AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3443, 9 March 1920, Page 11

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The Scottish Farmer Album for 1920, always an interesting production, came to hand last week. As of yore, it'is replete with matters of agricultural and pastoral interest, and contains several very readable articles on matters pertaining to the fanning industry. Opening with a recent photograph of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, we are presented with a number of the chief winners at the leading stock shows in Great Britain during the past year, besides leading breeders. At Is 9d the album cannot be deemed costly to those interested in Scottish agriculture. Sir Walter Lee, the Premier of Tasmania, has contracted for the supply of 1,250,000 bushels of wheat at 7s 8d per bushel. Sir Walter Lee stated recently that he had made satisfactory arrangements with the Acting Controller of Shipping for the delivery of the wheat during » the next 12 months to millers in north and south Tasmania.

Produce brought into Hobart is taken to the city markets and pays toll before beiug disposed of. For years past_ producers have brought in goods and delivered them at shops or auction marts for sale, but recently the City Council, with a view to reducing the cost of living, decided to reopen the markets, so that produce could be sold direct to the consumer, and let them on lease for £350 a year. The lessees contend that under the terms of the lease all goods brought into Hobart, whether for sale at market or not, must pay toll ranging up to a shilling, according to the carrying vehicle. This was never the intention of the council,, but the lease has been executed. Interesting developments are expected. Cirencester Agricultural College, the oldest in England, seems destined to remain closed permanently. It was closed during the war, and apparently its endowment i 3 not sufficient to carry it on unaided. It was thought that the Board of Agriculutro would carry it on for at least two years, but they have abandoned the idea. Lord Bledisloe and Earl Bathurst, chairman and vice-chair-man respectively of the Board of Governors, are making an appeal to the public for endowment funds.

The Clutha and Matau A. and P. Society has decided to buy the property of the late Mrs Denniston adjoining the show ground. Provided the Government is agreeable, a live stock show is to be held in Christchurch by the Canterbury A. and P. Association on the occasion of the Prince of Wales' visit to the City of the Plains in May. High prices for pigs were secured at a clearing sale held at Clifton last week. A sow and litter of seven realised £26 10s, and a sow in pig £22 10s. These prices are claimed as records for- Southland.

A boy in Maine (U.S.A.) heads the list in the records of corn growing by boys' and girls' clubs. He produced 584 bushels of flint corn on a quarter of an acre—a rate of 234 bushels per acre. This sort of crop ought to pay almost as well as dairy farming. The wholesale price of maize in Auckland is 8s 3d per bushel, so that the yield per acre would be £96 10s 6d. Pukekohe land is noted for its productive qualities, and during three months of the 1919-20 season _ 4923 tons of potatoes and onions were railed from the Pukekohe railway station, representing an increase of 685 tons as compared with the corresponding period of 1918-1919. In one month products valued at £IB,COO were despatched from the railway station. The danger of leaving old paint pots about where they can be reached by cattle has been exemplified, says the Winton Record, in the case of a Parkville resident, who has lost four cows and a calf as a result of lead poisoning. The inspector of stock at Helensville, Auckland, reports that between 30,000 and 40,000 calves have been killed in the Waikato this "summer. He states that farmers find it does not pay to rear calves and pigs while present high prices for butter-fat continue. New country is not being opened up quick enough to absorb all young stock, and' he predicts a tremendous shortage of beef.

A. Goulburn grower recently sold in Sydney some eight tons of Globe onions at over £23 a ton. The onions were taken off on area of 35 yards by 93 yards, and the yield ihus worked out at 15 tons an

acre, representing from £250 to £3OO an acre. The crop was raised in well fertilised garden soil, the grower irrigating from the time the young plants began to shoot. The largest cnion weighed 270 z, but many averaged from 16 to 20oz each. The Wyndham Herald hears of a farm sale by one who purchased within a year, his profit on re-sale being some £2OOO. How to make money without working. A man bought a dairy farm near Palmerston North just one year ago at £l4O an acre. He has now sold it (says the Mariawatu Times) at £lßo—a £4O per acre increase in a year. Bettor still, a local speculator bought a Kairauga block one morning last week and before sundown had sold it at a clear profit of £I2OO. These a<re not isolated cases, as similar instances occur almost daily. However, there are still a few people working for a living—perhaps they prefer it —there's no accounting for tastes. There appears to be plenty of demand for land, in s-pite of tho high price, in the *Taranaki district. Lately an offer of £2OO per acre for a farm of 100 acres was refused, and in another instance a farm was sold at £175 per acre, which cost less than £BB per acre 18 months ago. .