Rural Notes.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XVIII, Issue 2980, 7 October 1893, Page 3

Rural Notes.

The export of frozen meat from New Zealand for tbe first six months of the present year amounted to 64,943,0661 b. The Oamaru Mail states that the Govern ment have completed tbe purchase of 324 acres of Mr W. Meek’s property at Waiareka Valley. The land is the pick of the property, and is really fine reproductive land of the very best quality, well watered by natural springs of good water. The purchase price is £l4 10s acre. The purchase is undoubtedly a judicious one, and the land is well adapted for subdivision for the purposo of village settlement. A farmer in tbe Oamaru district gives the North Otago Times some information regarding the quality in some kinds of wheat to resist smut. Last season he had a paddock of wheat, a quantity of red chaff having been mixed by mistake with the velvet seed. The red chaff contracted smat freely, while the velvet was almost free. The crop as a whole was injured materially by tbe admixture of the red chaff, because it was apparent that had it not been there, there would have been little or no smut.

In Danmark, all cattle, sheep, and swine, are subjected to a rigid veteri narian examination before and after slaughter. After the carcase is prepared the veterinary officer on duty makes his examination, and decides how the meat is to be qualified, and stamps it accordingly. Meat is divided into two classes—first and second. The stamp is an ordinary metal stamp with a wooden handle, the colour used is specially prepared for the purpose, dries quickly, adheres well, and is only effaced with great difficulty. An important fodder-plant in the Canary Island is the tagasaste, which often grows to the height of 10ft. The plant is well known not to bear frost, but, on the other hand, it will probably bear considerable heat, and it on this account be suited for most tropical and sub-tropical countries with a friable soil. The tagasaste is readily eaten by domestio animals. Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs thrive on it. Farming operations on the West Coast are in a very backward state. Very little ploughing has been done, as tbe land would simply work up into a mass of mud. Some farmers are now trying to do a little ploughing, and oats will be the main erop this year, as it is already too late to prepare the land for wheat. The fruit trees look splendid this season, and a few of the best orchards are quite a picture. The heavy hail storms la9t week, and in the beginning of this, did some damage where the trees were much exposed, but generally the orchards have not suffered much by the weather. A great number of lambs have perished in the lower parts of tbe country. It is difficult to beat America in recordmaking. A correspondent of the American Shecpbreeder gives the following account of some large shearing tallies made in Mingußville, Montana : —“ The world’s record for rapid shearing was beaten at my shearing pens on Big Beaver, by two members of the Waddington-Oneal crew On May 28, Mr R. M. Marquis sheared 302 bead of large, thoroughly woolled ewes, and the following day his brother, Mr J Marquis, made the same record. In three days these two brothers sheared 1,414 abeep. This, I believe, lays over any known record, and until beaten they claim tbe world’s championship. The Waddiog-ton-Oneal crew of 10 men averaged 150 bead a day each, and their work for me was very satisfactory.”