AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 20

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

I Telegraphing' on the 11th, our corree- | "ondent at Alexandra speaks in the most gloomy manner of the crop prospects in j Central Otago. He says: “Very dry warm ; weather is being experienced throughout j C gntral Otago, and the want of rain is | Isw telling a gloomy tale. News comes 1 i'/am different districts that crops are an j Sdbsolute failure, whilst there is little feed j for stock. Water-courses that hitherto ; always carried water, even in the driest j seasons, are now quite dry, and owners of , stock are at a loss to know what to do lor the watering of their stock.' Little ! or no rain has fallen since November, i except a few slight showers last month, ■which were of no consequence. Dry north- i westerly winds have been the order of the day, and these are still having their disastrous effects. All districts are alike. Maniototo never looked worse, whilst , similar tales are to he heard in Lauder, : Omakau, and Matakanui, and at Ida Valley an even worse story exists. Here the stalk is short, and the grain even shorter, and in many cases farmers have turned in their stock on the crops owing to the loss entailed in cutting. As oats are the popular cereal grown in these districts the loss ■will be heavy, but the turnqp crops arc also showing signs of withering, and there is ovory probability that winter feed will ho scarce. Taken all round, prospects for farmers and pastoralists are very gloomy indeed, for there is already a scarcity of pasture on the hills for stock.” At a meeting of the Clutha County Millownera’ Association, held in Clinton on tho £th inst., it was (says the Clutha Leader) decided to abide by the prices drawn up at a previous meeting held in Balclutha, the rise in (price to be as from : January 1. It was also decided that all wages for men were to be paid in cash. i Our correspondent at Naseby joins m the general forebodings about prospects in Centra! Otago. He says the principal, if not the sole, topic of conversation throughout Naseby and tho Maniototo Plain is

the subject of the weather. There is lack of rain with hot days and scorching winds. In very many eases the crons are not worth harvesting, and consequently sheqp have been turned on to them. The Taieri River is low, and comparatively clear in colour, indicating that mining and sluicing in and around, Naseby are at a standstill. The indication is correct, for all claims have been closed down for some time on account Of ■ the want of\water. Gardens and orchards : ‘also are suffering, as the town supply of water is getting low, and although arrangements can be made whereby this supply can be supplemented, the townspeople are feeling that no water should be vised for garden purposes till the dry weather shows definite signs of breaking..

Yesterday Mr Fowler, of the Agricultural Department, Dunedin, made an examination of the wheat crops in the Tokomairiro district where the Hessian fly was reported to have been discovered, but found very little evidence- of any depredation. The Hessian, fly certainly was to be found, or at least' the eggs,, but the numbers were very small indeed. The pest was only found in velvet ear wheat, and in one locality—the qjuth end of Tokomairiro Plain.

There was a sheep-guessing competition in connection with tho vVaitati A. and P. show. Tho weight of the animal was ascertained to be 105|lb. The two nearest estimates were 1051 b, and these were made by W. Davidson (Merton) and W. Wilson (Evamsdale). The first and second prizes were therefore divided between these two Tho guesses of competitors ranged from folb to 1701 b„

-i. correspondent at Kc-konga writes stating that, owing to the long-protracted drought the paddocks and hillsides are very parched and dry. The river is extremely low, and water for domestic purposes is getting very scarce. Harvest operations have already commenced, but t-ho returns, owing to the premature ripening - , are not up to the usual standard. Owing to the cold winds prevalent, the Orepuki district is free so far from potato blight, and crons are reported to be looking remarkably well. —Advocate.

Wheat is being cut in small quantities about Otekaike, with prospects of a fair yield. Indications are at present that tie new season’s wheat will be on the martlet in about a fortnight’s time.

The prospects for the output of frozen meat from Auckland this season are said to bo very promising. It is expected that •jho Auckland Freezing Company’s last year’s record of 90.000 lambs will be beaten. Th.e schedule of dlasses ' of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales, which will be held on March 22nd to 'March 30th, on the Sydney , show ground, ri now available to exhibitors. The tchedule has again been carefully revised by the sections- Committees of the society. «• nd' a number of requests for additional classes; and increased prize money have been granted by_ the council. The total prize money is increased by about £409, bringing the grand total for the show to over £4,500. This is by far the largest prize {list submitted by an agricultural society in Australasia. The principal increase is in cattle, to which over £2OO has been added, making a total of over £llOO im the section. A new class has been added' for bull and fly© of his progeny. fa be tested for the greatest quantity of ynilk and butter fat on the farms. Another flew olass is for beef shorthorn bulls, one .year and under 18 months. This „ became necessary in consequence of. the large number of bulls entered in the yearling ®kes. Last show them were 54 bulls in

