FARM NOTES.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11491, 26 January 1903, Page 10

FARM NOTES.

"Weekly Press and Referee." A short time ago a mob of 706 store bullocks from Beaudesert and Buckingham Downs, Queensland, were sold at Muswellbrook, New South Wales, at an average price of £8 19s 5d per head. The bullocks were well grown, but in low condition. , The Bradford Ohamber of Commerce (writes the "Agricultural World"), having , taken umbrage at the alleged use of shoddy ! in that town, states that it is practically impossible to make use of any such material in the worsted trade, which is the only textile trade carried on in Bradford, and of which trade that city is, in fact, the centre. In the opinion of the Chamber of Commerce, the present low prices of English wools are due mainly to the largelyincreased quantities of foreign and colonial wools which were now available in the country, and, in some, measure, to the better "get-up" of those wools as compared with English wools. A number of gentlemen interested in the meat trade of Sydney and suburbs were present recently, says the "Sydney Mail," at the Government meat sheds, Pyrmont, by invitation of the Austral Freezing Company, Limited, to witness a display of defrosted New Zealand beef which was thawed under a simple process carried out by the aid of air-tight waterproof bags. The process witnessed left the beef clean and dry, and the difference between the frozen and recently killed meat was only observable to the expert. The experiments, which were carried out under the direction of Mr R. Farrell, were pronounced by members of the trade to have been of a highly successful character.

The Central Queensland Meat Export Company, Lake's Creek, last week landed here 250 tons of frozen beef and mutton from New Zealand (writes the Rockhampton correspondent of the "Queenslander"). The company has, however, plenty of cattle within six weeks of Rockhampton, and, as Moon as there is a bit of feed on the routes 'they have to travel, and the creeks have gone down, they will be brought here. That tiie company will be able to make a fresh start at the- works soon—a start, that 's, for export' purposes—is not so certain; but it is trying to make large purchases. Following what was the practice of the management just before the drought became so acute, it is endeavouring to buy up whole herds, the stock to be delivered as they are ready, and as they are wanted within twelve months or so. I know of one case in which 1000 head have been bought for delivery in three mouths, and the company is now negotiating with, the owner of the same property for the balance of his herd, numbering 2000. But owners, after the heavy losses they have had, are not- likely to dispose of the whole of tlieir cattle unkss they receive very tempting offers, especially in view of the expectation that a 'higher range of values must obtain, for some considerable time, probably for years.

The recent rains have already had their effect upon the market for etore sheep (says the Melbourne "Argus"). In many parts of Riverina feed is growing, though" slowly, and graziers who liave lost or sold nearly all their slieep are beginning to think about re-stocking. Already buyers from Riverma are trying to buy sheep in the western distrkt of Victoria. Breeding ewes, of course, are those mostly wanttKi, but hardly any one has ewes for sale, and those who can spare a few ewes ar<? asking very high prices for them. Whether those who want to stock up will be able to give the prices owners are asking for ewes is an interesting problem which time aione can decide. Even if tl» rains which have fallen should be followed by more and the drought thoroughly breaks, the problem of re-stocking is not going to be solved so easily as some people expect. Unexpected difficulties keep cropping up. One is that while everyone Jβ now anxiotas to join their rame with tneir ewes to ensure as early a- lambing as possible. Uμ imm «re. m mewr c«ee*. not u>

good enough condition to put to the A lambing much later than usual ie, there " fore, inevitable.- so that, however prolific th-? drop of lambs may be next year, tlie quantity of lambs' wool to be shorn <jannot be as great as it would have been had the ram? been in good condition aud joined witu the ewes at the usual time.

