LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 20

LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Harvest operations in the Tapanui district are rapidly drawing to a close, and the mills are now busy, with every prospect of a short run Generally 6peaking, the crops may be described as light, but, although short in the straw, they are well headed, and thresh above expectations. The sample all round should be good, as a great quantity of the grain from the time of cutting to stacking did not get a shower. Early harvests are fully appreciated by the farmers, and this must be one of the

earliest on record for the district. With - the roads in capital summer order graincarting will be accomplished under favourable conditions; but it would appear that most of the oats will go into store if the market does not open a little stronger than at present. Just now there is practically nothing doing in grain, and agents do not appear keen on business. It was decided at a meeting of the executive of the Otago Provincial Council of the. New Zealand Farmers' Union, held last week, that the annual Provincial Conference be held on Friday. May 6, it being considered that delegates coming to town on special business would be able to do more effective work at that time than during the rush of the winter show weekf at which time the conference has been held in former years. The .season for trapping rabbits in Otago Province opens on the 14th inst.. and there is every anticipation of it being one of the busiest on record. Blocks of land for trapping are at a premium, and • eo great has been the rush for areas that

it is anticipated the *number of men. engaged in catching "bunny'', this season will exceed 4000. Several thousands of traps have already been forwarded to the country As to prices, it . simply rests with the trappers themselves ■■ to get the best possible money by falling in with the wishes of exporters and bleeding the rabbits and otherwise handling them carefully Improved quality, of course, means improved prices on the London market. The market will open at 5d per pair on the ground. The impetus whidb such wholesale trapping of rabb'ts gives to, the freezing industry and to the timber trade —for truck loads of timber for packingcases go to the depots almost daily during the season —is very considerable, while it is calculated that the industry brings into the country in one season alone nearly £IOO,OOO. This refers to Otago only. The bulk of the money goes to the trappers. Our Cromwell correspondent states that •the few remaining blocks left over from the Morven-Hills and Kawarau Runs were nearly all applied for later on, and before the Commissioner left a ballot was held for one or two blocks. The splendid rainshave made the outlook for pasture this season very hopeful, and as most of the successful applicants* have means they should have a good start this year. Five fat lambs were killed at the Invercargill Abattoir on February 24- for Messrs Bartlett Bros. They averaged 771 b each, and the top«toeight was 851 b. They were bred by Mr Charles Hughes, of Longbush, and probably constitute a record for this season's lambs.

Preparations are at present being carried out at the Mataura Freezing Works for the coming rabbit season, which commences op ,March 7, and a number of hands are busily engaged making cases and crates. ... The first of the season's oats is being forwarded to the Bluff for shipment to the Old Country, there being ho less than eight truck loads shipped from "Waimea on Thursday for the Bluff. The oats were a bright, clean sample, not having experienced a shower "of rain for some weeks prior to harvesting. Some 2551 four-\ ear-old merino ewes, from Ida Valley Station—a fine even line —were sent by rail a few days ago to Hawarden, Christchurch. The sheep were sent by a special train comprising thirty one .double-decked trucks. . In the light of information supplied by Mr Scott to the Waitahuna Farmers' Club as to the destructive nature of Canadian geese an'" their comparative worthlessness as a table bird, the members of the club at a meeting a few evenings ago expressed great surprise at the attempts being made by the Otago Acclimatisation Society to introduce these birds into New Zealand. From North Otagn comes reports of disappointing grain yields, or put in an other way, a great falling off in the yield as compared with the promise of the early eummor. The North Otago Times says that in no previous year have grain 6tacks been so numerous as this season, and were the grain at all proportionate to the amount of straw the harvest would-be a bumper. But, unfortunately, the threshing mills are telling a doleful tale, unrelieved by a single brief bright chapter. Everywhere the results are the 6ame—yields from 30 tO;50 per cent below even modest anticipation. One crop of wheat that ten weeks ago was confidently viewed as likely to give a return of about 60 bushels per acre has threshed out ar> average of only 38 bushels, and that return may be viewed as something very much out of the common if not quite the best for the county foi the season. In the Kurow district the straw and the bloom looked at one time like 40 or 50 bushels, but the crops havt. onlv threshed* in some instances 10 bushels. and even seven bushels of wheat, and only fowl feed at that. On the table land round Neapara—the best grain growing wue*r land in- New Zealand—the average yield, now it* is in the bag, is 20 bushels, and

a poor • ; ■. < Recent rains have no where, proved more beneficial than in the North Otago district Turnips which would have been useless had the rain- held off have been given a new lease of life, and the grass, which bad been buSt up is coming away again In addition to tie shortage in the yield of wheat

and oats, the potatoes are threatened by the blight, which is steadily spreading. Mr Alexander Brown, a Morven farmei b-tates that this season has produced the poorest grain crops ever harvested on Waikakahi. Mr Brown's crop of wheat, which was expected to yield 60 bushels to the acre, went only 33 bushels. One mill, after a fortnight's work on Waikakahi. reports an average of 20 bushels, the highest paddock being 30 bushels. Some mills are going to work by the hour, and these will require to keep time and wages books, as in factories. Mr J. J. Puddy, of Woodhead farm, Tumai, has purchased from Mr Deans, of Riccarton, Canterbury, one of that gentle man's young shorthorn bulls. The young animal will be two years in July, and already gives promise of developing into a fine beast. Mr Puddy is to be commended for bringing high-class stock into the district, and as the bull is to be at the service of the owners of a few good cows it is to be hoped farmers in th*. district will avail themselves of the oppoi tunitj of improving their herds. It !<• understood a fairly high price was paid for the young animal. In years gone by Woodhead farm was the home of 6ome first-class shorthorns, imported at a high figure by Mr William Puddy, father of the present owner.