AGRICULTURAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13840, 27 February 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

AGRICULTURAL.

So "rcat is the science of agriculture that what a, man can do with land is limited only by what he knows. The farmer can make his farm into almost anything he chooses. He can be improvident, and permit it to run down bv constantly taking from it, and putting back nothing, or he can make it more and more productive by always, putting into his land a little more than he takes off.. Some of the best farms, in the world are.in countries that have, been farmed the longest, such as Belgium and Holland. This shows that it is the man that counts more than anything else. /.Were it not so, these now fertile " countries would have become' desolate long ago. Remarkable advance is being made in the gathering of nitrogen direct from the air! Several powerful companies-in Norway have built immense dams acress some of. the-snowfed rivers of that country, and have developed immense, water 'powers. This power is used for the making of electricity to be used in the capturing of the nitrogen of the air. The electricity is passed through great metal plates in a furnace, and the cm-rent, of air that passes through., the space between the plates is heated to a vCry high temperature. It yields up its nitrogen, which is deposited in a. form that has to be passed over free lime to fix it. The lime over which it is passed absorbs it, and in this form it is sold-under the name of lime nitrogen. This lime nitrogen is used for a Fertilizer,'and takes the place of nitrate of soaa. The production is now many, thousands of tons per year for each of the large factories. So great is the value of this lime-nitrogen for agri-. cultural purposes that companies are being formed in many countries to take "advantage of the existence ot great water power, and build factories for the manufacture of this product. The result is sure to be revolutionary. The water power going to waste in all parts of the world is beyond human calculation, and the supply of power possible of utilisation is without limit.

THE OUTLOOK. "Oris" the agricultural contributor to the " Canterbury -A. and P.A. Journal," has the following in Ins article for February:— " <Yt the present moment things are looking decidedly better for the sheep industry than.was the case a year ago. According to all accounts the.last lambing was an exceptionally good one. There is no way of arrriving at the exact percentage, but it was probably one of the best lambings we have ever had, and lambs generally have done well so far; There are, consequeutly, plenty of lambs in the country, and the practical certainty of plenty of feed to fatten them. With reasonably favourable weather from this forward the "freezing works will be kept busy. The Home market for lamb appears to be none too bouyant at present, still there seems a prospect of a good demand for all the lambs that can be fattened at a price which will be fairly profitable, to the farmer. It seems now an established fact that the Britsh population can consume n\\ the lambs that we can grow and although the Australian output of lamb has grown considerably, we do not appear to be threatened with any very serious competition. South America 'mutton is overtaking ours in the matter of quality, but the export of lamb from the Argentine has grown so slowly that it is evident that lambs cannot be advantageously fattened in that country. It -therefore behoves our farmers to "export their surplus in the shape of lambs as far as possible. There is more profit in lamb than in mutton. With regard to the. wool market it is needless to say that matters have improved considerably, though in respect to the bulk of cross-bred wool there is still plenty of room for improvement in the price. The finer classes of .wool have, readied a very respectable price again, but the prices realised for the bulk of the cross-bred clip, have not had such an exhilarating effect upon the spirits of producers as the newspapers would have us believe. Br journalists do not, as a rule, grow wool. A 15 to 20 per cent, rise looks uncommonly well in print, but when the rise begins on a basis of srl or 6d a pound, even an increase of 20 per cent, does not bring it up to a very high figure. Nevertheless, the rise that has taken place '-mean's a, good deal in the total on a clip from, over 20,000,000 sheep. It will doubtless do a good deal towards relieving the financial stringency that has existed during the past year. Possibly the prices, going up at present may represent somewhere about the average of what we may expect for cross-bred wool, taking one. year with another. Tlie statistical position, howeyer, is undoubtedly strong. The sheep stock of the world is decreasing, and wool is an article which civilised people must have. Tlie decrease in the number of sheep in some countries of Europo has heen so great that there appears to be a possibility of Continental markets being thrown open to frozen meat, and if such a thing happens it will mean that our sheep industry will be established oa a. firmer basis than ever. .. , ' ■ The returns for this season show that the acreage Under wheat shows a very, substantial increase. This, together with the heavy crops - which are to be seen all over the country, at once disposes of the cry that farmers are not growing enough wheat to feed our own population. . . . It is sincerely to be hoped that the weather during the'harvest will'be sufficiently, favourable to enable'the grain to be ?got into stack iii good exportable condition, for if our farmers should be so unfortunate as to find themselves with a large quantity of damaged wheat on hand, it would go far towards discounting the bright hopes that have ■ been indulged in for the coming year. A wheat grower can never feel sure of his profits till he has the money actually in his pocket. It is this precarious element in connection with wheat growing whicli induces the farmers to fight shy of it in times when sheep are paying unusually well, it is evident how-ever,-that a reduction of sheep profitstogether with a. : goorl price going - for wheat, loads at once to an expansion in thei area devoted to the. production of wheat. AVhen there is a prospect of fairly payable prices ahead our farmers arc quite willing to take all the risks involved, and to grow not only enough wheat to feed the population of -the Dominion, but a great deal more. Those of our politicians who are so short sighted, on the strength of a very temporary shortage, as to advocate taking the duty off wheat and flour,-should make a note of this fact. It seems to be an economical fact that the value of the exportable surplus and the question therefore arises; what is the value of our exportable surplus likelv to be during the coming season? The'price in the English market is" fairlv good at the present time, but deducting the freight and other expenses involved in the cost of export, it does not appear likely to leave more than a very moderate price to the «rower However, providing that the "i-ain is harvested in good condition, it is probable that there will'be no difficulty in disposing of the surplus. Tt is to be feared that the prospects of the oat market arc not at all bright, »nd our farmers arc likely to hud -them-

