WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 20

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

The weather from the .farmer's point has! just been ac good as there Hie is any need ' for. ■> 0$ Weather. Christmas .Eve and Christ- , . mas ' morning r there- wa^- ai 6teady fall of rain, then fine, sunny- 3aya tor a week. Yesterday (the 31st) it rained! all day. To-day -^New Year's Day) aajC been cold and blustery — nearly oold enougfn for' a fire after the" hot weather experienced. For late gjfain, turnips,' and jeno Kiin once a week is just what' is wanted.

Owing -to the hot weather some of -the early %orops have, ripened Harrert very ~ fastf .. and * consfderand able area of oats has/been; ' H»r-m«Mn&. cu t between: the holiday?. : . Hay-making has "also beew going on, sp that the farmer and' his labourers- (when, he can get -them) could not .afford much- time for sport. The oat har,vesfc is At least a" fortnight .earlier than usual in " starting, - and will be prolonged a month later, which is fortunate, in. .face of the scarcity of -labour.

A T€trospectiv« glance at the lappen> inge of the past js aomq* JL feimes o£ s v»ltie, «epecially ■uf Retrospect. the farmer. The mista&oa of the past th&t'lave borne their fruit cannot be amended, bat b* noting them they may eetve *a <feng«f* siimals as to what to «roid in ib* futttrtb Tie year- 1906 at'jta «Jpae was oonsideredi the be*t ever experfenced_ftnonefarflyj.aincfi> th© Maoawata and Kangittkei disfiriots weroi : ftrat settled, and' 1907 Ins proves BSm*^% as auspicious. The wea^hsr dmttng *hf firge B ix months was espeaallj; &v.outablß 3t every respect. - When part of tho^Souta

Island was 'having a dry and parched time, on the West' Coast the grass kept green and abundant, and the district was able ro Relieve" the ~ drought-stricSen /portion of the ~sciith J of some of its-surplus stock. Mutton tnd "iambs" brought good prices, and although/ the ' lamb season wa6 'a little h<te ft.' large number were -shipped before -tVey became tegs. Although this. teg, or immaiure/mutton,' has met with a ready sale, and breeders have been getting careless whsther their lambs went as fat lambs or tegs, perhaps" at this juncture it were weil If farmers considered the position >mewhat. Inr the last issue of the Witness '* Drover " gives, a note of warning on this question. Since the inception of' the teglaxnb trade- 1 have been puzzled as to *»ho were the consumers of meat that is "neither 'fish, flesh, Jowl," nor good red herring," and I have been attributing the demand to some' newly-acquired taste of English rmeatfeaters. Farmers can hardly ■be blamed for producing it, as it has been' paying equally .as. well. .as lamb— at least, many breeders will tell you such is the case. I cannot see how it can be, if farmers will calculate- the' cost of the extra three or Jour months' keep. " Teg-lamb growing, J - should say, is the work of the. careless or lazy breeder, and is" a plausible excuse for not endeavouring to get his lambs fat at under 401b, as he realises about the same money "for- 451b to 501b v This is not to the interests of . the .bona/ fide fat lamb trade) • and a slump, in teg. mutton would have the effeot of better • provision being - made for fattening the real lamb— a business of infinitely more value to -the Dominion,. At the beginning of the year wool was ,- bringing almost unheard-of .vnoos, oreihinding the.older generation of the sixties, •when long or crossbred wool v'-aufc ip to 60s a stone in* Scotland., - (Twenty ui^nt pounds is" a stone of -wool.) -^That was at -the time of • the cotton famine durng,tbe American -war. I think it- was in '62 thfet a Border clip was sold at 275, and m 53 the same- clip went "up to oGs ye* #<re. The reoenk rise in "value has be-'n mainly attributable to .scarcity, and wool toqjc longer to reach' the highest point— viz., in 1902" 40's crossbred-fops were, worth on'y i<&. In -December, ,1906, they were quoted at Is 9d per lb, or to put it nn farnrers phraseology: OrosSfered wool, medium. - to coarse, -sold at from 3Jd to 4|d ip January, 3902,' and in the same month in 1907 at from lid to -13d, at which price the bulk of last ,year>* clip was sold. In the diß-" Ifcricts under review the lamb trade has largely increased of late year, but the mainstay of* the \ farmer is the wool clip; therefore. the abnormal -prosperity experienced is largely due to the- fact that, wool increased in, value threefold during the last five years. Agricultural products do not as -*et-enter"much into the financial statement of the district, as w6 have still to~ depend on outside growers" for a considerable proportion of our breadstuffs and .fodder—that Is, . oats ■ and .chaff. Those , that grow cereals received fair prices after the harvest but nothing like what they would have -received -if s they had held on until the. spring. '~ Grain-growers have no cause to f>lame themselves- for, not being far-seemg enough to gauge the -*spol_ ; an<J market Whenever' a farmer has .stuff fit for ibarket he .should' take, the- then- , mar tat talue, and not be tempted, except under exceptional conditions, to enter the lists as a speculator. . -Dairymen have also "had a good^ year, with extra good prices for butter and cheese*, and plenty of grass for the <jow, except in the spring, when, owing to incessant" rain, grass was; not nutritious enough to produce good milk and plenty of ijfc. Perhaps dairy-farmers will take a lesson from the past, and- provide larger stacks of haj and ensilage and stores of roots.. If- we take the same period -as we did with wool — namely, from 1902 to .- " land " 1907— it may be said .that - Values. * land, has just about doubled in value. At this '.unmeet 'the price of land is the most serious question to the farmer/ and every owner should devote* a. few hours to the study of the situation. Many say that land is l»Ve any other commodity— its value being what you can get for it in the market. There is- just enough truth in this, argument to make it dangerous.' Certainly in ordinary times, when the products.- of,. the land, are selling ,at fair, average prices, land as a rule is worth' just what <tanbe. made out of it; tut- in boom times like the present buyers are *pt to • forget '-that a .few years . ago wool was.. selling. at 4d. per lb and oats Is 6d per bushel, and. it is possible the same prices may rule again.- To-day land is bringing fully up, to its value, should prices contimfe as at present — najmely, 3s or 4s per bushel for .oats- and lOd to Is per lb for wool". No doObt some lands have been' irade more- valuable by increased facilities of access in' the way of roads and. railways.- But, the stock-carrying capacity Jhas noti thereby been increased. The safo cp»ese-in valuing land is -to/take* a period "or, 'say, 10 -years and get at ,what has been -ihe average range -of 'probes- for farm pro-, 'ducts— sheep, wool, . - grain, and butter.— thereby getting at what would be a fair rent based -on such average prices and capital. " But' "the earth hunger is 60, aoute that few look at "the matter in that way, being guided mainly by prices already paid 'for neighbouring land. These -people think ■that if So-and-so can see. £20 or £30 an acre in^ his purchase the thinker cannot

