WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 8

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Cteady, soaking rains at intervals, with gloomy sky and oppressive Jieat, sums up the experience of the week, causing vegetation to spring into tvw life. Dairy men and stockmen are . | .oilant, wealth of feed being again assured aor another month or six weeks. In the ( estimation of the writer the greatest good done by the rain is to roots; —turnips and 1 mangels and late-sown rape. With regard to .harvesting grain or grass seed, that is Et a standstill, and should we have another week of such weather some damage will be incurred. One fortunate feature is that ■the bulk of the early crops are in stack, .while the late spring-sown is not yet ripe. A large proportion of ryegrass has also j been secured, so that the damage will not : be so much as if the rain had come earlier, j Danners in the hill country are paying' more attention to cutting cocksfoot than I has been the case of late, the price offered for good seed being tempting. The most j satisfactory method and most usually fol- j lowed is to have the work done on shares, ' the farmer taking one-third and the work- | man two-thirds. It is to be feared that ; the rain will discolour some proportion, i Owing to the patchy way cocksfoot grows it. is hard to protect it should rain come, j "At the same time .cutters trust too much to providence, and make little or no endeavour to provide cover. , j

The Weather.

In last week's Witness “Agricola” has a seasonable note on this most vital question with regard to residents in the country, as it has been observed or late that outbreaks of infectious diseases ftre more common in the country than in towns. This is a reversal of the old order cf things, when the country was the ideal residence with regard to health, and ;.s due to deep drainage conveying insanitary matter away from dwellings. I am giad vo say that quite a number of farmers in this district have adopted the ■ septic tank method of .disposing of matter from scullery and closet, which,’ considering the good effected, is inexpensive and lasting. All. that is required to serve a fairly large residence is the erection of a concrete tank measuring about 4ft by 4ft, and 4ft deep, dividing it in half by a small wall 12in to 15in high. The pipes for conveying ohe stowage have to be taken down- to the Lottou) of the tank. The tank • must »o hermetically closed, cither I>y a dome or e abo of concrete cemetcd on as - a roof. To enable the system to do its work air must be excluded. Usually a ma'nhole is 'left in case of the tank having to L-e cleaned out. There are several in my kg g ifcourhood which have been working lor four or five years without it having been necessary to look at them. Water leaves ciear and periectiy free of any smell. .Closets can bj kept in good order if regularly attended to. What is far more offensive and difficult to deal with is the water from the scullery, but which is got rid of by the septic tank. Users of the septic tank would not ,go back to the old methods on any consideration. There is no need for the tank to'be any great distance away from the dwelling, as it is neither unsightly nor offensive in any way. The expense in pipes need not amount to much, and £2 or £3 will erect the tank. I have been told that portable iron tanks are on the market, but have not seen any of them. .They should servo the purpose, only that they would not be so lasting as concrete.

Farm Sanitation.

Bl he monthly meeting of the General Committee of this association, was hel<l at Palmerston North on Tuesday, when, business- of more than local interest was transacted. A letter from the Department ot Agriculture was received' regretting that they could net furnish veterinary certificates of animals examined by the Government veterinarians at the show ground. There was no objection, however, to the association issuing certificates itself, and, stating that the ’ animals had been passed by the Government veterinary surgeons. Mr E. Short wwjte asking t rat the .conditions for the 300 guinea cun, w bic’i lie donated two years ago for ill-r best Ronncy ram, should be amended so as to prov.Ms that the cup bo won three times b fore ’ becoming the property of the winner.' Messrs Gray Pro?., who won the- “log in” in 190 S, were willing ■vo have the r u e ration made, and it was agreed to. A letter wr-s also received from ! Mr Short o'fcring 3100 cash prize for 1 Romneys, particulars of which have already appeared. A Tar y vote of thanks was accorded uTr Shore for his hantisom-e prize. Mr A G. BArknoss moved a motion stand- ] hip in his name to create an international dalrv ca-lli' iM o’v. and to allot £lO each for caamnio.i bulls in the 1* old sin., Jersey, \ ,jn(i Ay: ►■• Are b'weds, Sneaking,, to the Votio". M ' Hei'lness red'.? of«t-. ; a- -good >-as> Jo-' this forward, nio'-o ry-nt, -. stating ' i' Prime'-sto - North shor.Vf. bo inpdm.tbo r.-o-f, centre ' for the vhr'bit.ic-i,. c-f dairy "stock, and it th; cmcciation allotted £lO fc” hd? pur-’c-o h" ’ wo;:It? guarantee to j ccH-c? twe-tV-d.® of the. sum. There was consWr-.b'e dlvaasfiion before the motion tc«.- f-r.-' • ,-rJv . >■:>!■" iV-d unanimously, and Cofe-r d- -to the, Gc; tie Schedule- Qomniitlcoj

tl’anavraf u &\ and i*. Association.

