SOUTHERN MARKETS AND CROPS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 68, 14 December 1918, Page 10

SOUTHERN MARKETS AND CROPS

By. Telegraph—Press Association. ■ Christchurch, December 18. : The grain and produce markets business is now very restricted and is not exi pected to improve until nftor the New ; Tear. ' There is practically rothing offering from the country in the wuy of ', grain" nnd tho chaff that is still unsold i ; is of inferior quality. Shipping to the : .north, is restricted to heavy cargo and '' .of. this'there, is very little available. !■; Some produce is beinj sent to tho West ;'..' Coast by colliers.' Rain during the week f 'further"improved tire crop : prospects in • .Canterbury. This season's cocksfoot crop i promises to be a. considerable! improve- ' meht over late yeara, nnd it is reported 1 that white clover on tho plains is showZing up .stronger than usual.

' AKAROA COCKSFOOT CROP ■'■ The cocksfoot crop continues to look , well, and already some of the early pad--1 '■' docks are •in flower (says the Akarca : "Mail"). Provided good weather is experienced there should be a good yield, ■ as the growth has had no check. The poor .yield of Peninsula crops during the paat iowi yeats is Accounted for "by tlaa ,very uneven seasons, last season being : Especially bad in this respect. Although . such a'small area on Banks Peninsula is t now under cocksfoot crop compared with ; five years ago, thore are better prospects this season, and the sample seed should fce' really good. Labour will again be short, and if the crops arc good, it will !. be severely felt. There is every pros■pect that tho price o£ seed will also be ' high, as Banks Peninsula seed, on aoj, count of its being'olear of weeds, is much . •sought'after in the North. Island.

; ■ A CASE OF ERGOTISM A particularly well-marked instance of '• -the effects of ergot upon, cattle is fur- | nished by a case which has been reported ; iy Mr; J. Halligan, Inspector of Stock, ; Woodville, eaye the Journal of'«Agricul- .' ture. ' The animal in question had.been j grazing in a paddock containing'a'quantity of tall fescue (festuca arundinacaea), : a variety of grass upon which ergot is : jv'ery commonly found. The ■ whole of I .the soft tissues of .the leg. had become dead .and mummified below a point' a ', little distance abovo tho fetlock, leav- ' ing the bone exposed for nearly an inch : .of its length. :; • This .condition jis brought about 1 through the specific action of ergot in causing contraction of the walls of blood- ■ vessels, thus impairing the circulation and preventing tho parts receiving proper nourishment, the result loeim; what \ is'known as dry gangrene.') The effects : of. this impairment of the circulation are ■ '.naturolliy most, pronounced at the ex- ; tremities. A clear line of demarcation : -forms -between the healthy tissues in i which the-blood supply is still, sufficienti :Jj-?qod and the gangrenous portion. : ' This case, occurring as it did towards i the end of winter, supports the opinion '. formed as a result of a series of experi- ' -munts carried out in 1911 and 1912 at ' the Wallaceville Laboratory—namely, : /that'ergot is most potent in its action t- :during the winter months, when tho pro- , cess of spore-formation is proceeding in ;..it. In these experiments it was found .. i'thait ergot in the commercial form as . 'purchased from a wholesale druggist fciilto produce the characteristic symp-I'/tpms.-Trhen fed to calves over a prolonged period. A much .earlier experi- ■ .ment of a. similar nature »had -a like result. On the other .;,hand, ergot obtained from material collected during winter from seed-cleaning ;...,machines produced positive results, a . Condition being set up in a calf fed with : at. closely resembling that now. referred !:'...tp... The only difference is thai in the animal experimented with the damage to : the leg did not reach quite so advanced j; a. etage, owing to the animal being • : ."slaughtered when the condition had bei:tcome well established. '