OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3312, 5 September 1917, Page 11

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

(Fbom Odb Own Coerespondent.) WEATHER REPORT. The month of August kept up its reputation for being a changeable and unreliable timo as far as weather is concerned. There has been a good deal of rain, soma frost, and more snow on the higher levels than at any period during the winter. Indeed, it may safely be said that the month was more wintry, than June or July—the months in which we expect to have some hard weather. There have been some squally days and some very cold and heavy showers, intermingled with spells of almost 6ummer-like conditions. For instance, on the morning of Sunday week the inhabitants of the country under the foothills woke up to a white world. The iprevioua evening a particularly cold shower had come along from the south-west, and before morning the rain changed to snow. Of course tho fall was only a small one, but it was more considerable than any that had fallen during tho true winter months. The following day was fine and mild, bo, of course, the snow went away from all bub the back facingß. Since that time the weather has been more settled, though a few showers have fallen. A warm, drying nor'-wester would not be out of the wav at present, as farmers are anxious to push, on with their work. FARM NOTES. Some disappointment has been occasioned by the fact that the catchy weather has hindered team work rather seriously. While there has not been any very great weight of rain, the showers that have come on whenever the land has got into anything like a decent state have made it impossible for the grain drill to get a start. The frosts, too, nave kept the surface of the ground in a sticky, impossible condition. It is to be hoped that they will now be able to got to work. It is true that it is not very often that any considerable area of crop —■ spring crops, that is—can be sown before the beginning of September; but this season the winter has been so fine that high hopes were entertained that the teams would _ bo able to get more quickly on to the job. Moreover, labour is not and the desire to waste no time at all is intensified by the fact. During the autumn and a part of the winter good progress was made, and there was every prospect of _ having the crop in earlier than usual. It is to be hoped that by the time these lines appear in print the drill will bo putting in long hours.

In the House the other day the. Minister of Agriculture stated that returns up to the 13th August showed that there were 170,000 acres of wheat in the Dominion. No doubt there are some figures still to come to hand. It looks, however, as if there is foing to be some difficulty in getting the 50,000 acres put in that the Minister of Agriculture asked for last autumn when ha toured the country urging farmers to put in wheat. Perhaps some of the Labour iyi—• : " fi~ TT on=r , w ji] construe the position into a deliberate go-slow policy on the part of the farmers. That accusation has been made a good many times during the session as well as in the recess. No« thing could be more unjust than that. Weather and labour conditions have a great deal to do with the matter, and these are contributing at the present time to the fact that not much spring wheat has as yet been put in. It is about six weeks that, in my district, a drill was able to get on to the land, and then it was only for about a couple of days. The longer the delay is at this time of the year the less chance there is of the wheat going in under the best of c-'reumstanees. The later-sown oropa are nearly always the poorest yielders. That being so, the question arises as to whether it is not better to put in sheep feed instead of wheat, particularly as the position regarding shipping for the next export season seems to promise a blockage in the freezing industry. That position has to be faced, and the sheep-breeder and the fattener has to mak« provision for whatever might haooen. When we have an average of something like • 70 ships a month put und»r the waves by the German submarines it does not need much reflection to show how serious the position is becoming. Then, there Is the fact that the_ grass grub is at least getting to work again. One may see paddock after paddock in some districts practically denuded of grass. Indeed, the pos ; tion has become so serious in some parts that it is reported that several owners have had to sell their sheep, or a portion of them, in order to prevent their starving. The grass grub had cleared out all the grass paddocks. Th<» grub, as usual, is doing most of its deadly work on the lighter lands. It is an insect that loves dry conditions, and on the light lands the rains have not been sufficient to drown the nests out The q-rub is in th° crops as well as in the grass, and one may see considerable patches eaten right out. If the gnjb does exero'se a go-slow nolicy in some respects, he gets there all the same. He seems to work day and night. There is some consolation in the fact that, in the beginning of November, the grub turns into the little brown beetle that fills the air about that time of the year; but he has a considerable

time; to go before lie reaches that stage, and may do a good deal of damago before then.

