GENERAL NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 615, 18 September 1909, Page 8

GENERAL NOTES.

A GLAXCE ALL EOOJJD. .Thero vis; no- factor, for the of land- values'(says/the AVest : Australian' Mini- 1 ter'.for■'•igric'nltiire),;so , .iniigical' 1 ' as".'the', dairy bow. •'Witßdss -the 'land value's of dairy country in Nw : 'Z(yaiidt'an4';Vi«foM." -.There. land has tfeaohedds .high' :as; .&(jO.;,per acre. .Before thij' advent -of. 'the 'cow-./the . same; land .was worth, about, ~£1; And all, this has happened in'lo or 15, years'. There are hundreds of thousands'; of ; acres 'of dairy land, available 'in Western Australia to-day.'. But "a short time hencelit.wiirbe.snapped.up/by New-Zealanders and. Victorians,/who now realise that wo have dairy land ,of the best, and a home market of the very best; , '.V' ! ' -Clay. possesses the,.property 'of fixing in ,the soil and minei-al;,-'matters 'by whioh, ' its 1 fertility 1 is ; determines. V This '•••is only a transitory 'fixation, for the' clay readily jfields; the. properties. it has acquired to nouiish vegetation. V •' ■ -/' • ■'A. cow. reaches her/maximum' yield of milk from six to eigjit weeks after calving. If she remains in milk 300 days -of'the year she has done her duty well. As the yield of milk decreases the percentage of solids ,in the milk gradually .increases. .• , A'New,;Zealand fanner considers that one gallon .'of ■ skim milk or buttermilk and three' pounds of, boiled potatoes or' barley .meal make an excellent dairy ration for pigs'in process-of fattening. : Splendid results .'can -be obtained frqm.this-.diet./' ; i. ' Auoklantl is' again agitating*.to- be made the final 'port of departure, for ocean- butter steamers. Under, existing conditions, the butter exported-from the Auckland province has to .be .railed from/ the freezing; works ,in the city to', Onohunga, where it. is, placed on board the Corinna'. v The Corinna takes it to Wellington,- calling at New. Plymouth on the way to pick up the'.butter .from. that' port:'.- Naturally the- several exposures between , ' the freezing works ,at Auokland and the" g'teamerV hold at Wellington cause a rise of temperature, Tjhich it -is held, makes the 'butter 'deteriorate. Auckland' interests are claiming -that-; Auckland should; 1 be either the, regular final port or the final port alternately with ■W.ellington,- . Now that-rail freight is almost'universally charged at per ton. and oversea, freight at per lb., and not at .per bale,' there ;is nothing to gained ,by .pressing too much .wool into a bale, but on'the other .'is a mistake to .make' same too .light.:. ;The tendency..'to make > light bales has become most marked of late years, and. the-apparent: incroase in output from Australasia during, the' past year is largely attributable to. less wool having ■ been packed- into the bales; 1 A fair proportion of the, bales now marketed,, especially of. light crossbred .wool, do not weigh even.'2oolb. gross, and the Buyers Association in', Victoria only last year.passed a 1 rule, forbidding their members to bid -upon, any bale -or .Bales' of '.less than. the weight mentioned, the'result being that in Melbourne and Geelong some thousands of .such, bales .had to bo sold.-'separately from the ordinary lots. • ,-Xarabiiig in the Masterto'nYdistriet this'season promises to be'the, best that'.'has been experienced for many - years. On :Mr. 'Master's farm, Normanby. lambing percentages promise to- bo. very high. There are.a-.good- many ewes with two- lambs at. foijt. One ewe had three lambs• • (triplets are .Vqu'ite . common throughout', the district this'/ seakon, and an-other-R'ad four.' .Two-of -tho latter were taken away. from and have since died. • '■-.Merchants and- distributers in ' general produce' lines, 1 as well as. those ,ift' breadstuifs and grain, speak, of the present 'as ,being, a remarkably-- quiet timo .for; them .(says the ."Otago Times"). The wheat- and oat . markets are utterly stagnant;, after tho . cessation of. export consequent upon the dropping .of the London market in anticipation of'th® 1 new European harvest. Butter and cheese .ate slow locally, the .former, especially being-depressed in inferior lines ovting. to heavy 1 BUpplies coming forward, from tho. .oountry,- but, prospects abroad for-both lines are improving. Fruit is veryqaiet./.buying being, decidedly' slack. Eggs are : cheap and. somewhat alow; while in general lines .of prodiico—chaff, straw, potatoes, etc.— no; movement in' pricc has' occurred for some time.--Though■ there is a-decided quietness it is/hardly'. correct, to describe, the position, as depressed, l for steady; necessary distribution if going , forward.; ,/Tho near .approach of the ■bank - balancing at tho half-year, ending. Sep'tembar. 80, is in'all..probability. one factor toward restraining • speculative buying owing to the natural■ desire to reduce any existent overdraft and increase deposits before that data. :

:■"- BEEF SCARCE. mA \? ndon Press Association cablegram states: The New York correspondent of "The Times" reports that the number of cattle received at tno various stockyards is a million below the number last year. The American Consul at Monte Video states thut > Americans' who tiro independent of the Beef Trust aro investigating tne possibilities of supplies from Uruguay. Ho calculates that it is possible to land .South American beef in New' York at 61 cents a pound. ■.'■■.- • .. : .