FARMING & COMMERCIAL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 150, 21 March 1921, Page 8

FARMING & COMMERCIAL

NEWS AND NOTES

AUCTION SALES FORTHCOMING FIXTURES. TODAY. Courtenay Place, Wellington. 10.30 a.m — Sale of Boots (Price and Co.). 157 Lambton Quay. Wellington, 2 p.m.— Sale of carnets (E. Johnston and Co.). 141 Manners Street, Wellington, 2 p.m.— Furniture sale (Wheatley and Co.). TO-MORROW. 157 Lambton Quay, Wellington. 10.30 a.m. —Bale plain and barbed wire (E. Johnston and Co.). Levin Yards, 12 noon.—Stock sale. 141 Manners Street, Wellington, 2 p.m.— Salo of crockery (Wheatley and Co.). WEDNESDAY. Waiwetu Road. Lower Hutt—Sale of dairy herd CH. E. Leighton). 17 Waterloo Avenue. Newtown. 1.30 p.m.— Furniture sale (Hodgkins, Carver). Town Hall. Te Avta-mutii, 2 p.m.—Land sale (Abraham and Williams). 100 Dixon street. Wellington, 2 p.m.—Furniture sale (Wheatley and Co.). 105 Customhouse Quay, Wellington, 2.30 p.m—Property sales (8. G. Nathan and Co.). JUDGING JERSEYS DEMONSTRATION AT PALMERSTON NORTH ADVICE TO BREEDERS From Our Own Correspondents Palmerston North, March 20. Tho question of the lines upon which dairy cattle should be judged has been agitating tho minds of a number of the A. and P. associations in the Dominion for the past few years, owing to the improvement of the various breeds and the high pitch to which show pnimals have developed. With a view to setting a standard for at least one breed of cattle, the New Zealand Jersey Breeders' Association has appointed Mr. H. E. B. Watson, of Canterbury, who is considered to be one of the best authorities in the Dominion, as official demonstrator in Jerseys, and that gentleman is now engaged in visiting the various centres in the North Island giving demonstrations. On Saturday, a farmers’ field clay was held at Mr. S. R. Lancaster’s farm at Palnlerston North, that gentleman having placed the whole of his herd, comprising over a hundred purebred cows and heifers, at the disposal of the demonstrator. There was an attendance of about two hundred farmers from all parts of the district, and Mt. Watson picked out half-a-dozen various types on which to expatiate. In the course of his address, Mr. Watson pointed out some of the outstanding features which must be looked for in the typical Jersey cow. Tn the first place, she must be capable of discharging the two great functions of producing milk and reproducing her species, and to do this sucessfully she must be possessed of a good constitutions A good-constitu-tioned cow would have large, open nostrils, a broad mouth and strong lower jaw; a well-developed windpipe to convey air to the lungs, a good length and depth of body, with wellsprung ribs, and l ability to digest her food. Some cows, like some human beings, would, consume large quantities of food, and fail to make full use of it; others would derive the maximum ■benefit from all they consumed. Another important matter was that there should bo plenty of space between the ribs, and plenty of length between the -shoulder, which should be flat, and the hip-bones, which should be prominent, while the skin must be loose and soft, handling well, with soft, silky hair. Up to this point there was similarity between the dqiry and the beef cow, but in other respects the two differed. It must be (remembered that a beast for beef had only to last for perhaps four years, while a dairy cow had practically to work and rear calves for from ten to fifteen years. A beast which was not in milk would eat its fill and then lie down and sleep, but a cow which would produce a large quantity of milk would continue chewing her cud while lying down, and when that was finished would start feeding again, as she required a considerable amount of sustenance. A good cow would convey a very largo portion of bar food to her underline, where the milk was produced. She should have large, prominent, and placid eyes and a good foreheed, which indicated a good temperament To carry a large udder she should have .prominent hip bones, and this feature was also required for successful reproduction. Her spinal column should be prominent, with nice, open vertebrae, indicating nerve force. The udder must be well caught up behind with a good wide escutcheon, while the udder (should be well covered with silky hair. The properly-formed udder should come in a halfmoon shape, well up to the abdomen, with flat lower surface on which well-shaped teats should lie set at equal intervals, of a length of from 21 to 23 inches, and which handled well. Although many favoured flat-pointed teats, thee® were by no means an essential, and they had on many occasions been found to be deceiving, as to yield of milk. A good dairy cow should have welldeveloped milk veins, indicating the ability to circulate blood freely through the udder, and back again to the heart, and a well-balanced udder. Up to this point all breeds were practically judged on the same lines. In Jerseys, however, they must have their own peculiar characteristics as to conformation and quality* They fdfould possess open nostrils, a firm jaw, narrowin'; as it reached the horns, ears of medium size, covered with silky bail. They should have a long.x clean line from the neck straight from the back of the ears to the tail, which should be set high, with a wide shoulder below tapering towards the top, but the shoulders should not be too prominent. The tail should bo long and thin, and should .appear as if it was a continuation of the vertebrae along tho back. In the show ring a judge looked for true breed character, quality, conformation, and style. In speaking of the escuto cheon theory, Mr. Watson pointed out tftiat the whole of the udder was really an escutcheon, in that it had back running hair. He valued the escutcheon in ‘a young animal, as it was a clear indication of tho size the udder would assume. They would find in examining a calf that if the swirl of the back escutcheon was well up the developed udder would generally be caught to 2 inches above tliat, and the same thing applied! to the forepart of the udder. Many people professedl to be able to judge of a cow’s productive qualities by various points, but ho considered that the only reliable test of her yield was the milk scales and tho butter-fat test. Mr. Watson was heartily thanked for hie demonstration, and the opinion was generally expressed that other breed societies should follow the example of the Jersey Association and appoint official demonstrators.

