NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2695, 8 November 1905, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The annual report of the Department o\ Agriculture includes statisi Sheep tics in reference to the Statistics. number of live stock in the

colony at the date on. which the last returns were made. It is stated that on April 30 last there were 39,830,875 sheep, which is an increase of 850,000 upon the number returned for thr 1 previous year. There was a decrease of a few thousand in merinos, therefore there was an increase of long-wools of 853,000. This large increase is accounted for partly by the good Percentage of lambs a yea»." ago and partly" by the decrease in the export of frozen mutton and lamb. The export? for the past year amounted to 678,000 carcases o£ mutton and lamb less than the exports for the previous year, and this decrease must chiefly be owing to the. fact that we over-exported in that yeai*. Moreover. I think the decrease of over 200,000 carcases of lamb is due to the facfc that farmers exercised a wise discretion in parting with their lambs, and retained mo'- ewe lambs than was the case in previo. years. Those who in former years sent away every lamb that they couldi fatten found that they had to pay through {In nose for young -ewes to replace their old ones, and'begrn. to realise that selling the: • best ewe lambs was too much like killing the geese that lay golden eggs. Wet must keep up ,our breeding flocks in order? to participate in the large profits ana quick returns from -c lambs, and if wu; f,ta-rt with goo*: 1 ewes arid -use good rams, how can we do better than" retain our besti ewe lambs for rep > -nishing our breeding flock? Sb fai- as I' can learn the lambing this season, on an average, over the whola colony, will not be so good as our las< lambing, and X do not anticipai- any greai increase in our shipments of mutton, buj if xn can send away as many as we /lia

last year, and get as good a price, I for one will be quite satisfied and would be pleased to have a guarantee that equal returns will be forthcoming for a few years more.

I see hy a letter in the Witness that Mr J. Brown says that dun Green Fodder oats do not succeed with Crops. him, because the climate and soil of his farm arc- too-; Told for them to make sufficient progress in fcime to be of service for the purpose tor which -they are sown. It seems strange to me that he should find Italian ryegrass better ad&Dted for his purpose than th&se hardy oats, for I, was always under the impression that Italian ryegrass, being a pative of Italy,, which is much warmer than the southern districts of this island, ■would not succeed where these oats would. This • cereal is of a very adaptable nature, and S3S 3 grown with success in all temperate climates of the world. It is the only cereal ithat can be satisfactorily grown in tre rigorous climate of the North of Scotland, -while it adapts itself equally well to much totter climes., provided it gets sufficient moisture. However, I have no wish to dispute with Mr Brown upon the matter. •If he finds that the grass suits his purpose better than other.- greea crops, by all means let him. continue . its' cultivation, j Each and all of us must be -guided by our j own requirements " and- circumstances, .and . "there is no good end to be gained^ by cavilling at the practice adopted by anyone. We are all trying to get the best Tesults possible from our farm opera'tionsj and the means are of little importance bo long as the desired end' is attained. I fancy that Mr Brown was 'labouring under r. misapprehension when he wrote the letter referred to above, however. He attacks *'Alpha," whereas it was my own views j which^ he was quoting and- criticising. I J do not mind that in the least. I am able to uphold my opinions, and am quite .willing to allow Mr Brown to defend hi 3 bo long as criticism is of a friendly nature. Mr Seddon "has kindly given v us permission to walk the earth, and cultivate a small portion of .its surface, and I suppose we •may depends upon his magnanimity to allow us to cultivate it in the manner we think best. At anyrate, we must take it for granted jthat^ such is the case until further orders , are -issued to the contrary. The main thing is 'to get our wether lambs to the works as soon as possible and with & nice bloom upon them. The British consumer will not care what' the lamb was fattened upon, so long as the meat is tooth-. Borne.

