CANTERBURY BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 22

CANTERBURY BUDGET.

(From Oub Own Corbespondbnt.) WEATHER STRIKINGLY COCD, Had it not been for a change in the weather during the second week the month of August would have been quite extraordinary. So far it has certainly been strikingly good, though the change which set in during the National Week festivities brought a fairly heavy fall of snow on the foothills. At the moment the willows are well in leaf and the spring flowering trees are in bloom. There are not wanting signs in plenty that spring is upon us in a fairly advanced state. Rarely has there been such a July followed by such mild days as have been the lot of Canterbury this month. TWO IMPORTANT VISITORS. Recently two leaders in the agricultural Science world have made flying -trips to Canterbury. First there was Sir John Russell, who for 16 years has been head of the Rothamsted Experimental. Station, and then a day or so later Professor Amos, head of the experimental farm connected with Cambridge University. The latter was on a flying visit made with the object of seeing if there was anything in the farming systems of the Dominion ■which was worth while from the point of view of the small farmer of the Old Country. Unfortunately he spent a month or more in Australia and had only a fortnight or less to see the Dominion. * He _ was taken round some of the bestequipped farms in the Canterbury province, and one point which interested him particularly was that the cost of threshing w r as 50 per cent, lower in the Dominion than in the country surrounding the University farm at Cambridge. One other thing which impressed him was our system of keeping stock outdoors, and he is taking back with him a sample of a good canvas New Zealand horse cover and a cow cover, and intends to' have a few made like them with the idea of reducing the necessity of so much housing. Sir John Russell had to cut Otago out of his itinerary owing to his boat sailing for England a day earlier than he anticipated, much to his regret; but he is already planning another visit to the Dominion. Every agricultural student knows the text books from Sir John’s pen, but there was nothing of the text book about the lecture he gave in Christchurch. It was a plain practical talk to farmers, which was well illustrated, and based oh the experimental work at Rothamsted in connection with soil fertility. . Dealing with the use of superphosphates, he emphasised that the experience at Rothamsted over a long period of years went to show that a liberal use of this fertiliser continuously had no effect in increasing the acidity of soils. He mentioned that the use of potash in connection with the gro-.lng of potatoes and tomatoes was most important, more particularly with the potatoes—not so much with the increase of yield as the influence it had upon the quality

of the tuber. The use of muriate of ammonia promised to be much more economical than the sulphate. Stress was laid upon the unreliability of soil analysis in determining what fertilisers were required. At Rothamsted they are made now only for the purpose of comparing one field with another. The lecture was an eminently practical one in which much suggestive material was scattered for the man willing to do a little experimenting on his own farm, and Sir John urged that every farmer should do a little experimenting for himself.

A SUCCESSFUL WINTER SHOW. Many attempts to hold a winter show' in Christchurch proved failures until last year, when the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association and the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association joined forces and held one in King Edward Barracks, which proved a great success. The second gathering of the kind concluded on Saturday, and it was even a greater success than last year. The exhibits on the agricultural and pastoral side more than doubled, and the great feature of the Glow on this side was the district bays, of which there were four. The Ashburton County a . Sll , lal mar gi» of points fron, *orth Canterbury, the latter district embracing all the country north of the Waimakariri River. The roots in the Ashburton bay were magnificent, and Sir John Riissell, of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, said that he had never seen better anywhere in the world, which nf th? p T alse > considering the eminence i- r K tlC ’i Pu V llc Patronage was dey J l ' and tbe big barracks were hardly large enough to accommodate the crowds which flocked to the show, and t^ 1 . 8 . II F ' s P lte °f the fact that the street adjoining was encroached upon with a Half S t Ve a ¥ ge eXtra s P ace - Half of Cashel street adjoining the barjacks was built over, and the manufacturers occupied large spaces with well set out stands. The success attending the shows these past two years would justify hon > f lal^r^ ent -In kil l® for a pevmaneut home. Waikouaiti had a field day in the cheese classes at the show, with Omimi and Edendale filling the places.

