a useless "expense to increase the stock by artificial means; but in other soils it is essential to ipply lime in order to grow good crops. A crop' of turnips, tops, and bulbs takes from \h& soil about" llblb" of lime, potatoes. 401b: 1

red clover. 77!b; and all other crops a more or Io ; .s important quantity. Limo is applied to the soil direct, and in smaller quantities in fertilisers; thus, bone meal contains about 30 iper cent., superphosphate 20 to 25 per cent., basic slag 4-0 to 45 per cent., wood ashes 30 to 40 per cent., and farmyard manure 1 per cent. — American Paper. Nearly 300 purebred ehsep, mostly consigned to Melbourne, left Lyttelton for Australia by the Union Company's s.s. Moeraki on Friday last. A line of 35 English Leicester rains was shipped by Mr F. O. Murray, of I/incoln, for Melbourne. Mr P. C. Threlkeld, Flaxton, shipped tuo English Leicester rams for Adelaide, ten English, Leicester rams and .six ewes, of the same bread for Melbourne, where they are to be exhibited at the Victorian Agrioultural Show, and 150 English Leicester ram hoggets, also for Melbourne. Mr F. A. Johns, of Belfast, sent two rams and two ewes of

the Shropshire breed and five Southdown ranis with two ewes for the Melbourne show. Seventy English Leicester rams, were consigned to Melbourne by Messrs Field and Royds, on behalf of Mr J. Bcag, of Dunsandel. Twenty.-five Rornney. Marsh ewo hoggets were shipped by the s.s. Wimmera lor Sydney by Messrs Dalg€*y and H!o. The price realised by th© Sefton (Canterbury) Dairy Company for butter exported last' year was 9fd per lb. Speaking to a Wellington Post reporter on Friday a merchant, who has his finger fairly on the pul&e of the market, remarked that he would not be surprised to sco the price of potatoes rise as high as £17 a ton before another month has passed. The fortunate holders of potatoes in the Blenheim district were offered £12 10s per ton in vain on Thursday last. The retail price per sack is now £I— which works out at about a halfpenny each. O ld residents can recall only one year in which the price cf the indispensable tuber was so high. That was about 25 years ago.— Marlborough Times.