NOTES FOR FARMERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6065, 31 December 1897, Page 1

NOTES FOR FARMERS.

m — The condition of the crops has certainly not changed for the worse during the last few days. The rain on Dec. 16 caused, in the later crops, a remarkable growth, the straw having shot up from six or eight inches to quite eighteen inches high, and though the straw is thin, it will be a welcome addition to the store of provender in what promises to be a season of great scarcity. Grass, turnips and rape also benefited greatly by the rain, and received further good from the fine downpour of Sunday and Monday. In South Canterbury and North Otago, including the interior, the crops have greatly improved during the month, and in some localities an abundant harvest iR anticipated. Further south the crops generally look splendid. In fact, total failure of crops is confined to the lower part of the Canterbury plains and some of the earliest and driest parts of North Otago. The Associated Millers of Sydney hare fixed the price of 4s per bushel for new season's wheat, Darling Harbour delivery. Breadstuffs prices in Sydney are : — Leading roller brands of flour, JSII 10s, new .£11 ; New Zealand, -£'10 15s to .£11 ; Manitoba, red, ,£l2 15s, blue, .£l3 5s on spot. Old wheat is worth 4s 4d to 4s 5d per bushel, Darling Harbour delivery, and new, association price, 4s ; prime samples realised to 4s 3d. Country millers, however, have been purchasing freely at far above Sydney parity, and if the Sydney millers want wheat they will have to extend their limit. The compressed fodder consignment sent to England by the Australian Compressed Fodder Company, of Melbourne, for the purpose of having it tested in the mounted branches of the British army, has been reported upon by the QuartermasterGeneral. This officer states that a trial of the forage was made at Woolwich, the daily ration per horse being 181 b of the compressed fodder and 41b of oats. The fodder was sweet and clean, and the animals ate it with relish,-but the quantity used was not sufficient to enable a full test to be made of the effect on the condition of the horses if they were fed on ib continuously. The fodder has been recorded at the War Office, so that orders may be given to supply it should the necessity arise. As inquiries for fodder have already reached New Zealand from Australia, it is unlikely that the test in England will bear fruit this season. After all the outcry about tuberculosis among Taranaki cattle, and the agitation that has been going on in the southern part of the province for compensation, it is sompwhat astonishing to find what a very small percentage of cattle have been detroyed. The Herald states that during the past six months the total number of all ages destroyed by the inspector, Mr Orbell, was 485 out of a total of 201,518 head in the provincial district, or 0"24 per cent, less than lin 400. It is a pity, though, that Parliament has not been able to deal with the matter of compensation in some way. The sum involved would, it will be seen, be b\it small, although in individual cases the loss of cattle is sometimes severely felt. Possibly the best and fairest way of dealing with the question would be by a system of insurance; a premium of a single penny per head on all the cattle in the district would pay fair compensation for all that are destroyed by the Inspector's orders. Such a system would also greatly assiet in stamping out the disease. It may be added to the remarks of the Herald that the young cattle (under three years) destroyed number only 90, out of between 700 and j 800 destroyed in all parts of the colony, and of these the greater number were calves. There is, therefore, very little ground for the clamour about the destruction of young stock. A project is afoot to convert the business of two bacon-cuiers in Wellington and Wairarapa into a co-operative concern, to operate from Wellington to Napier on the one side, and Wanganui on- the West Coast, and probably also include Blenheim and Nelson. Mr Max Rown, of the Rhea Fibre Treatment Syndicate, is visiting Australia. His object is to encourage the cultivation of rhea, or ramie, on a large scale, as one of the finest fibres known. Mr Rown will shortly visit New Zealand on a similar mission. The profit on the Royal Show at Manchester, last June, was ,£4900. This has only been exceeded on two occasions, namely, at Manchester in 1869, when the profit was ,£9153, and at York in 1883. when the amount was -65190. The Highland and Agricultural Society's show"at Glasgow last summer returned a credit balance of .£2017. The epidemic of typhoid fe,ver at Maidstone, of which the cable brought news has been a .sad matter for the old .Kentish town. The Royal Agricultural Society's show next year was to be held there, but so many families are in mourning and the uncertainty regarding a water supply is so great that the Mayor has requested the Society to defer the visit to Maidstone until 1899. This the Society has agreed to. Birmingham, amongst other centres, is in the field for the 1898 show. Under the new tariff in the United States all animals imported for breeding purposes will continue to be admitted free of duty, no change having been made in the existing- statute. The provision reads as follows :— " Any animal imported specially for breeding purposes shall be admitted free, provided thuc no such animal shaU be admitted free unless pure-bred of a recognised breed, and duly registered in the book of. record established for that breed ; and provided, further, that coi-tifi-cato of such record and of the pedigree of sueh 1 animal shall be produced' and'submitted to ; the Customs officer, duly authenticated by the proper custodian of such, book of record, together with the affidavit of the owner, agent, or importer that such animal is the identical animal."