be far wrong in giving an extra pound oi two, -"and so the boom goes on until -values, in the writer's opinion, . are at a dangerous stage. Flax has fluctuated so much in price- that it is hard to say whether it , Flax. has been a prosperous year with aiillers or otherwise, Why there should be so much of a gamble in the fibre market -is hard to understand. The writer sometimes questions whether the flax industry 'is of the value to the Dominion that is claimed for it. The "value of the export for 1907 was £850,000— a good round sum not to be lightly despised— and a large proportion of it has to be . spent in .. labour. . -If the labour was continuous there would be no question- as to the value of the industry. But on an average eight .months may be considered as the length of the flax season, and labour is wanted just when it ie, scarcest for farm and Toad improvement work. The argument is used that nax-dreesing absorbs a lot of labour uhsuited either .for the farm or the road. That may be so, but the farmer who is offering from Is to 2s an hour or the road contractor in want of men look with covetous eyes on the men engaged in flax-cut-ving. Wellington exports of flax amounts to nearly half of the total for the DominionThe figures for last year were £368,993. Most of this came '. from the Manawatu, which is the reason -why I give the matter such .prominence in this note. The- sum- of the wole- mater is tat te- west coast of te Wellington province enjoyed in the 'year just ended ,one of the most kindly and prosperous years in its history. But prosperity is -not -always an unmixed blessing, 'and sometimes v a . time of stress is of more utility -in developing the agricultural - interests of the country.' , The outloolc, for the year 1908 is as bright as -it was for 1907,with" th« -exception of ,th© wool market, and, as far as 'can be judged, there will be no -great slump. Farmers are therefore as full' of hope as ever. I trust that 1908 turns out as well as the past year. : Looking over the lands that the Government are putting on the Land market within the next few Market." months,_ and the number of ~~^~ . properties that are being subdivided .for sale, one- would imagine there was sufficient to satisfy the, present earth hunger. Whether it is owing to the holidays' or a lull in the boom, there does not appear, to be so much excitement as there was a few months ago. I hope this favourable symptom will continue. .Excited business is never healthy or stable. -Those interested in land are anxiously awaiting the 'result of the subdivisional sale of - the land of the Hon. John Bryce and Mr R. M'JBeth, near Kimbplton. The sale is to take place at Feilding on the 18th January. There are close on 3000 acres, which for the purposes of sale have been subdivided into 33 sections, ranging from 12 acres to 307 acres. Kimbolton lands have come into great_ favour of late- years, especially" for growing root crops, and no doubt this land will bring big prices. It. Ie questionable whetner there is not c tendency to subdivide too much 'land that is situated a distance from railways. I could never understand why estates, when they are subdivided, often bring higher! prices than equally as' good* farms- fully improved. It will have been noticed at these sales that a. bare, 'unfenced section sometimes brings, say, £20 an acre for, 50 acres. The buyer does not "seem to consider that before he 'can,ma'ke a home on it it wjll cost close on , JBSOO. He.- could probably purchase for the same money- an established farm with ali necessary improvements, and, in some cases, small plantations and orchards. ■ ANTIQUA OVIS.