SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

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

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(Fbom Our Own Correspondent.) For about six weeks to two months we have experienced fine dry, warm weather, and the outcry for rain has become very strong. Whether wo are going to get all the rain Ave require it is hard to say. There have been showers in certain directions, but not general. The grass paddocks which were white' with clover a few weeks ago are now very much dried, up. A good rainfall about a month ago would have benefited the crops very much, and better results after harvest might have been expected. In too many cases the oat crops nave suffered considerably, and the harvest will be earlier than it should have been. With a limited area under crop, and no phenomenal yields, there will be a considerable shortage. The early-sown turnip crops came away nicely, and were looking remarkably well until they suffered in most cases from tho continuance of dry weather, but with sufficient rain will rally yet. Any late-sown turnips have not got such a good chance, on account of the.land being too dry, both for sowing anil braiding. Although the turnips got a bit of, a setback, the prospect is still much better than at this time last year.,. The swedes are in some instances, mostly in patches, but not to a great_ extent, showing blight. The most effective remedy to keep it under until the weather improves is to dust with quicklime. Finely powdered lime in a bag made of some material not so open as scrim will suit the purpose, especially where the blight is in patches. If there is much of the paddock affected, a lime sower properly adjusted may be used: and if there is a slight wind to spread the lime, it will reach the whole surface of the plants. It is too early as yet for any symptoms .of dry rot This is one of the most serious and mysterious diseases which has ever attacked the lurnip crop. It is to be hoped the experiments and efforts at Gore to roach the true cause of the trouble may, even ii not quite successful, bo helpful m showing at least how it may have originated. Whether it is propagated by the seed, by climatic conditions, by manures, and whether it will flourish best in soil that had been much cultivated and cropped, or whether any certain conditions are more or less favourable to its origin and development, are only a few of the more salient features or conditions that will have to be carefully dealt with. There are some people who are always easily scared, and apt to dread a scarcity of feed, sav such as was experienced last winter, and are disposed to sell off all stock fit to go off the_ farm. For that reason, and probably fearing no outlet after the closing of the commandeering, thu3 causing- an over-supply of sheep, more fat lambs will go if at all fit than otherwise would have been the case. Thus it is we find large yardings at some of the local sales, and even good .prices. At such sales lambs have been going up to nearly 30s. One party at Wild Bush sold at 295, and 27s'to 27s 9d has frequently been obtained. The buyers also have been going through the flocks and drafting deeply. There are not as yet many, if any, reports of too many second-grade or light-weights, as has been the case some years. Much interest is being taken in the rabbit and rabbhakin industry. The very dry weather has made trappin.tr so difficult, and in many, cases impossible, not much has been doing of late. There i 3, however, such an expectation of high prices that many are giving up good positions to go into trapping. When the time comes round that carcases as well as skins are valuable, bunny mav have a bad time of it. The cheques last season were very encouraging. One farmer using a limited number of traps for a short period, and for skins cnly, earned £2O. Rabbiters had been all over the ground, and two of his sons who had come back from the front, until they could take up their ordinary work, took to rabbiting for a period, and in skins alone cleared about £IOO. Many experienced and capable rabbiters earned several hundred pounds sterling. If some reports may seem not quite reliable or exaggerated, there can be no doubt large cheques were very common, and some larger than most people havo any idea of, and can be verified. Even boys under 12 years, and in some cases under 10, did remarkably well.

While farmer? in general are well satisfied with the valuation of their wool, there are others who growl, and are not at all satisfied with the Government making a profit of £60,000,000 on the Australasian wool. It would be just as well to wait on and see if the Dominion for its share gets about as a refund. If not, it can be taken a 3 a helpful win-the-war gift to the Mother Country, for if we could not have got our wool away, and we only did so through whit the navy did, otherwise how would we have fared ?