A NORTH ISLAND TALK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3097, 23 July 1913, Page 16

A NORTH ISLAND TALK.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) PALMERSTON N., July 18. Tlie genial spring weather which has characterised the winter throughout still prevails over the North Island. It is as though the God of the Weather had suddenly repented of the freaks wherewith he has chastised us for some seasons past, and has benignly resolved to extend to us the good things of which we are truly worthy. That we shall all justify his favour may not perhaps be a foregcnc conclusion. I wonder how many of us there are who have oven no* neglected to plough or oultivJtfcr -cc *eed our arable patches to ensiufe a double abundance of feed for the stock next season, or who have idled away months in which we could have been preparing and cleaning a field for an experimental lucerne patch for the cows or a plotof silver beet, which the Belfast experiments have made famous; There never was such a. season. The cows are in lino form. In place of the starving skeletons which have hitherto stalked about, sonic territories in past winters, all the cows one secs arc reaching the calving stage prime. If vigorous pasturage can bring owes to motherhood dangerously plethoric, there should be many fatalities at the lambing. But that, of course, is not a usual fear. Wo may, at all events, count on the ewes having vigour when their labour comes, and a great flow of milk for the little strangers. From that outlook one may forecast an easy early fattening off the mothers, an overtaxing of the meat works, and possibly less inquiry for the aid of those useful men of the meat industry who buy to fatten. However, one never can tell. There is time yet for all sorts of reverses in that reejieot. OUR DWINDLING SHEEP FLOCKS. What troubles me most of all is to see the sheep census gradually dwindling. I cannot understand what the good people are doing down south. Wo in the North Island are doing our best consistently to increase the sheep population, but in every section of the south there is a decrease. Just reflect on these figures, which have just been presented to Parliament in Wellington. They apply to a census taken on April 30 last:—

No doubt the severe storms and floods in the south account for a hip jrart of the decline. The exports wore greater — namely:

Thus the decline of 165,338 in the number of sheet) takes place side by side with an increase of 361,325 in the number of sheep and lambs exported. So we have now the cash, but not the carcases. There are prospects of a very successful lambing to make good the deficiency ; but against this will be pulling the increased facilities for fattening which at present seems probable, and consequently .greater reductions for export. Last season the sheen and lambs exported represented a proportion of about 23.6 per cent, as against those retained, or a little under one-quarter. It requires no very strained imagination to regard a recovery from the decrease as a matter of simplicity in a prolific country like ours. There is one other very potent factor in the census question, which applies greatly to the North Island, and to some extent, no doubt, to the South. That is the enormous area of accumulated bush burns which involved surface grass sowing last autumn. There was almost a double area thus treated in the North Island this season, and the growth of the young grass has been verv good. There will consequently be very heavy demands for ewes for stocking these areas for some time to come, and, in truth, we ought to see more beef raised for a few coming years than lias been the case lately. 1 think I have outlined a very fair balance of factors making for and against an increase in the next year’s sheep census. It will take a wiser head than mine to say just at present, whether the figures of next April will be greater or less. DEALS IN DAIRY COWS. Clearing sales of dairy herds are Incoming almost an epidemic. I have reason to believe that some of these are speculative. The good inquiry prevailing for cows from the many new men entering the buttcr-fat industry has opened up an avenue of profitable employment for the wits of men of 6)>orting instincts. Though the prices for cows of good breeding and dairying form at genuine clearing sales have been reaching to £lO and £ll, there are always some animals which are scarcely wanted at £5. Ttvceo appear to become the special perquisites of the man who deals, and a subsequent sale, it is alleged, often nets him a profit of £1 per head. A gain of £IOO for risk, labour, grazing, and the use of £550 for, say, a month is a capital turnover. If there is this in the new industry (which I rather doubl), it beats dairying. But apart from this there appears to be a tendency for some dairy farmers genuinely in the industry to sell their herds speculatively, relying on their ability and judgment to gather a new herd at rates which leave a profit. Tim idea will seem hardly credible to men who take a personal interest in the cows of their herds, but I am assured by reliable men that there is some truth in it. There >s the usual winter scarcity of boof, and Auckland buyers an, spreading their operations to all tho important sales along tbo Main Trunk line, almost to Wellington Tho condition of the beasts offering is, course, relatively good. Heavy shipments of stud sheep have been going on lately. During the cast month about 300 head of stud sheep, chiefly Romneys but including many Lincolns, have been sent from the Manawatn district to Australia and South America. T heard an authority this week express a belief that there Is danger of our stud sheep l>«jng depleted of their best blood in this wav, just as has happened with our draught horses. If that danger is real, there should he a good field in the near future for a man who is now strong enough to Isold his best. To some extent I suspect the t'ght-