BUYERS AFTER STORE SHEEP. HrnUc 17 i tlle Week of holida y in stock circles sales were resumed this week, and a ? some of the country auctions and at Addington there wasa very fair selection of sheep available. Weather conditions have been very favourable on the whole for the stock owner. Most paddocks show a bite of feed. No doubt this had the effect ot making the buyers as keen as they were. On Tuesday at the Rangiora sale there was an entry of half a dozen pens of servmeable breeding ewes, and they certainly sold well The prices there were, if anything, a little better than at Addington on the following day, and there was very little sold at the larger yards that seemed cheap. At the northern centre there was one Den of three-quarter-bred ewes, which brought 445, and they were full-mouthed mostly, but a good class. Another pen which went to 40s were not the sort which most men would have guaranteed sound, and they were also strong-woolled eyes. Prices at Addington were very similar on the following day.* A pen of ewes, sold on account of Mr J. Boag (Brookside) made 43s 6d. They were Romney cross, and had been purchased back m the autumn for a few pence under £1 oui' of a North Island consignment. With plenty of bloom, and haying the appearance of every one being in lamb, they were not dear compared with some of the sales made at Rangiora the previous day. A good fleece, prospects of an excellent lambing, with condition that suggested that they would go away fat soon after weaning, made them look reasonably priced in view' of prices ruling to-day. There are plenty of buyers for goodclass hoggets at the present time, though some vendors are asking big money for

their lines. Rather plain crossbred wether hoggets were bringing better than 25s on Wednesday, and there was a spirited demand for most of the ewe hoggets. One pen of Corriedale ewe hoggets did not sell at auction, though the salesman did his best with them. They were strong in the wool, some of the fleeces looked like being below a 52, and were decidedly small, yet some vendor wanted at least 36s for them. A pen of fine crossbred ewe hoggets, which were well grown, made the good price of 38s. Prices were very satisfactory for hoggets. Not many lots of wethers were available, but one draft of halfbreds from ” The Brothers ” Estate sold at 35s 6d. They ivere good woolled sheep in fair condition, and were sound on their feet, which a good many of the wethers offering were not. Foot rot has been much more troublesome in Canterbury this past few months than for many years past.

FORWARD DELIVERY BUSINESS. Not a great deal of business is taking place in connection with the forward buying of sheep, and this is not altogether regrettable. This class of speculation has put more dealers and farmers out of business than bad crops have, and the tendency is for the mercantile firms not to encourage it unless they are dealing with clients well able to stand a fairly hard knock, and there have been hard knocks to take in the past three years. A sale was made lately of a draft of lambs off good country at 25s with a good rejection .margin. Round £1 a head is a common price for wether lines, with some off harder country running down to 18s. Vendors are asking very high prices for twotoothed halfbred ewes off the shears, but here again the volume of business is small yet. PLENTIFUL SUPPLIES FOR BUTCHERS. After the double market of the preN ational Week it is not unusual for the sale after the holidays to be neglected by Vendors of fat stock, but the fact that there is a large quantity of good fat stock available in the province was evidenced by the very large entry of both beef and mutton. The mutton sale was very large, and the prices just a little easier, the butchers being influenced by the fact that the auction in Sydney on Monday was not altogether buoyant, and the sale for skins will probably feel the effect. From the meagre cabled reports to hand it does not appear that there is any ground for pessimism.

Some good pens of wethers were sold, and as an indication of the market it may be mentioned that one pen of good North Island wethers, which were passed by a salesman at 50s lOd at the preceding sale, were sold for a shilling a head less. A pen of five wethers sold on account of Kingsbury’s Estate (Rakaia) sold at 545. Some quite well-grown spring lambs were sold, and the highest price was 50s. In another pen there were lambs, which sold at 43s 4d and 41s 6d;- which weighed 561 b live weight. SOUND DEMAND FOR BEEF. There was no movement backward in the beef pens, the fat cattle offering bringing very good value. Some excellent averages were the order of the day, and some really good cattle were forward from the North Island. Supplies from Otago and the West Coast also assisted the market. Mr J. Scott, S. Canterbury, sold 5 steers at £22 17s 6d to £23 12s 6d, and another fine, line of seven, on account of the estate of the late Mr J. F. Buchanan (Little River), made from £22 17s 6d to £23 2s 6d. Another line in the over £2O- class was 12 sold on account of Mr H. B. S. Johnstone (Otaio), which sold at from £2O 7s 6d to £22 7s 6d. -The line of 49 steers from Hawke’s Bay, previously mentioned, made the excellent average of £2O Ils a head. For 19 of the best of them the prices ranged fron.

£2l 17s 6d to £25 17s 6d. It was a day of very good figures for beef, in spite of the fact that 560 were penned.