SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3494, 22 February 1921, Page 10

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(From Oub Own Correspondent.) The very dry weather experienced of late has hastened the ripening of the grain crops. Harvesting is now fairly general, and before the end of this month a good deal will be in stock. It should also, by that time, be apparent how the crops are going to turn out. In light country where tile effects of drought have been most felt the bulk of the crops will be light. Rapid ripening is not conducive to well filled grain, and the whitening too quickly of crops is often caused by the grain dying, and not filling properly. The grass-seed harvest being late, and the grain crops coming on so rapidly, made a very busy time for those who ako had turnips to thin. Many who will have to engage harvesting hands (if they are available) are wondering how it will work out if paid at the rate of, say, 2s per hour and found, if the growers have to dispose of their oats at 2s per bushel. The market may open at more than that figure, but it mav just as readily fall to it. r l he rate for shearing was an experience which many will not care to have repeated in other operations. After paying such a big figure for shearing it was felt very severely when wool brought only half as much as it had done under the commandeer. Some are inclined to think that if the price of wool remains as at present, and there is any indication of shearers demanding big pay, it will help to extend the use of shearing by machine. There is a general feeling that it will be difficult or almost impossible to bring down wages. All kinds of labour may command a better remuneration than it has done in the past, but if the chief agricultural and pastoral products fall as much as they have gone up, it is quite impossible to predict what may take place. The receding values and meagre demand for all classes of stock at all sales is, to. say the least of it, rather ominous. The fat iamb buyers are very busy all over Southland, and although not dipping too far in, are getting a fair number of fat lambs. Many farmers are getting away more than they expected. Some may be getting from 25 to 30 per cent, first draft, others from 40 to 50 per cent. The price per lb is not working out so high as was expected. If as reported it is at the rate of as much as lOd up north, it may not reach 9d in Southland, and may be only 8d or 84d. Wethers for freezing will most likely* ra'nge from 5d to sid. and ewes about 4d per lb. Many consumers are complaining that while all classes of stock have fallen so much in value there is not a proportional fall in the retail price of butcher meat. At most of the fat stock sales there are no such phenomenal prices paid as £35 and £4O for fat bullocks, or up to £4 per 100, but mostlv about the half of that is the extreme limit. Fat sheep are falling at the same rate. It is not stores only that are falling, and often unsaleable, but fat stock of primest quality has certainly had a big drop too. The value of all kinds of stock and produce may fall considerably yet, and the stringency of the money market may also for a time have a bad effect. It is also to bo noted that the stock of all kinds in European countries has been much depleted, and consequently produce is not likely to fall so much unless it be that the "purchasing power of those who require the produce make it impossible for them to purchase. The amount of unemployment is also a problem to be accounted for in the disposal of produce. When we have an early harvest, and the stubble paddocks cleared, there is a good opportunity for catch crops, which, if not forward enough for winter forage, comes in for spring requirements, and can often be of great serci~p It is to.be regretted that the practice of taking immediate use of stubble is not more general. Those who do so find it to be a great benefit to have green feed to make up for a shortage of feed, and before the grass comes. Since it is generally recognised that in good farming the stubble should be dealt with immediately after harvest, and the discs and a cultivator are capable of working the soil sufficiently for putting in such a crop. The ground so treated has to be ploughed in the spring. If not. required for grazing, or if unfit for cutting, any such crop ploughed is of inestimable manorial value. There are various suitable crops such as Italian rye, western woltb, winter vetches, ordinary rye. or even cats or barley, or a sufficient seeding of crimson clover.