FARM CHAT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 364, 10 April 1915, Page 2

FARM CHAT.

The homestead block of the Greenhills Estate, consisting of 4900 acres, has been sold by the owner, Mr "W. S. Cole, to Mr H. Snuehell, of Clyde vale. Tho moat engrossing matter with the farming community is stuTthe scarcity of freezing space. The offices of the freezing companies are besieged with enquiries as tp.when space can be reserved, and apparently they nro booked right up. Conferences and deputations are very well in their way, but what is wanted is ships, and they cannot be conjured up out of nowhere. Undoubtedly someone is receiving a good cut out of the farmer, as there is a wide disparity between. the present day market price of lamb and what the schedule price set up by the Government would run out at.

There are indications that the freezing season will be a short one, as lambs are rapidly going off, and the! frosts have cut the rape off. Turnips,; especially the later crops, have done! fairly' well, but the dry weather experienced in the past eight weeks lias left most; farmers remarkably short of -winter feed, and the prospects for those who are heavily stocked are hardly b : right. At the last Wellington wool sale 17 bales of ; wool sent forward byMessrs Condon Bros., of South Westland, brought the astounding price of 17£ d per lb, something of a record for the Dominion for .greasy wool. Mahitahi is 133 miles south of' Hokitijka, below the Fox Glacier, and this wool is shipped from Bruce Bay. The flocks are of a somewhat mixed character, but Messrs Condon have specially striven to improve their flock by means of using the best rams procurable. Dairying is carried oh in the various settlements as far. south as Wataroa, 70 miles below Hokitika. Great expansion is going on, and the conditions of farming are being rapidly improved." Most of the land was originally under bush, and there yet remains a fair area to come in for settlement. The f only drawback is that the climate, being a wet one, the bush is somewhat difficult to burn successfully,. and if left for a second summer the second growth comes rather quickly.' Undoubtedly lit is great cattle country, the beef produced being the mainstay of the country until recently, when sheep have been more generally adopted.. Some of the biggest lambs seen in Addington this year came from the West Coast. The completion of the Otira tunnel and consequent linking up of the two railway systems will do much for the improvement of farming on the West Coast. The wet climate is no doubt responsible to some extent for the high price realised. Coast wool is scoured to some extent by the heavy rains, but is left bright and lustrous.

The sale of store sheep at Addington on Wednesday last .was somewhat disastrous, and must have been specially so for many North Island dealers who have had sheep travelling the roads for the past few weeks, and upon wHieh the freight charges, etc., .must be ! heavy. Values dropped below what they have been for | some x years. Tho yarding, taken as & ; whole, consisted of very inferior she'ep," biit ewes that in ; an ordinary season, would have been eagerly snapped up ■: at;, /from 8/- to IQ/- per head, went at 1 ;beici\y their boiling' down value. This was simply because they could not be held any longer, j

The cause is due to climatic: conditions and in some degree to the shipping trouble, as many Plains farmers have a considerable portion of their lambs still on hand, and consequently cannot stock up w h ewes. Dr Watson, of Bulls, recently \ landed from Jersey a very high quality young bull named The Owls Victor. He was,, a show winner en the Island, and does not appear to have suffered in his trip out, for he was an easy winner at the Feilding Show when only 14 days out of quarantine.