RURAL TOPICS

Waikato Argus, Volume XV, Issue 6043, 17 September 1903, Page 4

RURAL TOPICS

A SHEEP-FARMER in Perthshire, the owner of a fine collie dog, was visited by a gentleman who took a fancy to the animal. He offered many pounds for the dog, and bought him. Afterwards the gentlemau asked the farmer if it would not be more profitable to breed such dogs instead of sheep. ' No, no,' said the farmer ; ' I cau ayo get merchants to buy my sheep, but I canna aye get fools to buy dogs.' Of late years more attention has been paid by farmers to the breeding of pigs. Farmers are beginning to find that the ' gintlement that pays the rint ' is now of some considerable value to a farm. The excellent specimens of the various breeds of pigs exhibited at recent shows by outside exhibitors have been the means of farmers improving their breed of pigs by purchasing purebreds of the right kind. The class of pigs shown now by local exhibitors at shows are considerbly better than of former years. Undoubtedly there is a great future in store for pigs breeders in the Wairarapa and it behoves them to breed nothing but the best. The settlers in the Eketahuna district have of late poid more attention to pig rearing an'd this year contemplate,so we are informed, going in for it on a much more extensive scale than iu former years.—Wairarapa Age. The cause of the drift of the population to the towns is not dear land, nor is the advance in thejprice of land in this colony caused by monopoly, but by its greater productive use and the increased profits obtainable from it as a consequence of the development of the freezing process, which has enabled the dairying and meat producing industries to flourish. If it wore possible to suddenly stop the working of the freezing machinery, so that the produce of these industries could not be marketed, what would be the value of the country land in .New Zealand 1 The cause of the drift to the towns is mainly because the farmer is foolish enough to let a large number or organised idlers live in the towns at his expense, as he tamely submits to heavy restrictive duties on all supplies, which raise the cost of living, restrain commerce, and lead to loss of revenue, which has to bo made up by direct taxation of tho land.—Kangitikei Advocate.

At a lecture in Timaru a few days ago, Mr J. A. Gilruth gave farmers

a few hints on the fattening of lambs. By lambs, be said be did not mean hoggets, as so many farmers did when they spoke of lambs. It was all very well to fatten hoggets and call them lambs, but what he would recommend them to,do was to fatten lambs off the ewe and sell them before they reached the critical period, and before the autumn feed was done. He believed it would pay much better than the present system. What he would suggest was a system somewhat after this style : Sow one-half of a paddock down in rape or other succulent food, and the other half in grass, dividing the rape from the grass with hurdles. After the lambs had got used to the rape, and when they were about six weeks old, turn ewes and lambs on to the grass, leaving the hurdles open so that only the lambs could get through to the rape. The lambß would then have drink and feed to their hearts' conient, and when full would lie down to sleep and fatten. The ewes would have enough grass to provide the necessary milk, and the rape would not be wasted, the lambs getting the full benefit of it. Lambs would fatten very quickl yin this way, and he believed they would realise much more than at present. It is painful (writes a correspondent to a Southern journal) to see the carelessness of stockowners in regard to abortion, both in ewes and cows. Many owners still maintain that it is not infectious, but tbey should remember that you sel dom if ever see a solitary case in either flock or herd. If thero is one case it is almost a certainty that there will be more. Some argue that it is due to the season, or that the owner has been feeding on turnips, or something else. I don't think there is any ground for either assertion ; but one thing is certain that it is infectious, so every owner of sheep, or shepherd, should be on the watch, and destroy at once, either by burying very deep, or preferably burning, every trace of anything having taken place. A better plan still, if a small paddock is available, is to shift all the ewes that are still to lamb into another paddock, In a large paddock in rough country it is hardly possible to see every sheep that is in trouble within aD hour \ then the danger is still greater, so there is the more need to take stringent measures to save lives. Sheep are becoming of &uch value—l may nearly say of unprecedented value—that a farmer can well afford to employ someone to help him at lambing time—that is, if he can get help calculated to be of any use. If I wanted anyone arj the present moment for such work I do not know where I could find him, for the ignorance of the ordinary colonial youth is lamentable. Ihey are clever enough in working sheep in yards and driving them about ; but when it comes to special care of valuable sheep at lambing time, such as getting a lot of young lambs into shelter when there is the appearance of a storm coming on, they have not got the patience to undertake the work. I suppose one reason why colonials are so careless is that sheep have seldom been of much value in comparison to what they are in the Homeland. Even men that have been brought up as shepherds at home become quite as careless as the Colonial, I