NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association ha» heeri taking Farm steps to initiaf-c experimenExperhnents. tal work, to be carried out by /armors on their own farms under Ihe super visioi. to a certain extent, of a committee of Ihe association. Iv has been found that, so far, ibe farmeis in the district have teen very indifferent; about Ihe matter, and do not seem to care to take the ii'ouble to carry on an experimental wo-'k. Thai is always the wsy with farmers, and it will be the way with ,them, I suppose, till the end of time. Ifc, is not 60, however, with Yankee .farmer,; ; they are- cute enough to follow that such ihings 'are initiated for theii advantage, and that they may be well paid indirectly for any trouble such work may give theni. We are always ■experimenting in our own way without knowing it, and, oftentimes, without increasing our knowledge thcrely. Experience is knowledge founded upon tl o results of a long 1 series or experiments. We are apt to think that experiments refer cn]y to something- new, to some innovation in connection with scientific farming ; but such is not nece=sarily iho case. Ten many farmers are inclined to place little importance) upon anything in the nature of science as applied to farm practice, and they are oblivious of all the good that scientific research has done for agriculture. It is satisfactory to learn from recent cablegrams that the Srp Wool remher wool sale? in LonIlems. don opened with a brisk demand and that pi Ices showed mi advance of from 5 to 7£ per cent, on those of the July sales. It docs not appear, therefore, that the cessation of war in the East has had any depressing effect upon the wool market, though it has been a common opinion tjjat the largo orders from Japan for woollen goods for uuiJorms, great coats, etc., liad been a factor in the rise of prices since the beginning of. the war. Some anxiety was caused at the July sales by the action of the American buyers in suddenly ceasing operations four days before the close of the sales. They had bsea. bujing keenly, and

were the main factors in keeping" prices Inely, and their sudden withdrawal was the cause of much wonderment in wool circles. The medium crossbreds had been specially favoured by them, and Ihe result of their action was st -drop- of a penny per pound ia that cla^s of wool. There is no doubt, as " WoolmSn " says iflr an "English paper, that the Americans began to sec that prices were getting too high and that continued keenness on their part would inflate them still more. " Woolnian*' says that prospects are good because stocks are lew, and that it would be a considerable time before the new elfp from Australia and New Zealand would be available. It seems to be an extraordinary thing that it is very seldom that any special causes can be assigned for the fluctuations in the English wool market. Various conjectures are made, and numerous theories advanced ; but it is all pure surmise, and no certain cause or causes can be actually pointed to as bringing about a rife in ( prices, whereas i.i the case of wheat we can generally arrive at a. pretty correct idea of the actual causeis for an improved market. Fa-lse packing of wool has been the subject of much discussion lately, and a case is mentioned in which false-packing was discovered and the crime sheeted home to a certain farmer, who narrowly escaped the clutches of the law and a term of wellmerited imprisonment. In order to avoid exposure he had to accept a very large reducti<ra in the price at which the falsely^ packed wool was sold, and probably lost more money by being detected than he had over .made by his scoundrelly practice, though it may have gone undetected for a number of years. Greedy, gras.ping, dishonest men. of that sprt always, .overreacn themselves in the long run, and come off worst in the end for all their fancied smartness. In consequence of the 'miserable roguery of -a. fewj who are a disgrace , to the name oi farmer, every lot of wool is under suspicion, and the buyers insist upon the bales % being opened at' both- top and" bottom, and even then there is no guarantee that there are not a lot of dags, or, perhaps, the dried carcase of a sheep, stuffed away in the middle 1 of the bale. I see by a late issue of tire Witness that the wool spinners and manufacturers of Bradford often have reason to complain of the amount of vegetable matf-or found in colonial wools. Grass, straw, pieces of twine, or fragments of jute from torn bales nv-i a great source of trouble in working ud the wool. If they escape detection when the wool is "sorted" at the works it becomes . impossible to detect and remove them afterwards, and their presence is not known until the goods aie finished and dyed. They are thert so noticeable " that the value of the .goods is- very much depreciated. The manufacturers, therefore, suggest that much more care should be taken to see that no grass, straw, twine, or any other vegetable substance should get into the wool on the. farm; Jfcljafc when _ tire , bales are cut open . foi" rinspection before „ sale the cuts should be' made so ' that" no tags or fragments of Jute should get into the wcol; that, for the same reason, the bales should be lined with calico or paper, and Ihafc the twine used, in sewing up bales should be dyed black,, so that it cannot escape notice when the wool is sorted. I , have never heard of woolpacks being lined", ' but I have seen a good many- that have been singed on the i'mier side to prevent ' any loose threads of jute from, becoming attached to the wool. I think, however, that if the wool is found to be free fr'oni grass straw, and twine, there will not bemuch need for us to worry about any harm it will derive from bein.g) pnt in ordinary woolpacks.

There is some diversity of opinion as to *% whether, twin lambs aiv Twin advantageous ov not, bui j Lambs. this is a question that can- ; -iot be decided by any gar.eral rule, because sc much depends upon civcumstancSs. If a ewe has been sut■ject to a scarcity of feed during pregnancy, the fact of her bearing two lambs must have hecn an additional strain upon her vitality, and the- lambs cannot bo well nouri-,h 3'). In that case she comes to lambing time in a poor and weak condition; the- lambs r.io small at birth, she cannot furnish sufVient milk for two, and the results are in every way unsatisfactory. But reverse the condition of things, and the results are all right. A deep-bodied ewe, well ved during the winter, can carry two good lambs without ■oflort, and with a sufficiency of %iass at lambing time can rear a pair of. suck m-; quite well, and so that a-t tailing time the twins show up as well in size and condition as the single lambs. The old consei^.itive idea was that one good lamb a year is enough for any ewe to rear well, and that not only mii^t tv'n kn.ibs be inferior to single oups in s'y.e j »ml constitution, but that the- ron*!i<ni,ion of the ewe must also suffer li'oni the niilue strain of bearing and rearing t> v Q or Ihrpo - lambs. But, as I have said, doubk-s are gcocf and profitable if they are bor>a a;^d j reared under favourable condi L i:ms. At i auyraie I am very siad bo Let Ihpm aiivl have the chance of fattening them at pre-;-rrik price 0 . Of course, soaie bre^cl? are more prolific, naturally, than others, and, in conseqm !ic<\ are endo'ved Ly Niihiri with roomy bodies and the y.ower of grorier milk- production, and in such eases, with '

plenty of feed, there can hi no quesr-'on of any undue strain upon the ewo either itf luajiug two cr three lambs or in pro 1 , icing them with miik enough to rear them vrsii. "With regard to triplets, with special cms and feed a. mature Shropshire ewe can rear three lambs all right ; but in ordinary practice it is better to remove the third lamli of all triplets, and either rear them by hand l;o». foist thin: upon ewes ;hat have lost llieit single jja b-3, or, failing either course, knoefc \kfm on th© head. I think it must be admitted by all experienced men that ali paddock ewes are much mere prolific nowadays than ivas the case years ago, and that as a natural result the ewes 1-ave bigger udders and a more copious flow- of milk. Fecundity and milk-yield generaily go together, as ia only consistent m the laws of Nature, and that being so all that man has to go is to see that the food provided is equal to the calls of Nature. Wheu twins abound in the 6ock more care fi necessary as well as ample feed, because some ewes are satisfied if they find one lamb, after being separated for a time, as must happen at docking time and at shearing time. Every precaution must be taken to see that all the lambs are properly ; mothered before the sheep settle down for , the night. \ AGRICOLA.