SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3590, 2 January 1923, Page 12

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

CFbom Our Own Cobrespondent.) . The weather has been very changeable, with the result that shearing and all farm work has been kept back badly. Indeed, there have been a. few odd days when everything was at a standstill. Against this we can put the fine growth which is everywhere evident. Pastures, grain, and root crops are all looking splendid. The wealth of feed all over Southland to-day is a real pleasure to look at. Visitors from the north who come the length of Invercargill only frequently leave with a very wrong impression of the province, as by far the richest agricultural district lies north-west from our capital city. In the great plains and flats between our two main rivers, the Oreti and Aparima, there is an area of 100,000 acres of first-class agricultural land which produces .oats, turnips, and grass second to nothing in New Zealand. Mr Wilbar, the American Consul, who recently made a tour of the province, was greatly impressed with. its potentialities from an agricultural point of view. As already mentioned, shearing is ; being carried out under considerable difficulties Owing to broken weather, but the result of the wool sale in Dunedin is a great tonic. Then we have buyers offering 9d per lb for lamb with tlie guarantee of this price all through the season for all weights. This is not altogether an unmixed blessing, as it tempts the man who is needy or greedy, or possibly both, to sell his ewe lambs. This is a “penny wise and pound foolish” policy from an individual and also from a national standpoint, and yet we have only a very few farmers who consistently refuse to part with tlie tope of their ewe lambs. The natural result of this is evident to any experienced stockman w r ho attends our autumn sales of store sheep. The one glaring fault in our crossbred flocks is the lack of character and uniformity

oi type. This is only to be expected where tile cream of the ewe lambs are sold year after year. Even where this is not done there should always be an annual weeding out of everything not up to a certain standard. A line of ewe lambs may be fairly even at weaning time, but before they are shorn a close inspection should be made for coarse breech and light shoulder wool, and any sheep having either of these defects should be haddled on the nose and after shearing have a bottle brand put on, as well as that of the owner. This is one of the preliminary steps toward the building up of a ewe flock, but in order to ensure ultimate success it is essential that this weeding out process should be extended over the different ages. A two-tooth ewe may appear all right when put to the ram, but a year later, after rearing a lamb, show very plainly a lack of constitution, and instead of developing the desirable points of a matron, look weedy. She should be “cast” and so on up through the differentages, always keeping up the numbers by feeding up at the younger end. The “cast for age” system is good up to a certain point, but at times it will bear modification. A good fine year-old ewe carrying her mutton well up and a good fleece can profitably be kept over a year in preference to a middling two-tooth. If the system of culling suggested above is carried out the five-year-old ewes are the best on the farm in wool and type, as they have stood the brunt of four years culling, therefore it is a perfectly safe policy to keep, say, 25 per cent, of the best of them over for another year. Holidays are putting business aside for the time being, and it is unlikely that we will settle down to normal again until after Parliament meets and we get some inkling of what is going to happen in our little political world. Meantime, farming prospects, so far as Southland is concerned, are quite 50 per cent, better than they were at this time last year. Dairy produce is bringing fair prices, wpol, mutton, and lamb are all paying extra well, but beef is still a bad paying proposition. The one consoling texture in this is the fact that, all the cattle bought at high prices two years ago will soon be killed, and then the ones laid in at the lower prices will be leaving a fair margin of profit to the feeder, though they may not hawe paid the breeders. AGRICULTURAL AND PAS76RAI NEWS. The Journal of Agriculture of South Australia notices in connection with the experimental plots at Butler that heavy, dressings of superphosphate seem to control “take-all” disease of wheat. The nomanure plot has been badly affected each year, the plot with lewt super, showed small affected patches, but plots receiving heavier dressings have invariably been quite free from the disease. This is attributed to the more rapid growth of wheat plants in the earlier stages, just when the disease is active. Our correspondent at Hawera wires that there has been quite a scare in Taranaki owing to a report that cattle tick had spread to the district, but Colonel Young, F.R.C.V.S., head of the Live Slock Division of the Agricultural Department, has given an assurance that the vermin discovered is other than the dread cattle tick. The matter is of such a serious nature to Taranaki that full consideration was given to it at the monthly meeting of the Taranaki Executive of the Farmers’ Union. It was contended that the loss to the country would be enormous if the tick got into Taranaki as the milk yield would go down 50 per cent. In a district like Taranaki it would be a terrible scourge as the spread of the menace would be very rapid. One speaker said he was not satisfied with the attitude taken up by the Government. The tick had spread from North Auckland down to the Waikato. It was admittedly as far south as Cambridge, and, despite denials, it is believed that it was now in the Lower Waikato. It was eventually resolved that while appreciating the prompt action of the department iri regard to the reported outbreak of cattle tick in Taranaki, the executive is by no means satisfied that sufficiently effective steps have been taken to keep the pest out of Taranaki, and urges upon tlie Minister the necessity for the most drastic steps, even to the total prohibition of the importation of stock from the infected areas. At a meeting of the Canterbury Farmers’ Union, held in Christchurch, Mr K. Murchison said his attention had been drawn to the danger of Bathurst burr being established in the country (wires our Christchurch correspondent). He had been shown some wool which had come from Timaru, in which there was some fresh seed. Next month, he understood, a number of sheep would be imported from Australia, and in this connection it might be as well to bring under the notice of the importers the necessity of shearing the sheep before taking them to stations. In fact, it should be made compulsory to shear them. The burr did not crumple up like most other pods, and for this reason was more dangerous. There were enough pests in the back country now without having this, added the speaker. He was importing sheep shortly himself from Australia, but would have them all shorn before sending them to Lake Coleridge. Replying to a question, Mr Murchison said the burr had grown on a wool-drying green at Belfast, and it also grew in Hawke’s" Bay. It was decided to bring the matter under the notice of the Agricultural Department and the Sheepowners’ Union. In conversation with the manager of the South Otago F reezing Company a Free Press representative learned that there is a strong probability of the Finegand Freezing Works being opened for bus : n©ss on January 16. This would be an unusually early start for this part of the country, but the forwardness of the lambs, consequent on the abundant feed everywhere observable, would justify the early opening of the works. The news should hold a double interest for the farming community, and induce a steadying of the “forward selling” that has been going on.

