WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2735, 15 August 1906, Page 8

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Taaic On Ow* Cajaxnain>xvr.> {There is same slight improvement hx the - weather conditions, but it The ia still very • erratic, and Weatker. until the last two days there has been some rainevery Z4 hours, the temperature also remaining* very low, white- the last two nigntff there haw been hcary Create ** &***. be understood that it ia only on very dry spots that' ploughing or tilling can b* done to advantages. , Nevertheless, farmers ia too muny cases are losing patience, and have started, to plough even in places where the land Sr absolutely unfit to be worked. Of course, there are many places after such a .season as-, we have -passed through, as it ' may be said the land has hardly ever been -really dry during the lasfr 12 months. The subsoil being- full to the brim, the soil itself is necessarily" in. at sodden state.. Working: land in such a stateis the height «f toll*. Far better that men and teams afike shauKi: be. keeping: than. Eutting them to Work on such soiL Peraps I may be a bit of a faddist in this respect, but in all ray experience I never yet saSr any good got by workings land when we*. There iff no-'dnw&t on- river beff deposits', with a gravelly subsoil, after two or three fine, days you. can get -to work,, and - not do a great deal of harm-, I>ut such spotsare few and far between- in the agrioultsuraf area of the West Coast. ■ (As- the season for planting 1 potatoes* approaches^ the vexed quest Potatoes. tion again arises as to whether it is worth while throwing away a lot of money in planting potatoes for the blight to feed upon, 6r is it possible to combat the blight by spraying. Mr Kirk, of the Department of Agriculture, paid a visit to Mr Henry Burrell's farm near Feilding last week, purchasing: 25 tans of Northern Star potatoes on behalf of the Government for' distribution amongst the Maoris. I have/ not heard what price the Government paid, but some weeks ago Mr Burrell told me he was holding all he had for £21. I enclose a cutting giving. Mr Burrell's- report to the Government, showing: how he treated the Northern Stars so as to produce the phenomenal return of IS tons- to the acre over 40 aonjs. The cheque- he has received for potatoes must be a substantial one, notwithstanding that he sold a portion of the crop off the forks at from £10 to £12, a ton, I should say the price will avprage somewhere about £15 a tori, which totals up £225 pec acre, so that a fairly ,wides margin can be allowed for the expense of sprajfing,, and then leave a goodprofit. * Towdwatawe- the* jflaindr of/sttyane who may th|ok "tSiat' I%r. rS&ort ra ' over- ' 'drawn - in "any way I may mention that M/ BurrolK has been> long known in the district, and no one there would think of doubting his report on potatoes or anything else. I frequent^x passed the field while (fee potatoes

Weatker

"were growing 1 , am? saw the sprayer at work from a distance. I was also on the grousd when they were digging, and from the appearance of the quantity coming off . the forks I expected that the yield would hare even been- more than 15 tons to the acre, but being new ground it was a bit rough and lumpy, some patches being a bit wet There can be no mistake, about the grosa weighty as the digging was done "by contract, and every bag was weighed in the field, the same as grain from a threshing machine, a system £~ never saw adopted with potatoes before. When potatoes were 30s or 40s a ton we thought it near enough t© fill the- bags and give 12 bags to the ton, bat now that they are worth gold, farmers are more careful, and cannot afford to give overweight. There is another side to the question of the Northern Star, and: spraying giving immu--nity from blight. I nave met several who planted Northern Stars, and who say they sprayed axfrf yet lost their crop by blight-; so that. f he question of their immunity from blight is far ftom being settled yet. However, when Mr Burrell has been so successful, why should not others be? The following » the article' -from the Feilding Star:."In view of the doubts which have been expressed* in some districts of the colony regarding the* efficacy of the Bordeaux nuxfaze* for potato Blight, it is interesting to team Ijhe experience of a grower >s»£o Juta lad. it L w«a<ferful crop- ef potatoes Has flewjpOi- .totally, free from blight, through adopting, proper .methods of cultivafvcm. " ■ ;. "Mr Henty Burrell, of Feilding, . has furnished the; Department- of Agriculture with. some facte that are worthy of notice b* gpcoweia. Ik December, 1963, he imported! BH* of Northern .Star potatoes, the nsodnei* of -winch he again planted in 1904, from, whiehi he dug, eight tons. This was the season the Irish blight first made its appearance in the Feilding^ district, but he did not see any sign of it in his crop." Having stumped, and broken up some bush land, he again started planting the ' Stars ' on the 3rtr October, and continued doing so at intervals as he worked the land and weather permitted. The eight tons just planted 40 acres. Mr Burrell, acting on advice from, the- department on the treatment of potatoes, procured -a Strawson' aprajcjr from, London. - This fixes on the back of a dimy, and reqwxes two men to work it 'fhe^crop was araayed' on the JZth December with Roirdeauac mixture, that is— 4ffe- bluestone, slb asda crystals to 4Sgs£ of water. Two mea sprayed 10 acres a day r and 60gai of- the mixture sprayed one acre, at a total cost, including labour, of about 5s 6d per acre. "As the plants grew stronger, Mr Burrell increased the bluestone to 61b in place /of 4lb. In all \he sprayed the crop six tunes* or once in every, 10 days r as near as the weather would permit, the .last time being February 25. ( I saw no signs of blight until about the- Ist February,' says Mr- Btorrcli, ' when the leaves- became spotted, but it did not spread down the steai, flßfueGMentiy the. tubers are sound anti quite free from blight, and the crop is ■^tnrning- ouk 15 tona^to the acre. I am. confident thai it was the spraying which saved the- orop, and I intend to- treat the same next, jeai, and -start to spray, as soon a* I can see the rows. There are two things we must .do— namely, plant' & good dieaße-refflßtmy variety of potato, and •pray early- and often, or it is only waste o£ time trying to gasw them at aIL- I ought to say, in conclusion, that I feel very much, indebted to Mr Kirk for the good advice he has always given me in this mattes.* "The exceptionally wet season in the Feilding district, and elsewhere in the [ north, undoubtedly favoured the spread of the blight. With an ordinary season, careful selection of seed and judicious sprayling, taking special care to be ahead of the blight, it is hoped to save a large proportion of the- crops next season." • The lambs will come- at their appointed time, whether weather conLaatbiaf. ditiona oap favourable or not. Awbt back in the remote ages, in the back-blocks, of the /Darling, a story went the rounds to the effect that a. prominent Melbourne merchant, wh» owned a. station up there, on receiving a letter from hie manager just Before!* the lambing started saying that the prospects of a good lambing were bad owing to want of rain, feed, and water, all of which were very scarce, immediately replied (it was said by wire) : "Better postpone lambing until rain comes." This * instruction was a bit of a poser to the manager, for though, science and study can do much, to assist Nature in the' of animals better suited to what we consider* our requirements than, they originally were, there are certain: jaws- that are yet beyond oiur power to alter, die period of gestation being One. Consequently those who" decided five months ago mat their ewes should start lambing on August I are now reaping their harvest, and lambs are to be seen on many farms ail. over the lower districts. If only the weather would improve a bit there is no season why there should not be a very successful lambing, as^ there is no great asarcily of feed, and the ewes are generally *in. gocd fettle. JBeF^aome*. reason, or other hoggets have ' - * ' taken a big jump upwards Stock during die last 10 day«. Saler. There was a sort of general impression, that if the weather improved they would be worth money va. September, but few imagined that the fisst week ia August would see them 2s dearer than they were in July, and yet this they are to-day, if not more. Good hoggets, nothing- extra, are now worth from 14s to Iss, but there is little else in tho sheep line offering, except a few pens of dry ewes or ewes in lamb — late lumbers, — for which there is no particular demand, and prices remain about the same. At Palmerston last Thursday Messrs. M'Hardy Brothers' pure Lincoln nock of owes was sold by auction, when | two and four-tooth ew«s in lamb sold at ' from 2Jge to 4gs a head; four-year-olds, lAge to 3ga — tfie 253 ewes averaging ZJgs. J The flock .was a good one, but or no great, | prominence, so the prices realised show that the despised Lincoln has some admirers 3tilL A herd of 200 dairy cowb was sold la»t week at Palmerston on , Dairy behalf of Mr Lancaster, the Cows. noted breeder of Jerseys. The animals offered were only grade cowe, and the 200 head averaged £6 9s 6d, 107 of the best making £7 Us, the best price being £12 16s. Tnis shows there is still a market for dairy cowb, and a rising 1 market* too. I should gay cow*

