NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2705, 17 January 1906, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The December number of the Pastoralists'

Review contains a long London Meat letter from its London corHarket. respondent about the state of the London meat trade. A good many reasons are gi\en for the decline in the price of New Zealand mutton and lamb, but it seems to me that it i 3i 3 sufficient to quote one only, and that one pretty well explains the position. It 1-, said that the very high prices ruling for our mutton and lamb during the first six months of 1905 had the result of letting in cheaper stuff from the Argentine, and that, finding the retail prices of our meat beyond their means, the people took to oatmg the cheaper and inferior imports fiom South America. At anyrate, the London writer says that the influence of cheap beef and lamb is strongly f«!t, and that pricea would have gone lower for our stuff but for the fact that stocks were light (November) and arrivals limited. Since ths letter under notice was written the position has improved somewhat, as wo have learned by cable, but at the present time the London quotations aie a penny per lb lower than at this time last year. One firm of salesmen said thai

the position in November was the worst that had been experienced for years, and that the meat was moving off so slowly that the stocks then on hand would not be oleared by the New Year. We have for many ytfars had fair warning" of the da-nger looming ahead from the vast resources of the Argentine, and it seems that we are now going to feel the effect of competition from that quarter. They can undersell us in the London market because of the fact, for one thing, that they are less than half tho distance that we are from London. When our meat reaches a high price- it is beyond the moans of a large number of consumers, who then have to do with the cheaper article. This must weaken the market and bring down grices. One meat salesman told the correspondent whose letter is under notice that "New Zealand expectations are getting higher and higher; they must remember that there is other meat here besides New Zealand." I am afraid the boom prices of last autumn have exahed our idea 3 a good deal, but for all that we shall have to take the best we can get, notwithstanding our expectations. For my part. I considered last year's prices phenomenal, and I had not the least expectation of getting such prices again this year. A drop of 3s or 4s per head will still leave us better prices than we have been accustomed to in times past, and we mu&t just be content and thankful that they are as good as we had any reason, to expect. Export buyers have not started business yet, and therefore we do not yet know what will be offered for fat lamb. An English paper reports a case in which a. chemist gave so"me_«extraScieiitific ordinary evidence in conEridence, nection with milk analysis. A dairyman had been fined by a magistrate for abstracting fat from niilk sold, and thereby reducing" it below the legal standard of 3 per cent. He had been charged with taking fat out of the milk instead of being charged with adulterating the miik with water. The reason for that was the fact that an analysis showed that the milk contained the usual percentage of solids, not fat, and that would not be so if water had been added. The dairyman appealed against the conviction, and tho case was heard before a higher court. It was then that the analyst gave some extraordinary evidence. He said that he did not believe that any pure milk contained less than 3 per cent, of fat, at anyrate suoh cases were very rare, and as in this case the fat was only 2.7 per cent., he was convinced that some of the butter fat had been abstracted. He then went on to tell the court that the whitish fluid which comes from the udder first is not milk, but " *ore-milk" — milk without butter fat, — while the last part of the milk, called strappings, contained all the fat Therefore, he contended that, dividing the cow's milk in that way, the first portion could be sold as pure milk containing very little fat, and the rich part could be mixed with water and still be above the legal minimum of 3 per cent. fat. When this witness was confronted with the fact that it had been found that a whole herd of cows had failed to average 3 per cent, of butter fat, he said that they rould not have been healthy cows or were very badly managed. He also said that any pure milk that had les>3 than 3 per oent. should be given to pigs. I have read reports in Homo papers of numerous cases in which men have been sued for selling milk below the legal standard of 3 per cent., and yet tho samples were taken as soon as the milk was drawn from the cows, and before there was any possible chance of it being adulterated. At all events, in the case under notice the judge- was satisfied from the practical evidence that there had been no tampering with the milk, and quashed the conviction, evidently ignoring the queer theories of the analyst. All scientists do not deal in impracticable theories, and Dr Truby The Feeding King, of Seacliff, is a man of Plants who has considerable prarand Animals, tioal knowledge combined with a thorough gra»p of the scienlifio a c pi»ct of all things in Nature, and his paper upon the feeding of plants and animals contains much information of a useful kind to all thoughtful farmers. He tells xis that the essential ingredients of plant food are phosphates, alkalies, and nitrogenous salts ; and of animal food, proteids, carbohydrates, and fats. Take the case of plants first : in addition to the chemical substances they must have air, water, and sunshine. Air is free and abundant everywhere, sunshine and water we have to take as it comes, though in some cases we can assist Nature in regard to water by means of irrigation. Mechanically, the soil is only required as a medium for holding up ! the plants and for conveying the necessary food to tho roots. Dr King says that the j common notion is that a plant builds most of its solid structure out of the solids it absorbs from the soil, while the fact is that the whole plant — roots, steins, leaves, and seeds — is made out of mere air and | water, with a trace only of solid mineral matter. Ho very truly remarks that the science of •economic manuring consists in ! adding to the &oil each season just what is lacking in our soil for the support of the particular crop we intend to grow. Thi6, he say.-, can be- ascertained without much trouble ; reference to a work on agricultural chemistry will tell u.°. the analysis of the a*h of any plant included in what are known as farm crops. An analysis of the foil -will tell us the proportions present of the necessary ingredients. Experiment a-nd careful observation will Ftrvo instead of soil analysis, but not so 2-eadily. We probably, arc he say«, too often purchase and apply manures containing ingredients not required by the soil for the intended crop. Some soils are chiefly deficient in potash, and, therefore, in such cases we need 1 not apply full proportions of nitrogen and phosphates. Nature contributee free, everywhere, at lea-t 991b of every 1001b of potatoes grown, and we are called upon to supply only tho balance of 1 per cent., and if we can manage, by judicious manuring, to increase a five-ton crop to a 10-ton crop, we shall, he says, have contributed to the tubers only about 1 per cent, per acre of pure phosphoric acid, potash, aud nitrogen at al cost of about £2. 18s 6d. This sum, according to the doctor, would provide a quarter of a ton of manurs mack up of 3cwt su?er., liewt of sulphate of potash, and 2ewt of sulphate of ammonia. At the co?t mentioned we could obtain an additional five tons of superior potatoes. The pamphlet describes experiments in potato-growing at Seacliff, and illustrations are given show- j ing the great superiority o$ a crop grown j from seed stored from time of lifting in j shallow trays, exposed to air aud diffused '