ness of tho monej’ market has been operating: on stud-owners. POCKET DAIRY FARMS Mr J. G. Wilson, president of the Farmers’ Union, in his speech to the Dominion Conference at Wellington this week commented on the fact that good dairying sections, to carry about 25 cows, had reached a price of about £75 per acre. Recently several sales have taken place of suburban dairying lots near Palmerston North, where some of the best New Zealand land exists, and the prices fluttered around £SO and £6O per acre. We appear to have reached a stage when it costs about £5 per year for tho bare land to run one cow in favoured localities—less in districts where there are compensating disadvantages. We need therefore to deduct that sum before we can figure on the balance available for our labour and other expense and depreciation. Land prices are fast forcing us into Danish methods of concentrated elTort. \ ery soon we shall have to swallow, I fear, the necessity for small areas of rich or fertilised land, small herds of “rich” cows fodder-fed on crops we ourselves grow, machine milked, housed at least on winter nights, milked to their limit for nearly 12 montlis in the year, and never turned out and treated neglectfully as if they were “dry.” Wo have not yet even dabbled on the surface of the possibilities of intensive dairying. W e speak of one cow per aero as a triumph of achievement; but with such magnificent possibilities ns arc offered by such crops as silver beet, lucerne, and maize our thoughts should bo more on three or four cows per acre. THE CHAFF MARKET. Very heavy sowings of oats took place last autumn, and the growth is magnificent. Tho stragglers, who often miss their autumn opportunity, were enabled this mild winter to remedy their neglect, and tho prospect of a heavy supply of oats for chaff or grain next summer Ls exceptional. Tho likelihod of spring sowings is correspondingly' small. A further deterrent of any more oat-sowing will be the low price of chaff now ruling. One merchant tells mo lie docs not remember July chaff being cheaper than in April in any previous season. The abundance is partly due to the awakening of Waikato, where arable farming it rapidly extending. The very fine weather of this winter has permitted chaffcutting to be carried on with very little cheek, so that large quantities of chaff havo been thrown upon the Auckland market — the largest buying market in New Zealand, and the one which chiefly determines the ruling price of all the Dominion. In addition to this sudden plethora of supplies, several Auckland merchants have made heavy contracts with Australia for compressed chaff to arrive at Auckland by sailer during the next two or three months, thus seriously undermining the inquiry for local produce. ABOUT SPUDS. Potatoes arc in a poor way just now. They are worth from £5 5s to £5 15e per ton at local centres. One irritating feature which northerners must recognise and remedy is tho fact that storekeepers will pay 10s, per ton more for southern supplies than they will for those of the North Island. This can not reasonably be explained away merely by the climatic argument. Possibly the southern Scots arc more thorough in their methods. But, not knowing the details of their ways, ■will not be definite on that point. The choked state of the chaff market will probably give an impetus to potato-growing among men of an arable bent, and it is probable that Waikato will be investing heavily in tubers as an alternative to oats on the springploughed areas. Just new all the demand for seed potatoes is for the early sorts, among which Beauty of Hebron and Early Rose are quoted at Wellington at about £8 10s per ton. Against this the price of the mid-season Up-to-Dates of about, £5 15s is diminutive. This wide difference is more or less marked each season, and seems to indicate .scope for a greater produot’on of late crops of the early sorts for seed purposes. Tho smaller yield may be well balanced by the greater price. MOON STRUCK POTATOES. Some uneasiness prevails among merchants over a marked defect which lias developed in the potatoes of Kimbolton, whence they draw supplies very largely for Manawatu and other centres. The defect consists of a distinct bitterness, such as wo usually associate with greenness. In this case, however, there is bitterness where there is no greenness, and the absence of any ocular evidence of tho unpleasant taste is a cause of great annoyance to those wholesale men who supply tho stores. Kimbolton grows magnificently-proportioned tubers, and grows them an a large scale. Several merchants sent u joint note to the Government Biologist with samples from bitter parcels, asking for advice; the reply is not yet received. Several causes are guessed at. It is suggested that the Kimbolton potato farmers, in their leisurely way, left their sacks of potatoes standing for weeks in the paddocks, where the wind whistled through them, causing the bitterness without tne greenness. Others, with greater flights of imagination, opine that tho potatoes were moonstruck. A still other school of thought considers shallow planting is at the root of the evil, though t)iis might account for the greening, but not for the bitterness where there is no greening. Personally, I leave it to the biologist. A BREEZY BALLOT. A most remarkable scene occurred at tho election of an honorary treasurer of tho Manawatu A. and A. Association this week. It was alleged and admitted that one of the two candidates obtained from the secretary 500 ballot papers for use in the election. that his rival was then permitted to do likewise, that tho votes so obtained were used in the count, amf that this practice had been in vogue for several years pasr. There was n tremendous uproar when Mr Fred Pirani, an ex-M.P., denounced tho outgoing treasurer (who now won tho election) and declared that such methods as were now revealed were “dastardly” and all sorts of other things. Tho president sa : d the committee had already resolved to forbid tho practice for the future. It was alleged that by similar methods committeemen in the past had been unseated hv one of (he prominent members, and Mr John Balsillie. chairman of tho Farmers’ Union, was cited as one of the victims. This charge was denied, but reaffirmed. A motion to quash the election was finally wthdrawn.

No. of Sheep. Increases. Auckland 1.265,976 6.419 Napier, Gisborne .. 5.620.120 24,501 Wellington, West Coast 5,951,759 188,843 Decreases. Marlborough. Nelson, Westland 1.287.256 20,377 Canterbury, Kaikoura .. 5.045.439 123,053 Otago 4,490,601 165,3:38 Decrease. Totals 23,661,151 89,002

1912-13. 1911-12. Mutton carcases .. 2,133.226 1,918,119 Legs an<l pieces, cwt. .. 21,133 34.667 Lambs 3,181 991 3,035,783