"D. M." lrindly writes to point out~that M'ConneH's Notte Book contains ar "table showing the comparative, merits of silage made from various crops, - and he says I anight have overlooked this -when dealing jwith the green food question a week or jtwo ago. "D. M." need not .h%ye apologised for giving me .this reminder, for lorn glad to get any communication, from farmers on any farming- topic. I em afraid, however, , that • the table- he nrefers to will not throw any light upon the j comparative values of green oats and green Italian ryegrass, because the latter is not •anentioned, , and the analysis of green oats^ made into silage is not the same as it would be in a green state. A 'considerable chemical change take's' place while' green etuff is" undergoing the heating involved in staking silage, and" the proportion of eerItain constituents is altered. In this table uvi'Connell compares silage* made from old pasture and hill pasture with silage made fiom green oats. The latter contains 78 per ceut. of water, old pasture 75.41, hilljpaeture nearly 79 per cent.'. In "fat the <ats beat both, and in woody fibre green «ats are less than the silage from pasture. ■As I lave said, this analyst is not mucli eu.-de to the value of food in its green state, and as the "proof of the pudding is jan the eatihg/' the condition of the stock as a better criterion than cheaiical analysis

Size of Draught Horses.

size and proportions of animals for heavy work is "the subject of much difference of opinion among farmers, and, as I said in a recent note, some go for weight and size and others for less weight and more action. I have just come upon a p&ra- • graph taken from an American paper, •which gives some details of draught horse measurements which will probably be of interest to breeders in this country. Professor Hunt gave a lecture to a number of stock breeders in America, and told them that as it- had come in' v his way to \ make a good many measurements of im_|)brted draught horses, "it had struck him, that it would be of interest -and perhaps of value to go more fully into a comparison of the conformation of draught horses as found in actual work. He therefore arranged for correct measurements to be taken of 101 horses, &nd as it would cause some inconvenience to go into country districts among the farm horses, he decided to take the measurements of the horses at ■work in a large town in the State of Ohio. | In that town_ there were large breweries and carrier companies, and these people Jcopt the best heavy horses in their business^, both as an advertisement and for ■utility. He had 101 of the best and largest draught horses in that city carefully measured, but before being measured he got them classified by the owners or by t!e stable foremen into extra good, medium •good draught, extra good light draught, jand medium good light draught. The following table gives some of tha more important dimensions of 55 extra-good *i>d work-— lUDI Ta ' Ue f ° r lieavr drau S nfc Extra Mecfcium. Good Good XT , , , , Draught. Draught. Number of horses measured 55 17 Weight 16131b 15791b Height at withers .. ... 66in 67.12 in Height at croup ..- .. .»• 65.6 68 From point of shoulder to* point of buttock 67.8 68.75 Prom lowest point of chest to ground , S3.S 84.12 Circumference of body at girth SO 87.3 Circumference of front cannon at centra .. .. . « 9.63 9.73 Length of head .. .. .. 26.66 2G.8 Length of shoulder .-. .*, 27.25 27 From doreal angle of sca"pulfttohip 30.4 31 From point of hock to ground 25.5 20.9 •Width of chest 20 195 Width of hips 25.2 25.12 Length of croup 22 - 5 22 - 75 Sow, these two columns, of figures give what I mar call a composite Dicture ot tt©

two types of draught horses. What is termed by the professor the medium horse is longer in the leg than the extra-good by 3.7 in, but the height at withers c.nly makes him 1.12 in higher; therefore he is not so deep in the shoulder. Summarising the measurements of the different parts it can easily be seen that the good horse as compared with the medium good one is, on an average, not so high for his weight, is deeper, in the chest, shorter in the leg, larger in the chest girth, but slightly smaller in bone. Compared with the length of

the- heads in the two types, the shoulder of the good horse is deeper, the back shorter, the hock closer to the ground, tho chest and hips slightly wider, and the length of the croup a little less. The measurements in the table give the average dimensions of all tho horses in each class, but it is stated, further, that the weights j of the extra-good varied from 13851b to ■ 19301b, while the heights varied from 15£ j to 17 hands l£in, and the girths from 84 in f to 99iin. 1 AGRICOLA.