OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3031, 17 April 1912, Page 21

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

(FilOtf Ou» OWM COBREBPONDMT.) THE WEATHER. Fairly good autumn weather prevailed last week, but on Saturday night a strong south-west wind sprang up, and for the greater part of the night heavy rain fell on the flat country, while the hills were oovered with snow almost to their base. This will mean the early setting-in of winter and frosty nights. Since the beginning of the year the weather has been very erratic and unseasonable, there having been almost, an entire absence of summerlike conditions. Notwithstanding this, however, the condition of the country from an agricultural standpoint is very satisfactory, and as there is an abundance of stock feed farmers should have no misgivings as regards the winter months. In some instances deop ploughing has already been commenced, but indications point to the fact that farmers will be considerably behind with their seasonable work before the winter is over. All classes of stock are looking particularly well, and up till the present the dairying season has been one of the best experienced in the province. Farmers are replenishing their breeding flocks to some extent, but it is very obvious that sheepbreeding is going to be somewhat neglected during the coming season. With the very satisfactory stato of the stock market this is somewhat difficult to understand. The various freezing works in the province are now running at full pressure, and it is expected that the busy time will continue for at least thtreo months. The weather yesterday (Sunday) was fine, but the atmosphere was very cold, and early frosts are now expected. A heavy frost was registered in mid-Canterbury on Sunday night. THE THRESHING SEASON. There was a slackening off in threshing operations last week, as a result of the shortage of grain sacks, but, nevertheless, a number of mills managed to keep going. The weather was not altogether favourable, and several heavy showers fell at intervals during the week, which delayed threshing work. There is still a large bulk of grain in the stack, more particularly in the upper districts, where harvesting was unduly late, and unless sacks arrive, unexpectedly in the Dominion it will be well on to midwinter before this is threshed. Very satisfactory yields continue to be reported from every part of the province, some of the oat returns being phenomenal. ilr Isaac Thompson, of Wakanui * (Ashburton County) has threshed out some fine crops of oats on his estate, ranging from 85 bushels to 103 bushels per acre. In the Rangiora district (North Canterbury) Mr Cowie had a- large field of Pearl wheat that yielded 50 odd bushels per acre, while a paddock of Partridge peas adjoining produced a yield of 74 bushels to the acre. A paddock of linseed grown on the same farm turned out three-quarters of a ton to the acre of clean seed, easily weighing 2001 b to the bag. A South Canterbury correspondent says, inter alia: —"The crops which have been threshed have yielded very well. Feed is very plentiful, and stock will bo in good condition for the winter. Altogether farming prospects in South Canterbury are bright." At Dunsandel, and in other districts around Christchurch. farmers are now busy making hay and cutting clover for seed purposes. It is expected that the red clover crop will bo rather disappointing, as the early part of the season was too wet for this crop. The same can be said of the potato crop, and in some places the blight is making sad havoc. Farmers anticipate

