AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2924, 30 March 1910, Page 21

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Speaking at a meeting of the Ashburton AfcSiral and Pastoral Association last week Mr A. MacPherson, .fields instructor n correction with the Department of Agriculture, -aid that the majority of farmerlallowed their wheat crops to.become too ripe before reaping them,. and a* a ft*, said Mr did not receive any direct benefit from the soil some little time before it was reaped, but it was fed by the straw Gram that was reaped dir the "green side did not shell out when being handled and its value for milling purposes was greater than wheat 'that was allowed to become rotten ripe before it was reaped. In the course of further remarks Mr MacPherson said that one of the chief objections to Bordier wheat was- the fact that- it was easily shaken when in a ripe stage. .... Tenders are invited by the British Army authorities up to July 4 for the supply of 412,500 12oz tins and 69,700 240 z tins of preserved meat; A special contract for 375,000 12oz tins and 62,500 240 z tins of preserved meat is also being arranged for, and contains a replacement clause. The United States authorities are inviting tenders, returnable at the office of the Chief Commissary, . Manila, Philippine Islands, by April 5, 19-10, for the supply of 6,600,0001 b of frozen beef and 200,0001 b of frozen mutton for the subsistence department of the United States army-during the,year ending June 30, 1911. Particulars are obtainable from the American Consul in each State. A trial of the Maemeikan chilling apparatus as to its efficiency.in thawing out frozen meat was brought to a conclusion last month.' For the purpose of the trial Messrs John Cooke and Co sent to Melbourne a consignment of fore and hindquarters of beef from their Redbank Meat Works, in Queensland. The meat was frozen at the works and held there from December 2 to-January 20, at an average temperature of zero Fahr. It was then placed on the steamer Everton Grange, the hold temperature of which was I4deg above zero, and was maintained at that temperature until delivered at the Melbourn Council cool stores on ■ Februarv 13. The inventor of the process (Mr R. Rayson) claims for this defrosting process that the meat can be restored almost to its original appearance and texture at a very moderate cost, and that by its adoption the value of Australasian exports of beef and mutton would be considerably enhanced, while the cost of treatment woubl not exceed 6d per quarter of beef a\id Id per sheep. By this process the meat is thoroughly defrosted from, the marrow of the bone to the surface. Potatoes, beans, and* peas' are badly affected with blight in parts of the lower Forty-mile Bush. The blight is particu-' larly bad in the potato crops in the Eketahuna district. A Masterton farmer who ■has spent the past three weeks in the district Informs the travelling representative of the New Zealand Times that the blight has played sad havoc with potatoes. "I do not believe," he said,; "that there is one crop in the district free from the pest, while there seems to be n< end to the number of crops which have been totally destroyed and only fit for pigs' feed. During my stay in the district I was informed that crops, acres in extent, which in the early part of the season promised well, have been cut down by the blight. I have notseen the blight so bad in all my farming experience, extending over a number of years in both islands. Why the farmers in the district have let the disease obtain such a hold and not taken some stringent measures to combat it is past my comprehension. We had the blight bad enough in Masterton two or three seasons ago, but it was not half as destructive as it lias been this season." ■ . . _■ ', ■ A good illustratior of • the value of the Ryeland cross for fat lamb production was "given in a line of 123 lambs sent to the Addington saleyards last week (says a Canterbury contemporary) by Mr T. A. Stephens, Invell, which brought 19s 3d to 20s. the top price since the export season opened. A picked pen of 36 brought the higher figure, and these were generally considered to be one of the best lots of lambs ever seen in the Addington yards.

They were very even, plump; animals, and the fact that thej were out-of- mixed crossbred ewes shows how well suited the Ryeland is for mating- with the ordinary liock ewes. The lambs were dropped in {September. 'The top pen was taken for iocai consumption and the balance- for export. Mr George Oormack, of Elgin, Canterbury, has almost completed harvesting an exceptionally, tine crop of partridge peas, which will thresh over 50 bushels per acre.