to draw up .conditions. iM-r Jacob pointed out that while Mr Harkness might collect the money required for this year’s competition, it was worth considering whether the inauguration of the competition would not commit the association; to th' expenditure from its own funds afterwards. Besides that, there were other breeds that would have to be considered. For instance, Hereford and shorthorn breeders might complair of -being neglected. They should not forgot that the might result in an unexpected drain on their resources in future. The evergreen vexed question of passes was again brought up by a deputation from the Palmerston Holiday Association, who waited on the committee to ask that passes be issued at the gates up to 1 o’clock on each day of the show Mr Durward pointed out that the tradespeople of Palmerston North contributed about £2OO in donations to the show, and they received little or no benefit owing to the people being debarred from coming out of the gate once they had gone in, and held out as a threat that if the committee would not grant the concession asked for the business people would have to consider the advisability of withdrawing their support from the association. Formerly when passes were issued it was recognised that the privilege was so subject to abuse that in the interests of the association the issue of passes had to bo withdrawn. Perhaps it were well for the tradespeople to remember they have a big asset in what is practically the day’s show in the year, when the town is crowded with visitors; also, that although Palmerston North will probably always be the metropolitan show of the North Island, there have lately com© into existence four A. and P. associations, which must have an effect on the membership. After being discussed for some time it was eventually decided to hold the matter over till next meeting, so that wo have not heard the last word on passes. The date of the annual meeting is fixed for March 22. Mr C. A. G. Levitt, Ratanui, Kiwitea, has been nominated as president of th© association for the coming year.

Entries for the Feikling show, which will be held on the Ist and 2nd February, closed last week, but as late entries are allowed under certain conditions, the total list of entries are not yet available. The secretary (Mr E. H. Fisher) informs .me that they arc well up to last year’s record, and one encouraging phase is that they come from a wider range of country. Fending in the past has been notable for the display of fat lambs and sheep, and there is every reason to expect even a better show than any in the past. Breeders arrange to have their lambs about the right weight, and nearly all breeds will be represented, and their crosses. The show' will be both educative and interesting. Southdowns and their crosses will be an especially strong class, also English Leioesters.

Feildiiift A. and I'. Association.

In the issue of January 12 Mr S. Forbes, in a letter to the editor, says;—“l wish to protest against this libel of men ■ who, although scattered in I different parts of Australia and New Zealand, have always fought against such custom as you describe.” This refers to a : note in this column of December 29, when I. drew attention to what might become a great evil—shearing sheep on the day of rest. I may say that it has only been in isolated cases and under exceptional conditions that shearing has been done. I considered that it was advisable to draw attention to the matter in the event of the custom becoming more common. My object has been gained by the publication S of Mr Forbes’s letter. Nevertheless, I agree with Mr Forbes that circumstances 1 may arise when it would be an act of f humanity and mercy to shear for an hour or two on Sunday morning. As Mr Forbes I well knows, it il impossible for a manager ; to gauge the number of sheep that will be shorn on any given day, as very often the , tallies will vary greatly one day from another. While on the subject I would like to draw attention to the cruelty engendered when shearing owes and lambs by shearers objecting to shear for an hour or two later on a Saturday afternoon to enable a flock to be “cut out” and get back j to their paddock, instead of having to be . held in the mustering paddock (which towards the end of shearing is sparse of feed) for an extra two days. Personally I never had much trouble in ray 45 years’ experience with shearers, but at the same time it has come under notice that shearers, led by' others, have caused suffering both to the sheep and the owners’ pooket-'by refus- ; ing to work overtime. ! ANTIQUA OVIS.

Sunday Shearing-.

THE FROZEN HEAT IXUSJSTRY.

In the course' of an interview with a Daily Times reporter, the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, Minister of Agriculture, ma do some interesting statements relative to the exportation of frozen meat from New Zealand. " Regarding commercial matters," said (he Minister, "the- biggest question at the moment is in connection with the conference to discuss Ihe frozen meat industry and export. The question is indeed a very serious one for all exporters. We arc working on no .system here. There are numbers of companies sending their meat to a multitude of agents who redly compete with each other in the market, with a corresponding effect, on prices. When we lock at (-he organisation which exists among exporters in the Argentine and the United States of America we must be impressed wiih the foolishness of our system—or, rather, of our lack of system. It is to be remembered that with favourable seasons, and iii the absence of a marked iip provement of the trade in the Old Countrv, the quantify of mutton and lamb that will be shipped to the British market is considerably in excc.ss of its power to asborb it at such prices as will pay our people here to their meat. We must take into our consi<l-3na.Hon a system of pooling, grading, and regulating our shipments so far as practicable. We must further provide for the handling of our meat on the fatri" lines approximatelv as those adopted by the powerful, organisations which arc coTi.trolliritr". the output from the Argentine 9'nd' the United States."'