OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 19

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET

(Feom Oob Own Cot»«-rspovt>i'nt^ 'The comparative mildness of che weather last winte: induced many of the o!d residon'ts of the pro\ ince to predict an anseaBOnable spring, an/i, judging by the variable that prevailed last week, it is very evident that the prophecies made ai<? to "be fulfilled to die letter. At the beginning of the weeik a hea\y frost occurred, antd as a result of this all classes of vegetation and fruit suffered a severe set-back : j iwdcod, it may be said that the greater portion of the early plum, peach, apricot, and walnut crops situated a r e\v miLes from the sea coast in South and MidCanterbury has been entirely ruined: Pota- ' toes, tomatoes l peas, beans, and flowering j annuals ir the eeedling stage have been . out off to the surface -of the soil, and after ■feeing exposed to he influence of a fairly _ , hot sun for a Cew hour? on Monday, the j vegetation referred to presented a black ' : antd withered appevance. Tender growth on laurel fences, ro?e trees, etc.. which »vas ; ■well advanced in consequence of the mild ; Xvintei experienced, has, more or less, re- j oeived a severe check, and those who take ■ a pardonable pride in thei gardens havo> thereby been much discouraged. On Tue=- < iday and 'Wednesday th-e -weather \va» again , ■ decidedly unpleasant, an o]d -fH-},. : 0r "1 | < noffth-west wind enveloping the country in < clouds of dust, and at the same tinve ah- ' I sorbing the moisture fiom the siuface oE j cultivated soiL During the after no op jf I 1

Wednesday the wind suddenly changed to the south- west quarter, and this was *oon followed by rain, which fell intermittently for several hours, and freshened the appearance of the country in a remarkable way. Faii-ly seasonable weatbei prevailed on Thursday, but on Friday ominous clouds were observed scudding ovei» the horizon from the south-west, while the wind from that quarter was bitterly cold and penetrating, and forcibly reminded on© of the middle of winter rather than of an- advanced stage of spring. At about 3 o'clock or Iriday afternoon rain commenced to fall, and the" wind increased to almost hurri«ajiis force, and, with the rain, which was falling heavily and without intermission, continued throughout the night, on Saturday^- and Sunday with unabated vigour. j^oi* the preceding 48 hours, at 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon 4.61 in of rain had fallen over the flat country in MidCanterbury, while registers, equally as high, are recorded for North and South Canterbury districts. The wind laged with such violence, and consequently drove the rain with such force that apple trees, which are in full bloom, have b°on almost stripped, ! in many cases, of their blosfom and foliage. Rivers a,nd creeks throughout the province ars in flood. a,nd artificial dianxisls have b^an taxed to their utmost in carrying away stcrm water. Low-lying portions of -lands have been 6wamped, and where crops are inundated a portion of the veg.e&ation will undoubtedly be drowned. As showing thte severity of the blizzard ar.d thrc intensity of the cold, it nviy be said that. large numbers of small birds were observed on Saturday morning lying dead under trees and fence*. , Although overcast, the weather is fine thi.s (Monday) morning, but there ar<* indications of a further fall. The cotal measurement of rain up till 9 o'clock this morning from Friday afternoon is 5 30in. Although th'S lambmj, seaf-of on thr flat country had be?n successfully tided over, nnd in mo-=t instances the lambs had grown rapidly and strong, reports to hand reveal the fact that the storm has been respon sible for levying n comparatively heavy d->atli toll among the flocks, many of the aged ewes ha\o aUo died as a result of exposure in ur.shelisred paddock 5 . A dis- , tT-?ing a.ecoun f come-? from the back countiy, wnero lambing ha^ comm-Pnr^d, and it iV said that as a result of the enow and sleet that has fallen in tha. f locality ths mortality among the flocks is excessively high. " ! Owing to the mildness of She .-ra c on prior , to the storm and the anxiety of quite a laiare numbci of farmers and graziers :o g£t their wool early oh the lnarfrrt. =h?ar:ng was commenced at an unu-ua!ly early dat< with disastrous result*. On Saturday one farmer Ln the Ashburton district lo^t over 250 sbefcp, and it has been authoritatively stated that several hundit.il hoggets and four-tooths of one mob that were ehem _-'i another part of the province wer*> found (1-afl or on .Saturday ard Snndcry iKO-iiiings. Other smaller lc.~<?es are ro-f-oried on all I'anaN, ard it is feared that whc-ti full details are to hand it will bo. found that tb- mortality among the" flocks will be the highest recoidrd for many years past 1 ha\e also ascertained thut a num- ' lier of foals that were born during the heght of ihe storm have died from e.\- • • no sii re This is much to ba reg-ietted. as t'io pio^pects of agrieuHuri*:s and paftorali=t« a week ago were very bright and encouraging ' For~thp month of October. 1908. the average rainfall in tho pio\ir.csi v >t>j 2»in. ajid al>-oad\ t'je foil during .I.c p;:=ent incnih ha^ averaged 5 2 i n . The total tivera^-e 1 ai::fall la< \cav was 23m, the inc i asi.'r"ni"<ii u;i to date for the pic-ent being 27iii. Except in tho<e land's ihai ha\o liecn swamped, the storir hri- 'ic* mii-si ially affec;<rd th" cereal cop--. r>r.d it, is to pay that cultivated Ln.i ha^ bo n thoroughly drenched almost to iv? .«u!w>il. Th^re tva« a s'iah/ «übsidr-nro of " the irale on Pundav afrerno-on. but li<"-a\y rain still continued t< fall inlerinit!ent!\ . In tho absence of drying wind*, no further nioi^tume will ba needed for tba crops and pictures for we°ks to cc me. Thc-re we^re fairh !arcre yarrlmg* of all cla«s°s of slocL at the chief murke* c-eiitic--la<i- week, and whik fa.t sheep c old freely at finrpr prices, there was a falling oli in the c->'npetition for moa' ela^e* of shei-p, with perhaps the exception of lIC4 sets and foui tooth wethers, and iric-s> shewed a drop of from L= to Is 6d per head as. eompar-ed with rates ruling the prece-!-ing we^ik. In regard to the cattle market, it may be said that fats, springers, and cou i in profit are celling ■(veil, but the ©tore cat f !e market is very flat, and lines offeied wert ncj^t inquired for and hnid to d^ c pc c of at c!«!ininy rate?. Pigs are stil' ?-"llin^ o\c<?-,itiVnillv we'l, and late puce-s ha\e b--p slightly xc^ede^l The L'anterbuiy Aai icullural and Pa--toidl Labourei-a' Union ha~ mfoimed th<