The frosts we have had have checked the crops somewhat. They are not looking as well as they did about the beginning of August. That will not matter a very great deal, as some of them were just a little too flash in appearance. The continued wet prevented the sheep being cut on the crops, and so the frosts have done good in stopping undue growth. Whenever the land gets a bit dry the sheep are turned on; but in some instances the earliest sowings are getting beyond the stage at which the stock can be turned in with safety. The same applies to some of the green feed that was put in for the sheep. When the paddocks are wet the stock cannot bo put on the land. Grass is growing again now, but it had a bit of a check towards the end of August owing to the frosts. Though there has not been anything in the shape of floods the land has been kept wet for some weeks now, and agricultural work has been seriously delayed in consequence. LIVE STOCK. Lambing has commenced in some of the earlier districts, and though wo have had some very cold snaps, there have been but few losses so far. Where early lambs are gone in for there {s usually some shelter, and it is only in the more favoured parts that this system of live stock management can be indulged in. The youngsters so far have done well. It is not till the middle of this month that the lambing can be said to be anything like general, and in the upcountry districts it will be a good deal later than that. The sheep, on the whole, have come through the winter very well indeed. Then the turnips, where there were any, have lasted longer than was expected. They are coming in very useful iust, now. as one likes to keep the stock off the grass paddocks as long as possible, so as to give them a bit of a chance to get away before lambing commences. There has been some burning on the hills. It is good management to "burn as early in the season as possible. so as to give the herbage a good start and In order to have the firing do as little damago as possible to the tussocks and the grass. Summer burning, and even late spring burning in a dry season, cannot be too strongly condemned. Crutehing has been in full swing during the last fortnight, and the flocks have been fixed up for the spring. Some consternation was caused among the • buvers of farmers' oddments owin-£>- to a notice that appeared in the Gazette and in the papers stating that wool was not to be purchased by anyone except the Government.

The small buyers have been scouring the country during the winter picking up farmers' oddments, such as cratchings and odd fleeces, dead wool, and eo on, and though they have not had the same amount of business as they had before the war, when they purchased whole clips as well, they have mana,ered to keep going. Naturally they did not like to see their business taken away, and some of them, after holdIn? a meeting In Timaru, went to seo the Minister of Agriculture on the matter. It

is understod that the delegation was given a sympathetic hearing, and that an alteration would be made in the regulations to meet their ease. There docs not seem to be any reason why they should be debarred from operating. They put the wool they pick up on the farms into something like decent order. They go over it and sort it up, classifying it and .sometimes scouring the dirtiest parts of their purchaser. In. many instances thoy dig out wool that would go to waste if it were not for their activities. The lots, when they reach the broker's hands, are in a far better condition to handle than when the farmer sends them, in himself. Moreover, farmers welcome these buyers on to the place, as they taks the stuff straight away after purchase, and so relieve the grower of a lot of bother. On the face of it there docs not appear to be any good reason why these buyers should not be allowed to buy whole clips if the faamcrs will sell to them. The purchasers would not be able to get away with the wool. They cannot sell to any one but the Government. They cannot sell to the local nulls even. Everything must go through the Government buyers; and quite properly so. Such being the case, there seems to bo nothing very dreadful in allowing anyone to buy wool from the producer direct, if the latter chooses to sell. It is to be hoped: that the matter will be settled soon, in order that there may bo no hindrance in the buying operations. After the winter is over farmers usually have some dead wool and crutchings to sell, as well as skins, and they are glad to get rid of them before the shearing commences. It may seem to be too early to speak of shearing; but that time will soon come along in some of the early districts. Of course, there is the lambing to get over first, and that is what we are all looking forward to at the present time. I expect that quite a number of women folk will have to undertake that task when the time comes. Last season quite a number took it on, and they did the work really well. In rough weather, wmen the men folk cannot get out with the teams, the women can be relieved of the task; but at other times it is not at all an unpleasant or inappropriate work for the gentler sex to undertake. At Homo the women have taken to the lighter work on the farms readily, and the same will have to be done hero on a much bigger scalo than at present. Indeed, one knows women that would sooner work otitside than inside, and animals of all sorts always respond to the kindly treatment of women. I have said that the grass paddocks are not showing up so very well as yet. I am afraid that we do not treat our pastures as we should do, or we should get better results from them. We overstock too systematically to give them a chance. If a grass paddock can be shut up for a time it is wonderful how much feed it will give afterwards. The roots seem to get do\vn into the soil further, and the plants withstand the drought better than they do if they are kept closely cropped. The plants cannot grow roots and endeavour to overtake the close cropping that they are subjected to at the same time. We do not study our pastures as we should do, and this is a most important matter, because, after all, the grass lands bulk much larger than any other of our interests on the farm.