THE FARM.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15113, 23 December 1921, Page 8

THE FARM.

NOTES AND NEWS. j A reader has forwarded a Bendigo paper that gives an interesting sidelight on farms and farming in Victoria. Here are two advertisements: Situated about five miles from Bendigo, 52 acres, all irrigable from water-race, five acres timber, four acres lucerne, just planted, balance grazing and cultivation land; splen-didly-built w.b. seven-roomed house, including all necessary outbuildings; handy to school, store, etc. Price, £750." Situated about 16 miles from Bendigo, 511 acres, handy to .railway siding; splendid carrying sheep-graz-ing country, subdivided by wire netting, fencing; four-roomed w.b. house and outbuildings. Price, £3 12/6 per acre. In the commercial columns are the following prices : —■ Ham. —Loose, 1/8; bagged, 1/10. Honey and Beeswax. Honey, prime 4d to 4id, occasionally sd; beeswax, 2/-. Cheese. —New, medium, 7d; loaf, 7-:>d; semi-matured, medium, 1/2; loaf, 1/22 to 1/3. . Lard.—Bulk,.9Jd; packets, lOd. Bacon. —Ordinary sides, 1/5; middle, 1/3;' jackets, 1/5; shoulders, 1/1. Eggs. —New-laid, up to 1/3; other grades, 1/- upwards. Butter. —Wholesale, choicest, £6 10/8 to £6 13/-, up to £6 16/- per cwt; retail, bulk, 1/6, prints 1/7. A cattle sale is reported as follows: —Altogether 703 were yarded. Only eight pens of stores were included, tlie balance being trade quality. All descriptions were well represented. There was the usual attendance. Values were again lower, especially for heavy-weight bullocks and cows. The store market, which comprised practically all poddies, remained about the same as last Tuesday. Quotations: Prime bullocks, £8 10/to £11; good bullocks, £6 10/- to £7 10/-; useful bullocks, £5 to £6; prime cows and heifers, £6 to £7; good do., £4 10/- to £5; useful do., £3 to £4. In the Melbourne column is the following:— Eat Sheep.—23,9lo penned. The quality was about on a par with that of Friday. There was only a moderate attendance, and competition was without animation, values generally being lower. Quotations: Prime quality crossbred wethers, 13/- to 14/6; extra, to 16/5; good, to 12/-. Prime crossbred ewes, 12/- to 13/-; good to 11/-. Prime merino wethers, 13/- to 14/10; good, to 11/-. Prime merino ewes, to 9/1. Fat Lambs.—l3,l7o entered. The' demand was irregular, and values for the greater part of the day were about equal to last Friday. Quotations: Prime lambs, 13/- to 15/-; extra, to. 16/7; good, to 12/-.

An example of the great disadvantage at which the primary producer is set in commerce to-day is given by a Waikato farmer, Mr S. H. Judd, of Maungatautiri. He points out that before the war, a prime fat bullock of an average weight, say, of 7001 b, was worth about £B, or the value of two tons of superphosphate, the popular everyday manure, which is. practically an essential —and a most important one —on nearly every Waikato farm for maintaining the pastures in good heart by top-dress-ing and for cropping. Twelve months ago, such a bullock would have been worth up to £2O, or two and a half tons of super at the then ruling price j but now, according to values at the last Cambridge stock sale, a fat bullock was worth only £4 to £5, or the equivalent of the price of half a ton of superj so that where a unit of the fanners' produce in the form of the fat bullock was Avorth at least two units of one of his necessities, in the form of the super, in past years it was now worth only a quarter of its previous value in terms of that commodity. .The number of calves sent forward for inoculation by officers of' the Live Stock Division in the blackleg area has. decreased steadily during the past few years (says the Agricultural Journal), indicating that fewer calves are being kept for raising than formerly. The numbers inoculated in the year ended March 31, 1921, were as follow, the previous year's numbers being given in brackets: Auckland, 56,944 (98,500); Taranaki, 40,630 (45,667).