INTERCOLONIAL AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 8

INTERCOLONIAL AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

(From Correspondents of the Pastoralists' Rev ievv for January.) NEW SOUTH WALES. Sydney, January 10. The Old Year ended with heavy falls of lain scattered over the State, as thunderstorms generally are. Some places i-e-ported heavy .alls, others less, but the whole Stale "participated in rain of a more ov less heavy nature. Notwithstanding all this, however, the reports from the greater portion of the Slate say that the rain has done no good. "With the exception of the country north of the Namoi and Barwon, and a few patches in other parts, the pastoral situation is very seriotre. It is useless to disguise the fact that this v ear's harvest has been a dismal failure. In spite of the severe season exaggerated forecasts of the wheat crop have been made, but sooner or later the real figures must be known, and they will not be very enlivening. A few crops have here and there weathered tho season, and have returned from 12 to 16 bushels per acie, but reports state that even localities where such returns have been secured will not average much more than~ five bushels. Crops that survived the drought were eventually ruined by the recent heavy downpours, which heat the grain out or bleached it very considerably. Grasshoppprs, too, have done an immense amount of damage. About Inverell the crops have been more fortunate,, and yields have fun fiom 12 to 14- bushels. About the Central Division the general avoiage is hardly oi^bt bushels, and about Albury the best that can be expected is about nine buahels. The shortage of this season's wool clip i«. as the months go by. becoming more and more evident, and there is every in-

dication of the season closing with a verjheavy decrease.

The exports of ffool from New South Wales in December showed a falling-off o£ 93,661- bales, representing probably, £1,300.000. The consequence is that, in the face of an increase in tho exports durintr the five months to 30th November of 72,794- bales, there is- on the first six months of the season, to 31st December, a decrease of 20,870 bales. During December this State exported 70,61+ fewer bales by sea and 23,050 fewer bales borderwise to Melbourne and Adelaide. Up to date the total number >f bales exported from this State for 1907-8 season is 639,779 bales, as against 660,64-9 bales for the corresponding; ■season last year. Deducting the quantity imported from Queensland, the net production of the Ptate so far stands at 580,055 bales, as compared with 597,087 bales for the corresponding period of last year. The efforts of pastoralists to exterminate rabbits by disease have assumed a more hopeful outlook, because the Federal Government have relaxed their hostile opposition in regard to the experiments being cairried out on the mainland. The Pastures Protection Boards all over the State unanimously favour the continuation of the experiments in the rabbit-infested areas of the State, and the Rabbit Destruction Fund Committee in Sydney are now moving in the matter of getting the necessary permission. In view of Dr Tidswell's assurance that the Danysz microbe carries no danger_ to human beings or other animals than, rabbits, it seems that permission, cannot reasonably bo withhold. A very heavy year's business has been, dene at Homebush as the following com* parative figures will^how; —

The qualify oi ihe stock generally has not' been so good as during thp years following upon the big drought, and the rates for &heep have not been so high. The following is a return of the principal articles of export from Sydney during 1907 compared with 1S06: —

VICTORIA. - Melbourne, January 20. After a spell of ideal harvest weather, with the thermometer registering lOOdeg and over, moderate to heavy raans were experienced over the whole State during the Christmas holidays. The downpour was heaviest within a narrow strip Tunning across to the country from Sea Lake, in. the north, to Warragul, in the south, and taking in Ballarat and Lancefield. Within. this zone up to sin were recorded ana floods occurred, while- to the ?ast and west of the line only about ljin fell. The chango was accompanied by a sudden unseasonable cold snon of about two days' duration. Snowstorms were common on the mountain*, and stock on the highlands suffered severely, many shoep and cattlo perishing. This again was followed by another heat wave of over a week's duration, and at the time of writing is being succeeded by another, but milder, change, with scattered showers. The splendid rains did a certain amount of good to the pastures, and thoroughly soaked the subsoil, besides filling tanks and dams, but; those who observe the climate closely express the hope that <ye may get but little more rain for the present. The recent rains havo helped the dairying industry along somewhat, and those connected ' with the tra.de hope for a prolonged export season on that account. The

total exports of butter for the year ending 31st December^ 1907, • were 34,700,0001b, a. decrease of about 9 por cent, on the previous 12 months, for which the late dry spring is entirely responsible. For all that the shipments for 1907 were larger than any other year except 1906. The shearing is finished practically all over the State, and the balance of the clip is nearly all at the seaboard, either waiting shipment or sale. Regular auctions were held in Melbourne and Geelong right up to the week before Christmas, and, taking all things into consideration, the market kept very firm, except for coarse erossbreds and liineolns. Of course, there is no disguising the fact that values have fallen materially since the opening sales, still the closing rates, if not as high as expected earlier, could not but be profitable to the grower. So far 353,653 bales have been offered in Victoria, and 518,573 6old. Thus the withdrawals to date are somewhat over 10 per cent, of the total-— a good deal heavier than usual — the recent irregularity of the market being answerable for this. The annual report of the Department of Agriculture, which has recently been published, gives a striking analysis of the progress made in rural production in Au a tralia since the drought year of 1902. Towards this progress Victoria has contributed to a remarkable extent, for, while the over sea exports from the Commonwealth have increased in three years by 53 per cent, the contribution by Victoria has increased 62£ per cent. Victoria's share of the Australian rural export in 1906 was 26 per cent, of the total, which, taking into account its area, means that one thirty-fourth of Australia produced more than one-fourth of its Wealth. The number of holdings of one acre and upwards in the State used for agricultural purposes in 1905 was 52,598, and in 1907 56.411 ; while the area, occupied increased from 32,181.000 acres to 35,305,000. The new Victorian irrigation expert, Mr Elwood Mead, has been very energetic- in travelling about all the irrigible district" of the State, and, being strongly impressed with the necessity for more and better lucerne growing as the main method of utilising irrigation, has formulated a scheme for competitive experiments in lucerne growing amor.gst . farmers in certain irrigation districts i.i the north. Prizes to the total yaiue of £70 are offered to those who can produce the most lucerne hay from five acres of land in one year from the time of sowing In the event of any two competi tors being equal with regard to quantity, the man using least water wiU bo adjudged winner. Mr Mead is a strong believer in lucerne hay as a winter feed and stand-by for cheep and lambs and dairy cattle, and hopes in timo, by moans of these competitions, to increase largely the area cultivated.

£ear. .907 1906 .905 L 904 .903 L 902 1901 LSOO Sheep. 2.741,483 2,196,535 2,124,395 1,311,463 1,785 662 2 394 62! 2.268,142 •2,094,110 Cattle. 106,904 96,494 96,723 83,865 95,510 92.742 100,499 109,468

Wool, bales .. .. .. Skins, packages Hides, number .. .. Tallow, casks Leather, packages . . Preserved meats, cases Frozen mutton, ores. Frozen beef, pieces .. Wheat, -.entals .. .. Flour, centals .. .. Hoofs and bones, tons Horns, number .. Butter, boxes 685.431 37,693 131,526 10.727 10,689 39,886 1,200,715 24,638 2,813,701 726,072 563 1.057.353 133,842 846,602 39,170 192,21* 36,442 9,290 70,916 1,165,138 15,199 2,922,236 663,592 642 989.30S 353,753