During the afternoon a judging competition was carried out for young men under 25 years of ago. There were 25 competitors, including half a dozen lax H from the Palmerston North High School agricultural class, who were keenly interested in the demonstration ._ Mr. Watson, in making his awards, saitF that the majority of the contestante did very well indeed, their notes being intelligently made, and the winner’s card was an especially good one. The following are the results: —Roy Jenyen (Kairangn), 1; J. Smith, jun. (Kelvin Grove), 2; H. Montgomerie (Kauwhata), 3; N. Lancaster (Glen Oroua), 4.

LONDON WOOL SALES QUANTITIES' FIXED FOR APRIL SERIES. (Rec. March 19, 15.5 p.m.) London, March 18. • Tho Colonial Wool Marchants’ Association has fixed the quanties for the April sales at 60,000 bales of Realisation Association wool and 50,000 bales of free wool. All free arrivals to Maroh'3 will be included. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

ALLOCATIONS FOR SALES IN ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA. Melbourne, March 19. Th© Melbourne Wool Conference has agreed to the allocations of the cu entities of wool for auction sales in England and Australia, the same to be arranged by the British and Australian Boards of the British-Australian Wool Realisation Association, provided the quantity for Australian auctions shall be not less than 'that for the English auctions. The association accepts the responsibility for redeeming £5,000,000 sterling on priority wool certificates before July 31. —Press Assn. BRADFORd'mARKET FLAT. London, March 18. The Bradford wool market rujes very flat; Gl's are nominally at 3M. per lb. Aius.-N.Z. Cable Assn. COMMERCIAL ITEMS INVESTMENT SHARES. No sales wertf reported on ’Change on Saturday. The following were the auota-

CUSTOMB REVENUE. Customs revenue collected at the port of Wellington yesterday totalled £1654 bs. 4d. LONDON TALLOW MARKET. Messrs. A. H. Turnbull and Do. have received a cablegram from Messrs. JVWeddel and Co.. Ltd., London, dated March 16. advising as follows'.—"Tallow market has declined Is.; demand, very culet. Auction suspended until further notice.' BANK OF AUSTRALASIA. Australian-New Zealand Cable Association. (Rec. March 19, 5.5 n.m.) London, March 19. • The Bank of Australasia is issuing half a million of the balance of its authorised capital to shareholders at £6O per share.

LONDON MARKET REPORTS. (Rec. March 20, W p.m.)

London, March 19. Cotton.—The Liverpool quotation for American middling unland cotton, April delivery, is 7.60 d. per lb. Rubber.—Fine hard Para rubber, llid. per lb.: -plantation, first latex crepe, llgd.; smoked ribbed sheet, 101 d. Copra.—South Sea, bagged, March-May delivery. £26 10s. per ton. Jute.—March-April delivery. £32 per ton. Hemp—March-May delivery, £42 per ton. Linseed oil. £29 10s. per ton. equal to 2t. 4 l-3d. per gallon. Turpentine. 60s. per cwt., equal to 3s. 92d. ner gallon. 1

MINING NEWS

WELLINGTON SHARE MARKET. The quotations n” Saturday for mining shares were as under: — Buyers. Sellers. £a.d. - £s. d. Blackwater Mines — 0 8 3 Walin - 17 6

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE. Australian-New Zealand Cable Association. (Roc. March 19. 5.5 p.m.) London. March 18. Among the latest quotations on the Stock Exchange I* tho following;—Mount Lyell. 13s. 9d.

tiofis Buyers. £ a. d. Sellers. £ s. d. Inscribed Stock. 1939 ... Inscribed Stock. 1938 ... — 81 10 82 0 0 0 inscribed Stock. 1955 ... 88 0 0 War Bonds, 1939 War Bonds. 1938 CO 0 War Bonds. 1935 88 0 0 — P.O. Bonds. 1927 86 10 0 5 10 2 3 11 12 National Bank Bank New Zealand 2 2 11 7 9 6 0 6 National Mort, (local) ... Well. Trust nnd Loan ... 4 0 ■ 5 18 0 6 Well. Dep and Mort.... 6 Christchurch Gas (£-5) —, 5 5 0 N.Z. Refrigerating (108.) Gear Meat 1 10 0 0 15 • 1 12 0 6 Well. Meat (£3 12s._ 6d.) —■ 3 15 0 Huddart-Parker (ord.) 1 19 e 2 0 0 Union Steam (pref.) ...... — 0 19 0 Kaiapoi Woollen (ord.I 1 7 (20s. psld) —* 6 Kaiapoi Woollen (ord.) 0 13 (10b. paid) — 0 Leyland-O'Brien 1 9 0 1 11 6 SharlanSl and Co — TXT 1? P A (£M 6 4 0 W.F.C.A. (£1) — 1 5 0 0 W.F.C.A. (pref.) — 1 19