are worth 30s to 40s a head more tljan they, were a month or six weeks ago. I am glad to" see it reported in the local • press that Mi Mooxe, Kai Xa Iwi, Wanganujs has secured Acquisition. the impo/ted Clydesdale sire Bancor from Mr Walter Blakie, Southland, the price mentioned being close on £1000 Although Otago and Southland are rich in Cljidesdalqs, still I should imagine they can hardly • afford to lose such a sire as Bancor is represented to- be. Still, I am glad to see that Wanganui has acquired such a sire, and he should have a chance of proving- himself, as the farmers around Wanganui have some good mares. There is room for » real good Clydesdale sire in the Mauawaru. There are three good shire sires stationed in the district, but we have no- Clydesdale of not«i except Lord Eldersloe, and- I hear his» owner, Mr M'Donald, is shifting up to Taranaki, so I do- not know whether Lord ElderieVs services will be available this season or not. Tho. sub-divisional sale of the Leithbridge Estate took place last -week. Land The old Leithbridge Estate Sates, formerly extended from Feilding nearly through to Halcombe, but during the last six or seven years Mr'F. Leithbridge has disposed of the- greater portion of it privately in small seeiioHß to farmers, and as residential sites adjacent to Feilding, and the balance, purchased by a syndicate some months ago, was .only about 3000 acres. This is what was "offered laet week. A proportion of it may ha 'termed good agricultural land, the balance good dieep country, a good deal of it Beiiyr top broken and steeo for dairying. The agricultural land 1 soKr at about »12 an' acre; the sheep country from £11 to £12 15s. The bulk of tine sections were sold by auction, there being a very Targe attendance of buyers. Considering the country, I am of opinion that the sheep country brought full value. The agricultural sections were cheap, as it is very good land. La-,t week the .different branches of the m union between Palmerston FanUrs' and Martou arranged for a Cofoa. special train sachet farmers could make, the trio to inspect the M-ornnfaaka, State Firm and reJmrn. the same- day: The day turned out to he very fin«, and somewßere < about 250 farmers availed themselves of the opportunity of a jaunt to. enjoy the company or ihoir brother -farmers, and perhaps pick up some wrinkle at the State farm that they might profir. by. All are loud in praise of the perfect order in which everything is kept on- the farm and the splendid condition of the- live stock. I fully intendedi making: the trip, .but on consideration I thought that there' would be little chance of gaining the information I wanted with such a large crowd, and decided to wait and go some other day, when. I could quietly walk over the place at my 1 leisure- Perhaps I had admit that T cannot stand a arowd, so never travel in 'excursion tyoms if I catt avoid ft. Thus, having nothing at first hand to say with respect to .the- farm, I had better leave the subject until I can pay it a visit,, wjiich I hope will be shortly, if we get some better weather. ANTIQUA OVIS, ,