that potatoes will command a very high price later on in tho year. As showing how rapidly Algerian oats mature, it may be mentioned that Mr H. J. Harrison, of Dorie (Rakaia) recently reaped a paddock of 20 acres that had been sown in this cereal on January 1, 1912. The land had been summer fallowed, and the crop was sft in height. Some of the threshing mills in Canterbury have had phenomenally good tallies this season. One mill in tho Kyle jistrict, which pulled in after 11 weeks' work the other clay, had aggregated a tally ranging over 100.000 bushels, mainly oats. After deducting expenses, tho average earnings oi tho staff totalled close on £SO per man, or slightty over £4 10s per week. "COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS." W"'th a view to discrediting Canterbury as an important agricultural and pastoral centre some writers in North Island journals have recent'y been responsible for the publication of a great deal of flapdoodle, the object being, of course, to induce people in quest of land to visit North Island provinces and settle there. These writers point out the advantages of acquiring land in the north, but the many disabilities that, farmers have to contend against in that part of the Dominion, such as bad roads, wretched railway and postal facilities, poor stock markets, etc, are, of course, not referred to, and are somewhat clumsily glossed over. Recently, a North Island farmer in conversation with myself at a Canterbury stock market, expressed his utter astonishment when sever*! lines of fat lamb* were sold at prices ranging from 17s to 17s 7d. "Why," he said, the top price for lambs in my province (WairarapaJ is 12s 6d." Upon making further inquiries ho mad'e tho important discovery that th Q rental of similar quality grazing land in Canterbury was actually cheaper than that, held by himself in the North Island. Comparisons invariably prove odious. STOCK DEALING CASE: FORWARD DELIVERY. At the Ashburton Magistrate's Court on Friday last Mr V. G. Day, SM., delivered his reserved judgment in a stock-dealing caso that should prove of eonsido:able interest to auctioneers, farmers and sheepdealers in the Dominion. The case, particulars of which were given in a previous letter, was one in which James S. Jcseop (Mr F. Wilding) claimed from George Spencer (Mr 11. C. Orbcll) £169 3s lOd. for damages sustained by reason of tho latter, after making an agreement to do so, refusing to aeoept the progeny of 1400 ewes, estimated at 1100 lambs, less 15 per cent, rejects, at 12s 6d. In delivering judgment, his Worship said that two grounds of defence were set up —(1) That the sale was a sale by sample, and (2) that owing to tho great discrepancy in the number of lambs tendered to the defendant, the defendant was justified in refusing to take delivery. On the first ground, he was satisfied by tho authorities that the sale was not a Side by sample, inasmuch as the written contract contained no mention of such. The second ground was ono of more difficulty, but he had come to the conclusion that the plaintiff had failed to- tender to the defendant the number of lambs contracted for. and therefore the defendant was just : iieri' in refusing to take delivery. Ho gave judgment for defendant, with costs.. In answer to Mr Wilding, his Worship fixed the cost of appeal at £lO, and in doing so remarked that it was a point of law well worth argument in a higher court. The decision of the higher court in the case will be awaited with considerable interest, as in the event of Mr Day's interpretation of the law being upheld, farmers will be somewhat chary in having anything to do with forward' delivery deals. In the meantime the case is sub judice. A TROUBLESOME WEED. A noxious weed that is spreading with much rapidity in many parts of Canterbury waa recently submitted by the secretary of the Ashburton A. and P. Association to the Department of Agriculture, Wellington, for identification. Mr E. Clifton, director of the Wellington Experimental Division, states that the weed is tho Thorn Apple or Jimson weed (Datura stramonium), a common plant in many parts of New Zealand. It belongs to the potato family. All parts of the plant are narcotic and poisonous, especially the seed. The plant produces a very disagreeable odour and hay containing this plant is poisonous to cattle. It contains trie alkaloids, atropin, and hyoscyamin common to many members of the potato tribe. The presence of this weed in pasture i s likely to lead to poisoning of cattle, especially at times when feed is scarce, but when feed / is abundant no stock will touch it. In Australia there are well-authenticated cases of cattle being poisoned by it, and mortality has also occurred through children eating the seeds. Apropos tho spi-cading of noxious weeds, it may be mentioned that farmers aro not by any means so strict as they should be in regard to the selection of seed grain, and greater attention, too, should be directed to the cleaning of threshing "mills before removing from ono farm to another. At the Ashburton Magistrate's Court on Friday last Cecil Branigan, inspector of noxious weeds, proceeded against Stephen Stephenson Chapman for allowing Californian to grow oh his property. Counsel for defendant entered a plea of not guilty, and stated that his client had immediately started to clear the weeds off his property on receiving notice to do so. He cleared all but. a small patch, and, on his attention being drawn to it, he had also cleared that. Tho inspector gave evidence to the effect that he had several times cautioned defendant, and had afterwards found a large patch of thistles remaining on his farm. His Worship said it was defendant's duty to clear the thistles without a notice, and added that, if he failed to do. so, he was liable. A fine of 40s, with 7s costs, was imposed. Ignorantia legis excusat neminem. Tho law supposes everyone to be cognisant of its provisions. A NEW A. AND P. SOCIETY. On Thursday last Methven, picturesquely situated in tho Selwyn electorate at the base of the Southern' Alps, in the Ashburton County, and named after a peaceful little hamlet in "the land of brown heath and shaggy wood," was the scene of an inaugural autumn show, fully 2500 people having assembled from the surrounding districts in honour of the occasion. Of late years Methven has been rapidly growing in importance as an agricultural centre, and if the progress of the last year or two is sustained it. will soon have no nee<l to lean *o heavily upon Ashburton for any of its requirements, and possibly the time may come when it will bo to a large extent self-contained. About six months «g<> an Agricultural and Pastoral

Association was formed. The committee, many of whom were by no means tyroa in conducting shows, .have worked energetically and to some purpose, and the appeal made for funds and special prizes met with a ready response. Entries came in very freely, and by the time the catalogue was completed there were no less than 624 entries for the various classes, exclusive of competitions and entries for exhibition purjx>ses only. The figures far exceeded the modest expectations of the committee, who are probably now wondering why they t.cvsr held a show at Methven before Sheep entries numbered 101, produce 77. ponies 70, harness horses 63, draught horses 58, hackneys 28, cattle 45, needlework 56, dairy produce 29, miscellaneous 90 The quality of the stock was most satisfactory, and the appointments as a, whole were creditable, and from every standpoint the show was a complete success. Competition was confined solely to local breeders and oxhibitois, and there are many districts in the Dominion that could advantageously emulate the step taken by the Methven Society. FARMERS' UNION: SOUTH CANTERBURY GRIEVANCES. At a meeting held a few days ago, the executive of the South Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union decided to convene a conference of branch chairmen and the local members of Parliament to discuss several matters on which the union considers legislation or administrative action required. These include an experimental farm for the district, the question . of- differential railway rates (those affect the railago of produce from Oamaru. favouring Port Chalmers as „ against Timaru), importation of domestic servants and shortage of trucks. Regarding shortage of trucks, the president remarked that the argument that it would not pay to keep a lot of trucks to meet the requirements of a busy season might bo used by threshing mill owners, when it would be seen that it was ridiculous. The grain season being a long one from north to south, the trucks would not long be idle. The executive was unanimously of opinion that iho department's estimate of the average grain yields was below the mark for South Canterbury. It should be at hast 35 bushels for wheat and 50 bushels for oats.