One of the- most noticeable facts in connection with the demand for English sheep in the United States during the past season has been the increased preference given for the Hampshire Downs. A correspondent from Chicago says this breed have met with a splendid -trade, which, whilst ii indicates that satisfaction has been given by previous results, also appears likely to secure still larger demand in the future from the fact that this breed has the advantage of being represented by excellent specimens. TheYotMvold demand has been srood. They have to some extent secured v portion of the ranch trade which ha.during the μ-ist seven or eight years been largely monopolised by the Lincoln*. The reason given for the return to CotswoW* i< that one of the large Canadian bieederhas ck-r.e the Lincoln's incalculable injury by shipping out to the Western rancinlime supposed to have been purebred Lm coins which were nothing better thai; scrubs or srvades. For the Oxford Down* tlis demand has been thoroughly good, and the Shropshire*? have had a good reta;. trade, but n-nt in -airload lots." which means that they have been principally pur chased for the" use of smaller flocks, and ih>l participated to any extent in that large demand for rams for use upon the range in the Western States.

It is reported from Chicago that the great beef-packing houses have abandoned their scheme for "trade combination. The causes of the abandonment are stated to be found in dissensions regarding the terms on which the properties should be taken over, and the present unfavourable monetary situation iv the country. Besides these obstacles, the widespread political opposition to the idea of ii lieef Trust proved' to be very formidable. The promoters, it is said, were warned that if their plans were carried out-, truste would be made the principal issue in the next Presidential election, and that the duties on dressed meats would be immediately removed if the anti-trust campaign succeeded.

The s.s. Mamari brought out a very pretty lot of Jersey cattle'for Mr F. Luard Wright, of Auckland, who was a purchaser of three heifers at the late Lord Braybrooke'e sale last August. Two of these (says the "Live Stock Journal' , ) were by Cherry's Duke, whose dam Cherry won five first prizes, including first at the Royal Agricultural Show at Maidutone, 1899; the other was Fury by Viola's Gold, a bull bred at Audley End, and her dam is the noted cow Blast, winner of the English Jersey Cattle Society's bronze medal in the butter test at Tring in 1896, giving, after she had calved 279 days, lib lloz of butter from 261 ib 12oz milk, and she twice afterwards won the E.J.C.S. certificate. A very handsome young bull. Doctor, from Admiral the Hon. T. S. Brand's herd at Glynde, accompanies them. Doctor won first prize at the Bath and West of England, the Essex, the East Kent, and the Sussex shows, this season. A pretty keiler from Sir James Blyth, Bart., by Crown Prince, and the prize-winning sire in the Blythwood herd were also included.

Some interesting figures relating to the grazing of sheep on pastures were laid before the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture recently by Mr T. B. Wood. He described the result obtained, in quantity of mutton, from various plots of grass differently man* ured. The plan adopted wae to take a. level field divided into three acre plots, to manure the plote differently, and to graze them with sheep during the season, calculating the effect of the manure by the increased weight of mutton> On one plot, basic slagi was applied in November, 1900, the remainder getting sulphate of ammonia, superphosphate, and other artificials applied in the spring of 1901. One plot in each set received no manure, but the sheep received lib of cake per head per day. It was found that after three months, no increase of weight occurred, except on the "cake" plots—a fact which of course has to be borne in mind in considering the results from a cheep-feeding point of view. But comparing the cake plot with the basic slag plot, it was found that during the two years the increase of mutton was 2401b, live weight, on the former, and 2211b on the latter. But while the cake cost about £13, the "basic slag cost only 21s or 225.

These results were obtained at Yeldham in Essex; at Hately in Cambridgeshire the experiment was carried out in the same way. There, basic slag after three years actually produced a greater return than cake. Cake costing £12 gave on incease of 3291b of mutton, while half a ton of basic slag produced an increase of 4741b. The basic elag plot was closely followed by the superphosphate plot. At the third station, at Trpwee, the results were quite different. Sheep on cake improved 2311b in two years, but none of the artificial manures improved the pastures to any extent. This was attributed to the difference in the land, that at Trowee being rather sharp, with chalk underneath. Mr Wood concluded that "the kind of land where basic slag or superphosphate made the greatest improvement was the heavy, stiff land, and not the light land; and they still had to find some way of increasing the capacity of grazing on the light land."