■ - 1- 1 r , 1 .. ,i Meetings of the Farmers’ Union will bo held on January 6 in Miller’s Flat Hall and Roxburgh Athenaeum Hall. Some years ago the Manawatu district was noted for raspberry growing, but this fruit has given place to the loganberry, which is easier to cultivate, of which large quantities are grown. Commenting upon the rise in store cattle at the 55 allacetown sale, a well-known dealer informed a Southland Times reporter that on Monday ho sold a line of store cattle, upon which he made 13s per head. The vendor put the line into the yards the following day and cleared 17s per head on the first dealer’s selling price. A rise of 30s in two days ! In so prolific a season (states the Levin Daily Chronicle) the average .gardener would hsrdly expect to find his potato patch robbed, but during the week a local resident had a considerable area pirated, the potato tops being left as though nothing had happened. It was only when he commenced to dig that he found that someone had been there before him. An expert rabbiter told the Ashburton County Council that the best method of poisoning rabbits was by the use of phosphorus. There was a great danger in using strychnine, as this poison penetrated not only to the flesh of the rabbit that consumed the bait, but also to the bones, and oven if the animal’s bones lav for 12 months they would kill any dog that picked them Up . Late shearing, with an increased supply of thistle pricks on the hands and arms of those handling the fleeces, has brought to light quite an unusual number of cases of what is" known 'as wool poison (remarks the Wairarapa Daily Times). the trouble is like blood poison, and unless taken in hand by skilled treatment at once, is apt to be exceedingly troublesome or even dangerous. Four soldier farms were put up to auction at Pahiatua, and were bought in by th« Crown at the upset price. There was a similar result with a farm at Hukanui, auctioned the previous day at Eketahuna Inquiries are now being made of local dairy companies for firm offers of cheese and butter made during December and January (states the Pahiatua Herald). The price indicated for butter is round about Is 6ct per lb, f.0.b., and for cheese a« high a price as 9d is again being offered straight out. Indications axe that both articles are likely to find fairly good markets for a few months at least, and the more sales that are made the more likely is it that the market will be held «ip in London.