addition is £IOO in toe district exhibits, the prize money for which will be £4OO for up to four exhibits, or £SOO for five or more than, five displays. _ In horses, draughts have received special attention, the prizes having been increased in several cases. A new hunting. contest is for horses which shall not have won a first prize at a Sydney Royal Show up to the date of competition. The system of class trots has been extended, and classes are provided for horses with records to a mil© in three minutes. In the management of the ring events, it has been fount.' difficult to keep the time, because some contests draw fair more entries than others. It has, therefore, been decided to arrange the time-table after entries are received, and each horse exhibitor will receive a copy of this before the show. Classes have been added in a supplementary list for Dorset horn sheep, while in the fruit and other sections, there are some useful additions. The secretary states that a. considerable increase in the number of exhibitors is assured. New people in New South Wales arc applying for schedules, and the show will certainly be larger than any of its predecessors. Admirers of the Cheviot breed of sheep will be pleased to learn that at the carcase competition in connection with the Smithfield show week, held in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, London, the championship was awarded to an animal of that breed. The Standard of December 9 says:—The champion sheep carcase was a Cheviot, bred and exhibited, by Mr J. D. Fletcher. This was a remarkably good body of mutton, possessing- great depth of lean meat. Its live weight, at seven months three weeks’ old, had been 1021 b, whilst, when dressed, it scaled 641 b. It had been placed third in its class when living. A record for these sales was created whbn this mutton was put up for sale, Mr Coveil, Bromley, having to pay 20s per stone before he could secure possession of it. The reserve for the champion prize was a Suffolk wether lamb, bred and exhibited' by Mr T. Goodchild. At nine months old its weight was 1431 b, from which a carcase weight of 881 b, resulted. The price paid for this by Mr Hall was 10s fid per stone. For cattle the championship was won by Sir Walter Gilbey for the carcaee of a crossbred shorthorn Aberdeen-Angus steer, bred by Miss Staples in Ireland, and his steer was placed second alive, and at 21 months’ old weighed 13cwt Iqr 111 b, its dead weight being returned as 120st | 21b. The £25 challenge cup was also awarded to this carcase, and at the subsequent auction sale it was bought foils 2d per stone. Reserve for the champion and challenge cups was the carcase of a Highland steer, two years eight months’ old, shown; by Mr W. J. Nimmo. Alive this steer had weighed llewt 3qr 21b, its dressed weight being 108st. The price paid for it at the sales was 6s fid per stone. It will pay any farmer, no matter how sip all his acreage, to handle- a few sheen in the capacity of scavengers. They will gather up the waste that accumulates about the fences, the cultivated fields, the nooks -and corners over the farm. There, is no other animal so well suited for this work. Sheep will thrive and fatten, while engaged in cleaning up the weed patches, and the rubbish that cannot be harvested in any other way, or by any machine. - Under the direction of the Victorian vegetablec pathologist (Mr M‘Alpine) -24’ experimental potato plots have been started at ;-the Burnley School of Horticulture, with the object of testing the effiact of ; wood -ashes, slaked lime, and acidity of soil on rough-skinned potatoes such as Brownell’-s Beauty, and on smoothskinned varieties -such as Beauty of Hebron. Tile different effects of various soils, and - the utility of the treatment of tubers witli formalin and corrosive sublimate «ro also being tested on the plots. Harvesting operations on Cheviot aremaking good progress. The weather 'has been- entirely favourable, and oats a.rb ■going into the stack dry. A good- d-e-al of oats Is already stacked, and- the bulk of the wheat is in shook. Although the weather has been very dry feed is still fairly • plentiful. Turnips are looking well, but rs-p-e is being rapidly fed off, having reached its full value. A good deal of oats has been threshed in the Ashburton County during the past week, and the yields of early-sown oats have, been fairly satisfactory. Mi W. Mulligan, Maron.au, has threshed a small paddock of Algerian oats that yielded 50 bushels per acre, while Mr J. Fleming, Liemore, has a return, c-f 65 bushels per | acre of the same class of oats from a paid‘ dock of 20 acres. At Tinwald Mr W. M'Kay threshed 35 bushels of Algerians, going four and a-half bushels per bag to the acre, - and Mr Cox, of L-auriston-, - 52 bushels of Duns to this acre. The weather has become uncertain, a I dull sky and coolness prevailing. The rain which a week ago would have been welcome (says the Timaru Herald) now finds a large- number of farmers hoping that- it will hold off a while longer, as they; are busy harvesting. In all -directions now fields of grain in stock are to be seen, of both oats and wheat, and given fine weather the reapers will be rattling everywhere. The wheats are ripening fast, and present a. very fine appearance. A drive to Teinuka brings one within view of a good many lots of oats- and of some few of wheat in etook on the Levels Plain: and though none of them are heavy the I poorest is respectable, even on the drier shingly portion of the plain. On the better soils there arc very nice crops that are a pleasure to see-. The later oats are decidedly weak, however, and in one case. be: side the road sheep had been turned into such a crop as the best way of harvesting it. Harvesting has.started in the Parcora district. .The. wheat crops are fairly good there, but oats in a good -many instances will scarcely be worth cutting. Already this season- 1065 cases of cheesehave been shipped from the Kaikoura factory. During the corresponding period last year 771 cases were shipped. A fine rain on Friday night and Saturday morning was very, welcome to farmers throughout -South Canterbury, and has brightened up crops and grass wonderfully. Harvesting i-s becoming general, and -excellent results are confidently anticipated, especially from early-sown crops. North Otago farmers express themselves to the effect that the winter-sown crops promise fairlv well, but those sown in the spring,, which cover the greater n-art of the area under cultivation, arc likely to yield much below the average owing to the continued dry weather of the past six weeks. The countryside has now assumed a thoroughly dried-up appearance, and the grass having lost its ‘succulence, the effect Has ab'eady become '.noticeable on stock. On young lambs particularly are the evidences of a, , continued: dry spell noticeable. The dairying industry has received

dea-lt with at the factory has become materially reduced. Speaking- to a press representative Mr James Lumsden, of the Drummond Dairy Factory, said that small farms were the thing to aim at for the benefit of the Dominion, and dairying was the natural result of small holdings. His only fear of the future of dairying was the ever-in-creasing calls made by the Government in the shape of taxation, which if persisted in was likely to cripple farming. For instance, he said he was interested as trustee in a farm of 201 acres at Seaward Downs, of which the rent was £6o per annum. In 1906 the land tax was £1 15s 3d; last year it had risen to £2 3s lOd, and this year it was as much as £7 10s lOd.