AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3555, 2 May 1922, Page 11

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The Wanton A. and P. Association have decided to hold a winter show next year, and not risk having to foil back upon tbe small credit balance now lying to the credit of the summer show account. A correspondent writes: “It will be of interest to farmers to know that Mr Wm. Bennett’s cow Pansy, which won the Dunedin Dairy Company’s silver cup at the Middlemarch Show on Easter Monday, produced 2.961 b fat in 24 hours. The weight of milk for the two milkings was 47Jlb with a 6.2 test- - which means just about 901 b fat for the month. Under semiofficial test she would (undoubtedly do over 6001 b in the 365 days, but being of no distinct breeding it is impossible to put her under test. It shows, however, what can be found out by testing.” A Marion Press Association message says that Mr Massey has given an assurance that three representatives of the Farmers’ Union will sit on the Taxation Committee which will be convened shortly. A Press Association message from Levin says that Ihe first farmers’ school at the Stale Central Development Farm is now

in progress, and is attended by 100 young farmer* I min all parts of the Wellington Pi rovinco. r,ntries for the forthcoming Winter Show of the Otago A. and I*. Society are already being received. 'J he display of factory cheese and factory butter (now in cool 6tore) will he a particularly line one. Applications for space are now being received, and the respective positions will be allotted at an early date. Keen interest is this year being shown by the fruitgrowers of Otago, and a very large and attractive display of fruit is assured. The show will be opened in His Majesty’s Theatre on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 30, by (he Prime Minister, who has also promised to attend the society’s annual meeting and social, to be held in Brydone Hall Buildings on tin same evening. Referring to the complaint that the greater p n of the butter sold in Wellington is of a-olid grade, and that die prices

. now charged in 'Wellington are Is 7 1 :, Is Bd, I and Is 9d per lb, as against Is 6*d for I “choicest” butter in Loudon, Is for ‘‘exceptionally good,” and Is 5-UI for "seconds,” an authority on the question pointed out (says the New Zealand Times) that the bulk of the butter in the Wellington market, came from factories whose butter graded the highest of any in the dominion. It had to be remembered, he stated, that butter retailed at Is 8d per lb returned to the factory Is 4jd per lb. The factories in New Zealand were aiming to obtain on the local market, prices equal to what they receive for export; and the London wholesale prices, which had been quoted would be quite 3d per lb lower than retail prices. The lowest wholesale I price in Isvndon for New Zealand butter j was 118 s per cwt to which at least 3d per jib lor retailing would have to be added j before compotimn was made with the retail Wellington prices.

This season, Mr James Butler, of Winton, sowed 3CO acres in wheat. The yield exceeded expectations. One paddock averaged 75 bushels to the acre of first grade quality throughout. Off 140 acres 2400 bags were obtained, and Mr Butler has yet to thresh fully 2000 bags*, The grain in stack has not, at all been marred by the weather. Other district wheat crops, more particularly in the Benmorp and Dipton districts, have also yielded a high percentage Southland has long since gained : fame as an oat-producing centre, and it would appear (says the Winton Record) that : the time is at hand when it would coine to i be regarded as a wheat-growing province, j Fifty-two cow's are being milked at the Stratford Model Farm. The quantity of milk for the past month was 32,0361 b; test for the first period 4.2, second period 4.7, third period 4.3. At a special sale at Feilding on Wednesday the average price for 4500 sheep was 265. One line of 250 breeding ewes realised 33s Id per head.

Speaking to a Western District farmer the other day about some of the oat crops which look as if they will never be cut. and owing to their threshod-out appearance would not be worth cutting, a Southland News representative learned that a friend of his had a crop of this description last year, and selecting suitable climatic conditions he burned the standing straw off and disced the ground. The‘’result was a splendid crop this year, which came in »arly. filled well, and was harvested, threshed, sold, and delivered before the bad spell*of weather came on at the end of February. The secretary of the New Zealand Farmers’ Dairy Union informed a Manawatu Standard reporter that his company had just paid out a total of £5857 to its suppliers on account of butter-fat supplied during March, as compared with £7llO for the corres[>o riding month of last year. The significance of these figures lies in the fact that while (he production for March of this year represented an increase of 54 per cent, on that of March, 1921, the sum advanced per lb of butter-fat, to suppliers was a decrease of Is Id per lb. The increase in the number of swine in the Hawke's Bay province during the past two years is 5276. So far this season 80.00 sheep and lambs have gone through the freezing works at Picton, and it is anticipated that another 30,000 will be dealt with before the season closes (says tiie Marlborough Express). This .total will represent an increase of some 20,000 carcases on last year’s figures, but the total is not nearly so large as was anticipated, owing to (he vagueness of the season, and the effects on rape and other fattening crops. Mr Richard Meredith, of Roto Patera. Ruatauiwha, Hawke’s Bay, had remarkable success with his crops this year. From a crop of solid straw Tuscan wheat he thrashed 70 bushels per acre. A crop of Dreadnought wheat thrashed 69 bushels per acre, and a crop of 120 acres of Algerian oats thrashed 57 bushels per acre. In the opinion of experts the oat crop w ould have thrashed at least 80 bushels per acre but for the extremely bad harvesting weather which was experienced in tin” province this year. A local thrashing mill owner informs the. Lake County Press that his mill has ah ready put through 2500 sacks of peas this Season. The greater portion of that quantity was grown in the Lower Shotover district, where the majority of the crops have thrashed out exceptionally well. Peas are at present worth from 7s to 7s 6d per bushel. No fewer than 72 truck of sheep from North Otago were brought to Timaru by one train the other da.v.