light, as compared with the "crop growfe from gcod, sounds eets stored ia the usual way. It is difficult to believe that there* could be such a difference, all else being equal, as that shown in the photograph. E am tryingi the same experiment myself this^ year. I stored a lot of my own seed in! shallow layers in boxes in the dim light of a shed, and planted them beside a changd of seed which, I suppose, had no beert stored in that way. So far I cannot sea any marked difference. At amyrate, some^ Northern Stars that I bought are growingj so strong and healthy that they could nofl be beaten so far as appearance above ground goes.

A few months ago I drew attention to th© operations of the Harves* Prices of Farm ter Company; which estate Implements, lished branches in the colony in July last, and while deprecating the formation of huga trusts or combines, I pointed out the danger to farmers from the absence of any outside competition. I have recently seen a. copy, of a oircular issued by the New Zealand! manager of the Harve&t-er Company in reply to the allegations which have been made) against them, and quoting the terms of the* agreement entered into by all the NeTW Zealand implement makers and importers six years ago. We all know that they were bound to charge a uniform price by that agreement, and the schedules of prices agreed upon meant a rise in price of abouiJ 20 per cent. The circular \mder notice also refers to the decision of local makers not to exhibit at the shows, and states thati the Harvester Company exhibited at a great' many shows last year, and intends to increase their operations in that respect. M cannot be denied that these large 'and powerful combinations are dangerous in! some respects, and it would bo disastrous to New: Zealand farmers if- all local competition were to be killed and the entire trade fall into the hands of a combination such as the much-die.cussed Harvesfe-r Company. If that danger can be removed I am sure that all farmers are of opinion that healthy competition is very desirable, and legislation has been provided for the purpose of restraining any foreign frusfc from monopolising the implement trade ofi the colony. At anyrate, that is the object; and intention of the Legislature, and it' remains to be seen whether it will have th© desired result.

AGRIOOLA.