AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 22

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL

A new milk can has been devised for the use of dairymen delivering milk in the towns and cities. The can is made to contain five gallons, and is provided with a patent dust-proof outer lid that is secured to the can itself by a chain, and the lid can be securely fastened to prevent the contents being tampered with. The inside of the can is perfectly smooth, the joining down the centre being smoothed, and the usual ridge is not to he found in the can. This, it is pointed out, is a great improvement on the old style of can, as it allows of the use of a perfectly duet-proof inner lid, which can be shut down to any distance inside, and thus prevent the splashing of milk all over the upper portion of the can.

As showing 1 how confined are the capabilities of some farm hands, Mr W. S. Maslin told the Conciliation Board at Geraldino that he knew a man who had been on a farm for 29 years, and when asked to catch some lambs while another man tailed them, he could not do it, saying that he had never been used to it. Featherston's harvest yield (writes the Wellington Dominion's correspondent) this season will show a falling off of 50 per cent, on that of last season, due to the long and early spell of dry weather. The Government entomolog-st of Queensland suggests that the bot-fly has been introduced into the border districts of that State by stud horses crossing from New South "Wales.

The recent raine have made the crops between Timaru and Oamaru_ look very promising, but it is very noticeable that the crops in the Timaru district, especially wheat, oats, and potatoes, are much more forward than south of the Waitaki. "Ploughing is the easiest work in the world. I could take a boy off the streets and teach him to plough well in three weeks." So said Mr Maslin when giving evidence before the Conciliation Board, at Geialdine. Now that the freezing: works are getting into full swing again for the season (says the Lyrtelton Times) the Labour Department will proceed to collect the outstanding fines that wero imposed on slaughtdrmen as the result of last year's strike. The

majority of the Australians who cleared ou| • of the Dominion at the end of last season are returning, as they have apparently had a poor season in Australia. It is expected that the bulk of the money will be promptly forthcoming. At the Waverley saleyards a pen of ewes and a few * lambs were bought by a dairy- , man during the winter, when feed was) scarce, for 3s each. They improved wonderfully, grew a good fleece, and have now been sold for 17s 4d each, lambs in. Seventy million bushels of wheat and 40 mililon bushels of good milling wheat are estimated as this ,. year's Canadian wheai crop. A marked improvement has taken place in Great Britain in the breeding of cattle. Amongst those much experimented witli are the Aberdeen-Angus polled and tho , Sussex. The last is but little known in Australia. It has the reputation of having been great workers in the team. Now a Sussex bullock is a mountain of flesh, and it is produced at a very moderate cost. The Hereford is in great demand for export purposes — none greater, — and this fact is having a rather unfavourable 'effect, on the representation of this breed at the big -shows. A. shipment of Border-Leicester ram" arrived by the Athenic last week consigned to the order of Mr Joseph Doutn-waite oi' 'Waihao Valley, Waimate. They were sent . fron> the.noted flock of Mr DT Hume, Barre- : well, Scotland. The shipment consisted" of two ewes in lamb andT one two-tooth raix>. all of which are particularly \good and 1 highly bred. MrJßume describes the ewe.3 as the best he has e«er sold for exportatiov. One of the ewes took first prizes as a lamb and shearling at the County Angus show. Both ewes are in lamb to very high-class rams, one by Temptation, bred by Mr Hume, and the other by Baron Keir, by Sandy Knowles, full brother to the ran* bred by Mr Templeton -which sold for 200gs. The ram is a two-tooth bred by Mr Hume-, and is a typical 8.-L. sheep, well clad, but having done service just before being} snipped, he is not looking at /his best. These sheep will make a valuable addition to Mr Douthwaite's flock, which already ;, includes seven imported sheep. Mr D6utb> t waite will no doubt exhibit his sheep «ft - -fche various shows, and breeders will await their appearance with interest. Since arrival the sheep have been shorn, and are now in quarantine.