OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET

Otago Witness, Issue 2689, 27 September 1905, Page 20

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET

(Frah Ooi>. Own- <ro.'s>-SFovDPWT.I I CHRISTCHURCH, September 23. Th© weather has bejn on its wo^si. be- ' liavioui- this mo'itli, and Spring. this is the foui'th day's steady rain, with no tibia prospect of ceasing. Groat anxiei.y is felfc for tho young lambs, the farm lambing being- in full progress, but the reports reccn cd ?o far av-i surprising in their ac counts of small losses. It 1-3 said tbat 011 the North Canterbury downs vory little damage has been dene, while the farm; flocks in that district are well through lambing. Tho flocks on the Selwyn and Ashburton plains* have suffered most severely, losing a good many ewes as well as lambs. Th© experience should teach, farmers to plant shelter fences and plantations, more especially as in sheltered pad« docks there hav-e been few losses. Fortunately it has not been a, very cold rain, and the wind inland has not been high. There has been a very abundant lambing so far, and the early lambs have done extremelywell — in fact, in many places they have bsen thriving too well, and many have died from fatty infiltration of the liver in consequence. It is a pity to see fine lambs, worth 12s or 14s apiece, lying dead in the paddocks. Cutting ea.r-marking, and tailing, as recommended by the Government veterinarians, checks the trouble, but most farmers seem content to let the lambs tako their chance. The wool clip promises well. Buyers are buzzing round amongst farmers, trying to secure good haJfbred wool at lid! to ll^d, and in many cases succeeding. It may turn oufc that farmers a.re doing right to sell forward in this way, as little of thi~ wool will be delivered until November, but the prioe is a good bit below what is warranted by the present London sale prices, and most people think the market will remain firm for the rest of this year, at any* rate. Farm work is more backward than ever, and a good deal of grain that has been sown and potatoes that have been, planted will have to be gone over again, through the seed being rotted by excessive moisture. The heavy lands are completely water-logged. Many farmers will now have to sow oats instead of wheat, and they are getting anxious about getting in their turnips. In South Canterbury matters have not been nearly so bad — in fact, it has been a good season there.

i Potatoes have been in everybody's mouth. ! (figuratively) for the last Markets. few weeks. Some sanguine farmers talked of getting 1 £20 a. ton, and refused £12 and £13. To- : day there arc neither buyers nor sellers at 1 £9. The high prices had the usual effect 1 of bringing offers from all sorts of places, ', even from Sydney, and it really seems aa i if there were plenty of potatoes for cvery1 body. A unique feature of the position is the number of farmers out of tHo recognised potato-growing districts who have a. few tons for sale. The rs> Association ha^rdised iho price of flour, for whab zeason is not apparent, as wheat is n« dearer than, if as clear as, it has been for some weeks past. Leaving out of account a few extra prime lines, good milling wheat, including a fair proportion of Tuscan, can be bought from the farmer at 2s 9d to 2s lOd, within a 2d. rail rate to town or port. It is said there are buyers of prime Tuscan (w-Hich is very scarce) at over 3s, but nobody scorns to bo able to see them. Oats have advanced quite Id per bushel during tho month, and very few are to be obtained. Good ryegrass and cocksfoot seeds are in demard, but growers are not reaping a great profit on keeping them since harvest. Factory butter is down to ll^d for prints; tho Central Faotory is reported to have sold its season's export output at 10|d and oher sales have been made, but at what prices is not stated. For Peninsula factory cheese s^d is offered. These prices assure farmers a profitable season. A very small entry of fat cattle at Addington last Wcunesd*av sent prices up £1 to £2 a head, pnd the report quickly brought offers from Southland ; two or three trucks would bring the market clown again, e&recially as the Amuri cattle sale will take place next Thursday, and thero will bs some prime leef there. Christchurch butchers don't like the Otago '"poleys." The ilinloch. estate cattle, sold a fortnight ago, went well; they were mostly shorthorns, with a fewred polled and Hereford crosses, and were a particularly good lot. Fat sheep are selling well, but there was no demand foist ores this week. Practically nothing is doing for export in the local market. Piga have improved all round, but I don't hear of any being frozen. There is a good deal of inquiry about the prioe which fat lambs will fetch. The general idea is that it will be 2s below last season's rates, but biiyoi-3 are making no sign. There is no doubt some people lost a lot of money last season, although London prices have boon high.

The Canterbury A. and P. Association is not making much progress Agricultural with the experiments by Experiments, farmers' scheme, but some new blood has been infused into the sub-committee and a move may be made soon. Sir John Hall has given, a paddock close to Christchurch for three years, but that, of course, would be a different system of experiments altogether.

The Ashrburlon Association has mapped out a very useful programme, but the Timaru Association has decided to be content with tasking farmers to report on their actual farm operations, though even this, if exact, ■will be valuable information.

The American invasion is creating conster-

nation amongst the jmpleTne Harvester rnent makers, employers, Trust. and workers. How" the agents who have acted for so many -years view the master is not publicly known, but one of the finest buildings in the city, erected a few years ago by one of the largest importers, is for sale. lhe farmers look only to the present T what does it matter to them what price implements may be in .a few .years so long as they are cheap this year! The Farmers Union which was approached by the makers on Wednesday, was overwhelmed by Mr Leadley's fallacious figures. He asserted that the implement makers made a profit of 50 per cent.', but he assumed that the difference- beween the cost ot material and wages was all profit, allowing nothino- for rent, interest, rates, taxes, machinery, fuel, repairs, salaries, travelling and general expenses, freight, printing and advertising, and sundry other expenses. An endeavour is being maa<e to get aim to amend his resolution- "That the proposal to move Parliament to impose prohibitive customs duties on imported farm implements and machinery is premature, lhat no sufficient reasons have yet been shown for any special legislation aimed at the International Harvester Company of America. That the executive recommends memS of the New Zealand Farmers Union and farmers generally to encourage and support, as far as possible, the purchase and vk of Now Zealand-made farm implements and machinery, and thus enure taking no action concerning tnem.