Farmers' Union that fully 99 per cent, of , the farmers in Canterbury have failed to observe the recommendations made by the Arbitration Court after the hearing of the dispute. At a. meeting of the Noith Canterbury Executive of the Farmers' Union last week the information indicated was received with much merriment on the part of the members. The executive also disj cussed the frozen meat export trade, and it wa-s resolved : '" That this executive will I do all in its power to bring about a eon- | ference of farmers' organisations and 1 others who are interested in the meat trade,'' presumably with the view of discussing ways an-d means of improving the trade and prices offered. Mr T. Ronayne, general manager of the N.Z. Railways, has written to Mr W. H. Zouch, secretary to the Society for the Prevention of Cluelfcy U Animals, in »-cI gard to a consignment -of cattle from Woodlands to Addington on September 13, tTia/ the railway officials had taken every reasonable precaution to keep Jhe cattle on their feet. „ The general experience of t?le department was thai cattle were less likely to injure each other when closely packed iv the trucks. . /The department's officers are not 'n s position to judge whether animals .are in a fit condition to travel oi not, and that matter must be left to the consignoi, as must also the question of how many beasts should be loaded in a truck. The staff, however, have instructions to prevent overcrow<JLng whenever practicable. The department was prepared to run a special stock train from Invercargill to Christchurch, provided a sufficient load is guaranteed, but the traffic between the two places is so small and intermittent a-s not to warrant the department making special arr&ngei ments. I A shipment of cattle and sheep arrived at Lyttelton last week from the Chatham Island in good condition, and only one died during the voyage, notwithstanding the rongh sea experienced. I A few days ago' I interviewed a commercial man in a large way in regard to the sharp rise in the Home meat market. i He said that there, was no disguising the fact, that the market at Home had been glutted for several months past, and as the cool storage rooms were full, chiefly with farmers' small lines the supplies or stocks had been sacrificed for the purpose of providing room for future consignments. In that way the supplies on hand at Home had been quickly cleared. Then he was of opinion that arrivals of cargoes of late had not come up to expectations, and with ' a shortage on hand, it was evident to him 1 that some of the large export, buyers had 1 o-one in for a little speculation, which ha<l i resulted in prices being, rapidly boomed. i In reply to a question, this expert said 1 that he" was of opinion that prices tor I both mutton and lamb would Keep up tall ' heavy shipments arrived Home from AusI tralia at about the end of December or th° beginning of January. ' The EHesmere A. and P. Association held its annual Show last week, and while ■ the entries were larger than in former i years, fhe quality and general condition lof the stock was uniformly good- Horses, 1 B h,ee P , and cattle, in the order given, were J the outstanding featurer of the show i _