OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 11

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) A GRACIOUS RAIN. We have experienced a good shower # at last. On.the 9th heavy rain set in during the afternoon after /a morning that was exceptionally fine. The temperature fell rapidly a 3 heavy clouds drove up from the south, and almdst without warning the rain pelted down. It continued throughout tho night, and did not clear in the northern end of -the province till the middle of the next day—polling day. The hills Were seen to be covered with enow, and the country

was white all along the foothills. Frosts, of course, followed, and the nights hive fc«>en much colder, but the days nave been calm, sunny, and warm. It is to be hoped that the weather will keep fine for some ilmo, in order that, the wort may be pushed on before the winter. The indications are Liat we shall have an _ early winter, and there fs a keener feeling in the air than U usually the case at this time of the A COUNTRY REFRESHED. The ra'n freshened up the country a good Heal. We had < a few ehowers before the heavy rain set in, and they did 6ome good, put she inch and a-half that fell on Wednesday and Thursday of last week have already made a marked improvement. The grass paddocks have assumed a. green finge showing that the grass Is springing a little, and the turmps have almost taken a new lease of life where they were not too far gone. The green feed has felt the benefit of the rain most, and it Is now coming away nicely. Where the ground is being worked a vast improvement has taken Slace, and the land is ploughing and worklg down very nioely indeed. It should drill very wolf next month. Everyone is more hopeful about the future than they were, but the unfortunate part of the matter is that the rain came a little too late to save the situation completely. If the frosts continuo as they might easily do now that there is some" snow on the hills, there will not be a great deal of growth in the grass, and it Is not likely that the turnips will now attain any considerable size. One good feature about the position is that tho stock Is in good condition for the most part, especially the sheep. The dry weather has suited them, as it always does, and the feed has been sweet, although there has not been any great flush of it. As a matter of fact, tho sheep seem to do better on feed that is not too long and rank, and on some paddocks that seemed to bo almost bare the ewes have dono well.

The • absence of footrot is a pleasing feature of tho Beason. Sheep that had it badly last year are now almost quite well Sgain. Earlier in the season tho maggot % got to work on ehcep that were affected with footrot, and .before some farmers realised It tho maorgote wero active in the cuwased hoof, and in Bome cases spread

up the leg into the shoulder. Where this occurred the matter became a serious one, but where the maggots confined their attention to the hoof no harm was done, provided that the matter was notified and the hoof was pared'and dressed with some mixture that was calculated to clear the maggots out. Farmers were so busy getting their harvesting done that they did not notice that something was wrong with their sheep until some of them had become badly infected with the. maggots. If the trouble was noticed before the maggots left the foot to seek fresh food not much harm was done, but if the trouble extended further afield it needed careful treatment to put things right again. In some cases the maggots did some good. They seemed to eat out the diseased matter where footrot was present, leaving the inside shell of the hoof fairly clean. In my ewes there were several animals affected in the way described. The trouble was noticed, and the sheep were got into the yards, the feet were trimmed, the hoof was cleared of maggots, and the feet were dressed—some of them with kerosene emulsion, somo with bluestone, and all with carbolio fluid as a final. In every case the -sheep got rid of the footrot and the maggots at the same time, although a few of them had to be kept handy to tho yards so that they could be watched for a time. FARM AND STATION. Tho teams are hard at work getting tho land ready for wheat, and, as I have said, tho rain has improved conditions on ploughed land very materially. Sowing will bogin early in tho. month, and the wheat should go in well if there is not too.much rain. The thrashing mills have had a splendid run during tho last few weeks, and tho men and owners have both dono very well indeed. The travelling has been of the best, and little time has been wasted in any way. The. back of tho thrashing and tho chaffcutting is broken, and by tho end of tho month there should bo very little to do except in some of the up-country districts where the harvest was later and tho mills did not commence till the bulk of tho stuff was In stack. The yields are still all that can be desired. Indeed, some of the inland districts are turning out better tallies than some of the dearer land nearer the coast. Probably the

land has not been cropped to the same extent. Of late years it has been noticed that the land further away from the coast has been producing good crops, but that was put down to the fact that more showers visited there when the years were dry. This season everyone had sufficient ram, and still the up-country districts have done as well or better than the average land nearer the centres. r ' There is a good deal of buying and selling in land just now, and the papers are full of advertisements of clearing sales. Evidently those who were waiting till the conclusion of the war before investing in land consider that it is now safe to buy. Building has also started, and altogether there are signs that confidence is returning rapidly. It ft true that there has been a big drop in sheep, and that there is a blockage in some of the works; but, generally speaking, there is no sign of panio on the part of anyone. Those who had wheat in last year have done better than they expected, and they can look with comparative indifference on the fall in sheep. It is realised on every hand that stock u P OOOIIIO to ° dear » and it is well that the drop occurred before values got any higher. At the clearing sales where the lines are straight and good the values that are being received are very payable ones. J. ho worst feature of the whole business is the probability that before long the works will be blocked. A protest has been sent from the province in the matter of shipping. It has been noticed that the ships are taking dairy produce instead of frozen mutton, and this is distinctly to the disadvantage of the sheep fattener. It would not have mattered so much if there had been plenty of feed available, but now that the winter feed is sure to be somewhat scarce it is a serious matter to have tho works blocked or nearly so. The Imperial Government is said to have ordered tho dairy stuff to bo lifted, as it is needed at Home; but the position of the farmers hero should bo considered in tho matter. In the course of the next few stock will commence to go back owing to the colder winter, and the fact that much of tho suitable feed will be disposed of. It is desirable that as many sheep as possible shall be put into the works as they become tat In order that the turnips may be resorred for the ewes later on. They will

need them, and it will be a pity if any of them have to be used in keeping sheep that are fat in something like condition. The farmers are always finding themselves face to face with some difficulty. The wheat-grower is not yet out of the Wood, for instance. As the- buying season advanced it was found that the millers were, keeping off the market, except for the better kinds of wheat, such as Velvet and Pearl. For one thing, tho storage rate was not to go on till the month of July, Instead of in April, as was the case last year. The wheat-growers naturally sup-' posed that they would be able to get rid of their wheat as soon as they had it ready for_ sale. Many of them wanted to clear their paddocks so that they might be able to proceed with the work of ploughing or cultivating their stubbles. It was with a good deal of consternation that they found that they could not sell because tho millers Would buy nothing but the finer wheats. Some of them sold their Tuscan and Dreadnought at a reduction of a few. pence — practically as fowl wheat —in order to get rid of it. However, a protest was made, and an attempt to get the Government to recognise its responsibility in the matter was set on foot. The Minister of Agriculture shortly afterwards stated that the storage rate of ' a halfpenny per bushel would commence in May instead of in July, and it was understood that the Government would buy when the millers failed to take the wheat. It is now stated that tho Government does not intend to buy before the end of the season, so that the wheatgrower is no further forward. There has been a good deal of muddling all through in connection with the wheat, and it looks as if that sort of thing is to last to the end.