SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3098, 30 July 1913, Page 19

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(From Our Own Coerespondent.) The spring-like weather conditions which prevailed during the -middle of the present month gave place to one of the most severe spells of weather expeucu iwi «,m0 considerable time. Heavy rains, accompanied by strong westerly gales and a low temperature, was the class of weather current all ever Southland during the past 10 days. No excessive quantity of rain fell during the period mentioned —just sufficient to keep the ground in a chronic state of dampness. The result is that practically all ploughing has come to a standstill. Drain-ploughing has, however, been continued almost uninterruptedly. Live stock have had a very severe experience, and the entries at the various saleyards give one a good indication of what the creatures have come through. Fat stock are becoming very scarce, especially cattle, so that the general prognostication that beef would be scarce during the coming spring and early part of summer bids fair to be verified. Freezing buyers have practically completed their season’s work, and a few weeks will see the works very slack. As it is, they are not working half time at present. Agriculturists at their best are more than inclined to be pessimists, and it is therefore' not surprising that they have become very doleful. • The lifeless nature of the live stock and produce markets, combined with the abominable weather, is entirely responsible for this unhappy state of affairs. It cannot be said that prices have reached a low ebb, generally speaking, nor is there any indication that they arc likely to. The fact of the mutter is, indications point to good values ruling for most of what the farmer has to soli, if the weather would only improve. The cheese market is good, and the fact that a large number of factories have sold their forthcoming season’s output at equal to bid per lb is evidence that Southland dairymen have a prosperous season ahead of them if climatic conditions were only favourable. It is said that every cloud has a silver lining, and although the appearance of the bright side is somewhat protracted, wo will hope lor the best, and will doubtless not be disappointed. Whilst walking along a sheltered gully the other day the writer could not help noticing the forward condition of this plant. It is during August and September that this poisonous shrub is most dangerous to stock. The tender succulent shoots appeal to the stock, and thus, as frequently happens, fatal results ensue. If is often a very difficult matter to apply medicinal treatment to animals suffering from tutu poisoning, seeing that the trouble causes more or less severe brain symptoms, which render the animals intractable and difficult to handle. Dr Realms, in dealing with this subject in a recent issue of the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, states that useful treatment for this trouble, when it can be applied, is the internal administration of liquid ammonia, or carbonated of ammonia mixed with milk or thin gruel, if possible; in addition, a largo dose of linseed oil (not less than two pints) should be given •to a full-grown bovine. The dose of liquid ammonia in cases such as this should be one ounce in a quart of milk or thin gruel. If neither of those bo available, it should be mixed with two pints of linseed oil. Liquid ammonia is irritating to the membrane of the mouth and throat, hence the necessity of diluting it with a quantity of some demulcent fluid. It should be borne in mind that there are two liquid preparations of ammonia—one a very strong preparation known as liquor ammonia fort; the other the ordinary liquid ammonia which is hero recommended. If carbonate of ammonia be used in cases of tutu poisoning, the dose is one and a-lialf ounces. If the first stomach is greatly distended with gas, relief can bo obtained by puncturing it at a spot midway between the haunch-bone and the lust rib. A few weeks time and farmers will bo considering the desirability or otherwise of rearing a herd of calves. If it is intended to rear the calf it should be allowed to remain with the darn for a day or so, so that the cow may clean and feed the youngster. The first milk drawn from the cow after the birth of the calf is known as “colostrum,” and is of an abnormal kind, specially adapted for the nourishment of the young calf, and for cleaning the bowels of the waste m a tier and of ike materials used by Nature in the construction and repair of the tissues. The young calf should bn fed on its mother’s milk for the first week at the rate of one gallon per day, divided over three meals, ami fed at a temperature of SO to 100 degrees Fahr. After the first week the midday meal can bo dispensed with. At the end of the second week a small quantity of fresh skim-milk may replace the whole milk. Gradually replace the whole milk with skirn-milk till the calf is four weeks old, when it should be fed solely on a skim-milk ration at the rate of a gallon and a-half per day. At this stage a

Hie Weather and the Farm.

Tutu Poisoning.

Hearing t'uircM.