selves in a. position that they have not experienced for a good many years past. There is every probability of a large surplus over and above the ordinary consumption, and no outside market to fall back upon. The increase oft area under oats it not strikingly large, but the yield will be very heavy as compared with the last two years. With a smaller acerage, and much lighter yield there appears to be a. considerable surplus of last year's oats left on hand, and it will "be a serious : question as to how the surplus is to be :disposed; 'of.:. ■'■•' Something unexpected ;may. turn up, but there is no profitable i outside market in - view at present. The South African market has failed us completely; we are blocked out of Australia by heavy duties, and what 'prospect does the English market Offer 'for oats? It is true that a heavy crop can be grown at less expense per bushel than a light one, but when the price .falls below eighteen pence a bushel the profit begins to vanish rapidly. There is "the possibility of' converting a portion of the surplus into mutton and fat lamb; but that is a course to which farmers are usually very much adverse, however cheap oats may be, unless feed of other kinds is very scarce. It is a long time since May oats have been fed to sheep, for of iate years whenever feed has been scarce,' oats have been a good price, and most growers of oats prefer a direct to an indirect profit, but when there is no direct profit to-be. had, a profit; ".'. obtained by ■• indirect means is more likely to commend itself. There is a large number of sheep and; lambs ■ in tlie country to •be "■ fattened this season, and however good the rape and turnip crops may be, if each sheep and lamb were supplied with a small quantity of oats per head in addition to the green food they would keep better in health' and go on to-the works heavier in weight and in firmer condition, and it would not take a large quantity of oats per head to relieve the congestion of the oat market to an appreciable extent.^

THE FROZEN BIEAT TRADE. The following arc some further remarks on his observations in the Manchester meat markets. , "The principal live stock market for ''■ Manchester is at Salforrl, and is held weekly. The general yarding is 3000 cattle',.-7000-sheep, 200 calves, and a few pigs. The small yarding of pigs is accounted for .by the fact that there is another good market for them. In conversation" with live stock dealers at the Salford cattle market, they one and all condemned New Zealand sheep and lambs. This I take as only natural from them. Talking to a stock salesman on this market about the quality of lambs and sheep* and remarking .on the great number of inferior stock on offer, he said that nothing but paper meat goes down there, meaning only thin meat. He said that New Zealand meat was too good, that there was a great prejudice against it, and that the public would rarther have inferior . fresh meat than New Zealand frozen. There is an opinion among the better class salesmen that it is disgraceful that the authorities should allow' such rubbishy thin stuff to be slaughtered, as comes into this market. Another stock salesman said the live stock markets were not _ so good as formerly. The good old fashioned butchers, -who knew their trade and could value' stock, were being replaced by shop butchers who cannot judge live stock, an 'dwho go for their supplies to the dead meat market and buy at per lb. He said that a lot of lambs and sheep, thin and poor in quality, cbmes to tins', market, and, being wanted, sells readily. Very good quality is nn.t much sought-after.. In, addition to the Welsh and Irish lambs and sheep, there are thousands of Iceland lambs sold on ;.thjs market at certain seasons. There : is a general opinion that more inferior stock come to this market than to any other in the kingdom, the reason being that there is a demand for this class of meat.

"Whilst quietly walking about the market, I was very forcibly struck with the great number of very poor, rough and coarse lambs and sheep on offer, such stuff as would not killed in New Zealand for consumption. a The BJacked-faced Scotch were a very coarse lot, the wool being more like hair. There was also a number of what I call Welsh,'rats,' which could not possibly weigh more than 241b. to 271b dressed weights, yet I was told there was good sale for them. "From my general observation, I am of opinion that good fat sheep and lainbs are not wanted in any great numbers. The question is: ' Can this district do with the best New Zealand lambs and sheep, and will the demand continue for second quality? Can a 'demand .for the best New Zealand lambs be created amongst the betterclass butchers?' My answer is ' Yes, and I will suggest how this cau he done.

"There are districts around cities and large towns, populated by people whose incomes arc from £l5O to £4OO or more per annum-; and among these I consider thq frozen lamb trade is capabje of great expansion. With this object in view I would recommend that a well written illustrated pamphlet, in book form dealing with particulars of breeding, feeding, • killing, .shipping, etc., should be judiciously distributed in selected localities, and after this I feel sure the inquiry would be so great as to compel the frqsh meat butchers, in self defence', to stock it, so as to keep the companies' shops from opening and taking away their business. As this is a rather large order for any one firm to undertake, I would suggest something, on the folio wing, lines: —The freezing companies, dealers in meat, Agricultural and Pastoral Associations, Farmers' Unions, and other bodies in. New Zealand, with perhaps some of the various organisations-in England trad—iug: in New Zealand meat, should bo asked to subscribe to a common fund for tlie production of a pamphlet such as 1 have suggested, and the New Zealand Government should bo -asked to subsidise the amount subscribed,, or the dominion might print the; publication.