THE FARM.

Timaru Herald, Issue 170296, 14 August 1920, Page 11

THE FARM.

NOTES BY "KORADI."

A HEAVY RAIN.

After a run of exceptionally good weather for th!e ••winter season, when the conditions on the farm were dry and comfortable, we now have to experience dampness and some mud at gateways and where animals congregate. It is a change that takes some getting used to, but it is one that was necessary all the same. If the dry weather had continued much longer we would have been in trouble when thq drying winds that usually come in the spring months arrived. The subsoil has now had a soaking; the water courses are running full, and tlie land is ready to meet the dry spell later on when it conies. The rain was exceptionally heavy while it lasted. Three inches fell on Saturday and Sunday, mostly on Sunday, wiien for fully twenty-four hours the rain simply poured down. Inland there wag fortunately no snow except on the ranges, and there it will' do little harm just now. It is better to get the rain at the present time instead of later on, say during the middle of next month when the lambing will be on. A good deal of spring wheat was sown during the latter end of July, but there is still time for putting it in, and it is to ba hoped that the weather will now continue fine in order that this may be done this month. Oats can be put in later on, but if possible all the wheat should be in this month. The autumn crops are looking very well indeed. Some of them are too rank for the time of the year, and will have to be fed down when the land is dry enough. Eowever it is a good sign to see the crops so forward ,and the prospects for a good harvest are favourable up to the present. Stubble and turnips and rape land was too wet to touch during most of the week, biit lea land was in nice order for ploughing. Of course the drill had to be stopped, and it is desirable to let the land get fairly dry again before the work is proceeded with. Some of the paddocks that were worked down very fine have scoured a little, but might have been worse, as the rain was very heavy at times. If nor'-westers should happen ialon<r some of the cropped ground woxild become caked after the wetting it lias liad, but so far the winds show no signs of paying us a visit. If the land dries gradually not much harm will be done.

The stock weathered the wet time very well indeed. The rain being heavy did not make the turnip paddocks very muddy. When "drizzly weather obtains for some time without intermission the turnip breaks got in a far muddier condition than they do "'hen the rain falls quickly and then gives place to fine weather. The turnips are holding out _well, hut it is reported in some districts they will he nil needed before the grass comes away. Those who thought that they would have some to plough in find that they ""ill want them all before, the spring fully arrives. In any case it is as well to keep the grass paddocks clear of stock as long as' possible. Indeed some of the ewes may "be lambed on the turnips if necessary. One sees some lambs-even now among ewes on tnrnips, and they seem to, be getting on quite well. While the teams cannot get on the land a good chance is afforded for getting some shingle carted around the' sheds and yards. Other jobs too can be tackled which are always put off till the teams are available—jobs that are never done if more important work is possible. Horses are mounting up in price every week, showing. that thev are scayce and that more team work is being done than was the case during the war. That is a good sign, ns there is any quantity of land that needs renewing. The big prices that are being paid for agricultural land make it imperative that the most must be got out of it, and that is about the best that can be said about inflated values. ARMOURS. The controversy concerning the refusal of the Government to grant a license to Armour and Co., still goes 011 is likely to continue for some time. Ihere appears to be a great divergence of opinion regarding the matter, and it is noteworthy that one big representative body of the producers—the feheepowners' Federation—takes up one line, while another—the Farmers' —^ a^es opposite view. Possibly there are men in both combinations of producers who are in opposition to the expressed opinion of their organisations as a whole, but the majority of the members in one organisation takes the opposite view to the majority on the other.-' It is a pity, perhaps, that such should be the case, but on .the other hand it shows that there 19 plenty of room for difference 01 opinion. Each body can claim that is represents meat producers, the •j-neepowners' Union from its very name may lay claim to represent the pastoral interests more than the Farmers' Union, but after all the great body of farmers are breeders or, fatteners of sheep, or both. It is true that for a long time we have been urging the Government to keep out the Meat Trust. A big scare lias been worked up concerning the maicnmations of the Trust, and even now it is agreed that the Trust must' "be watched, even by those who favour our meat being given every ' chance of reaching America. But circumstances u ' Ci }? es - r e had a bigger scare a/ short time ago when we saw that the commandeer was going to end with.millions of carcases of old meat in our stores and with congested stores and markets at Home. The ' Government ' ? aS j " u l l 'B € d to get the commandeer .extended, and all sorts of gloomy predictions were made as to what was going to happen when our new. meat reached Home' in competition with the old stuff held by the Imperial Government. Indeed it was stated that we could not get aiiy quantity of our meat ajvay at all while the Imperial Government had carcases to lift, and it was understood that the Home authorities ..had., the light to get tli£ir holdings away first. . bad was the feeling, regarding the situation that Mr Massey expressed b®hef that the Government ought help producers here over the stile. All that - has altered during the: last month qr so. Much of our lamb has been sent to America. An. enterprisi ing newspaper came to the rescue,' as it were, got some shipments of lamb over and then boomed.it in true American style. The lamb apparently dicl not need outside booming for long. It made a name for itself, and now the ; Americans want more. Well, surely it would be a mistake not to let them have jt. They are prepared to. pay, a good price for it, and so confident' have purchasers here become in view of the altered state of affairs, that forward . buying has already commenced, j But the. Fanners' Unioii is still ad--1 hering- to the principle of keeping the American Trust out, at all costs. On the other hand the Sheep-owners' Federation has evidently looked at the expediency side of the matter and it says in effect: "Let our meat go where purchasers for it can be found.- There is a big surplus in the country and .the sooner it is out of the way the better, and the more buyers there are for our meat in the future the bigger chance there will be of disposing of it at goodrates." No doubt Armours were not slow to seize the fact that we were grateful to America for taking some of our lamb, and they are striking while the iron is hot. There is an excellent market evidently in America for our meat, and it seems to be only common sense to allow it to go there. The position at Home is not a good one, and no one knows wlir-n old-time conditions will- prevail there. . If Ar-

mours want our meat, and they say they do, they will probably get it someliow or other, and in the getting of it some ao-between will get a cut out of it. It is one o£ the most difficult things in the world to prevent the Trust getting our meat. There are so many .channels through which it can be procured, while we are content to allow it to leave our hands when it goes into the freezing works. _ We have absolutely 110 control of it afterwards, and it would appear that if we are to have a voice in its ultimate.disposal we must maintain some sort of control over it right from the farm to the consumer. It we are to have this control we should have allowed the late Mr R. J. Seddon to carry out his ideal of State meat shops in London. However, we allowed that scheme to fall through, and that being so, we do not want to reduce the number of competitors for our meat, especially at this juncture. We have power to refuse an export license at any time, should Armours or anyone else require to have their wings clipped, the power is there to allow us to do it. In any case, so long as the freezing works are in our own hands there is. little to fear. Armours own none of them. I* may be claimed that when we grant them power to deal in the country we cannot refuse to allow them to erect their own freezing factories and stores, but as soon as they show signs of becoming an absolute monopoly we can deal with them if we so - desire. In the meantime why pass a good customer over? Wc need not sell to them if we do not care to do so, and the works are always open to the farmer to put his sheep into on his own account, if he is not getting what he regards as justice in the markets here.