substitute should bo added for the butterfat taken from the milk. Crushed linseed is one of the best and most economical substitutes for extracted butter-fat. Linseed is more similar in composition to the solids of milk than any other food, and the oil which it contains is easily digested. It , should bo fed in the form of a jelly, prej pared by boiling one part of linseed to six parts of water until a thick jelly is formed. Cocoanut oilcake also gives good results. It is prepared by soaking or scalding, and fed in the same way as linseed. The skimmilk should be fed in a fresh, warm condition, and caro should bo taken to separata all froth from the milk before feeding, or indifferent results will follow. The addition of a little lime-water—about 1 per cent, is very beneficial. Avoid over-feeding, feed regularly, and keep all feeding utensils scrupulously clean. A good grass run for the calves only, with access to a good water supply and a lump of rock salt, is very desirable. Calves should bo kept in a healthy growing condition from birth upwards, and with this object in view the foods selected should be such as go to the formation of frame and sinew, and not to the production of fat and surplus tissue. A set of small stalls, or diminutive bails, in which each calf is fed separately by means of a calffeeder, for preference, is an excellent method. By feeding calves in this way the milk is fed slowly and in a natural manner. The food is more thoroughly mixed with the saliva of the mouth, thus ensuring an easier digestion and a more complete assimilation than when a calf drinks from a pail or trough. Heifers reared in this way are very easy to handle and break in. The ( cost of the rubber teats is low—about 23a to rear 50 calves. Ordinary gas-piping, onequarter inch in diameter, is used to connect the teats with the bucket. Weaning should take place gradually by reducing the milk allowance until the animal is thoroughly weaned. With the general trade of the world active, and every prospect of remaining so. there should bo a strong consumptive demand for wool during the I coming ~;ui, so Dalgoty’s Review surmises, and indications certainly point in that direction. Labour is well employed at bettor wages; the world’s wool requireInents continue to increase, while there will bo a great shortage of wool in manufacturing centres before the end of the present calendar year, and only moderate supplies for 1 191’. Wool will very shortly be admitted in the United States of America duty free, and it will not be very long before the great wool-using nation will require a very large proportion of Australasia’s clip. Owing to the great financial stringency in the United States of America, it is quite possible that they will not take a great amount of wool from the Antipodes during the coming season; but they arc so short of stocks that they must purchase some, and later on they "will require a large quantity. If only the trouble in the Balkan States could bo satisfactorily settled, the financial position, which is at present cramped, would no doubt improve, ‘as would general trade, and a demand for 1 wool would set in, which will prevent the slight increase in supplies, which is assured, from having the slightest effect upon tho market. ! ,e CANTERBURY MARKETS. CHRISTCHURCH GRAIN AND PRODUCE REPORTS. {Lyttelton Times, July 26.) The grain business continues very quiet, and is practically limited to small parcels for local requirements, mostly ex store. Growers’ offerings are virtually nil, and prices are unchanged. Exports of wheat and oats are very limited. During the first 15 days of the current month tho exports of wheat to places outside the Dominion amounted to only 218 bushels, valued at £sl, against 30,370 bushels, valued at £5755, for the corresponding period of 1912. Exports of oats amounted to 1936 bushels, valued at £287, compared with 182,041 bushels, valued at £21,450, for the corresponding 15 days of 1912. Little business is being done in potatoes, farmers refusing to part with their stocks at the low rates now current. The advance in prices in the Commonwealth has had the effect of increasing growers’ resolve to stand out for higher prices, and there is now a general feeling that prices will not recede further. Current prices are unchanged. The exports from July 1 to July 15 amounted to only 47 tons, against 425 tons for the corresponding period of 1912. In the dairy industry a considerable amount of business was done during the week in not season’s cheese, several largo parcels of which changed hands on a basis of 6a-I to 6id f.o.b. Cabled reports indicate that the United States will probably not have such an immense crop as was expected a few weeks ago. although the crop will ho large in all probability. “Bocrbohm” of Juno 6 states that', judging from private exports and estimates cabled, the condition of winter wheat was appreciably lower than on May 1. The condition, however, was so very high at tho beginning of May that, even after a’lowing liberally for deterioration during May, tho outturn promises to bo materially larger than last year. On the other hand, it is not to be expected that spring wheat will give anything like the abundant yield obtained from the 1912 crops, especially as t'-ie area sown is reported to be about 750.000 acres 'ess than last year. Tho receipts at western points to date have been over 17,000,000 quarters larger than in

Milk Substitutes.

i’ro.siiorts Ui-foroi Wool,

the corresponding period last season, and. as the exports have been only about 7,000,000 quarters larger, reserves in millers' and dealers’ hands must bo appreciably larger than at his limp last year. Reporting upon European crop prospects, “ Bocrbohm ” states that borli in the United Kingdom and Franco the crops responded quickly to the change to fine, warm weather, and there had been a great improvement in prospects generally. The outlook for the German wheat crop was reported to be up to the normal. Rye "'as lees favourably spoken of. and only a moderate yield was expected. In Austria-Hungary crops were making good progress and an average yield was expected, the average being slightly smaller. Conditions in Italy were satisfactory, and a decidedly better yield is expected than last year given normal weather at harvest time In Roumania, Bulgaria, and Servia the area sown is, of course, much smaller, but prospects otherwise wore favourable. Reports from most parts of the Russian Empire stated that the condition of the.crops on the whole, both as regards autumn and spring sown wheat, was more favourable than last year. The following quotations are for purchases from farmers, net cash, sacks extra, delivery' at country stations:— Wheat—Tuscan, 5s 5d to 3s 6d; Hunters, 5s 6;,d to os Oats —Gartons. Is lid to 2s 3d : Duns, Is lOd to 2s Id; Danish, Is 9d to 2s 2d; Algerian. Is lid to 2s Id. Barley—Malting. 3s 6d to 3s 9d per bushel, according to quality. Partridge peas, 3s 4d to 3s sd. Chad’. £5. Potatoes. £2 15s to £3. Onions, £7. Flour—£9 per ton: 1001 b bags, £9 10s; 501 b bags. £9 355; 25:b bags. £lO. Bran —Local. £4 ss; f.0.b., £4. Pollard. £6 per ton. Oatmeal. £l4 10«, per ton. Seeds-Ryegrass (Italian and perennial), farmers' parcels. 2« to 2s 6d; machine dressed parcels. 5s 3d to 3s 9d. Cocksfoot. 3?d to J; plain seed, 3d: white clover to lOd. Dairv Produce—Cheese : Dairy, largo, loaf. 5d : factory, large, si?d to 6d. Litter: Fresh local factory prints. Is 4d; second grade, Is 3d; farmers’ separator, 10J; farm dairy. 9d. Hams, lid: sides, 9£d; rolls, 10jd; rolled hams. 11R1. Lard pats, Bjd. Eggs. Is 3d per dozen. RANGTOIM. There was very little business passing in the grain and produce market at Rang-iora during the week, and prices remain nr last week’s Quotations, excepting that potatoes have declined to £2 IQs per ton.