LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 981, 11 June 1879, Page 2 (Supplement)

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

For several reasons that need not be mentioned we have decided to change the day of publication of the Agriculturist. In future our sheet will be issued on the first Tuesday in the month. We hope the arrangement will prove as satisfactory to our readers as it will be convenient to ourselves. In connection with this matter, wc have to tender our apologise for the Agriculturist not having made its appearance at the due date. The delay arose from, circumstances over wh.ch we had no control.

The long spelt of dry weather has at lost been broken, but though the few showers which we have had during the past week or SO' have been sufficient to freshen up the pastures, they were scarcely enough to leave behind them any lasting effects. The prolonged dry season had rendered the land so hard that ploughing was rendered a very laborious undertaking, and the consequence was that in nearly every portion of the country cropping is somewhat backward, and » lata harvest may bo looked for next season. The wet weather of the past has given fresh life to tha work, and cropping operations are now in full swing, and there seems to tie every probability that an increase of land under crop will take place again this season. Of coarse it would be difficult to give any idea of the amount of land tikely to be placed under cereal crops ; but of this we foot tolerably sure, oats will not be grown so largely as they were last season, the exporiencss of farmers in connection with thorn unfortunately not being such as to load them to place their faith in that cereal this year, more especially as there still remains on hand a very targe supply, with a very poor demand. Talcing this into consideration. it is only reasonable to predict that this year will see a larger area ptaeed under wheat than in any previous season. Potato culture should meet with increased favor, for it is a crop a .« 00<t m;ir * ket can almost invariably be depended upon, whilu our climate and soil are eminently suited to the growth of this esculent commodity. There is one thing greatty in favor of farm era this year: tabor is both ptentifut ao difficulty in obtaining a supply of hands at moderate figures.

tt has been announced that Mr. John Bathgate, the Dunedin R.M., has obtained leave 06 absence from tho Government in. order to enable him to visit the Old Country on urgent private affairs, and that whit.? at Home ho purposes lecturing in the principal agricultural centres upon the Colony. Mr. "Bathgate, in making his application to the Government, We are told, mentioned that he had 06 late received many private tatters from farmers both in Scotland and Ireland, representing the blackness of the farming prospects, and ,'isking him confidentially it' a few thousand pounds would be of any service to a practical man arriving- in this Colony : and that ho hat I also been applied to by gentlemen in regai d to the placing of their younger sous. Mr. FUfchgafco ako referred the Government to an article in Chambers' Journal of January last, founded upon information which he had supplici t to that j journal. Since the appearance of that acticto Messrs. Chambers hail been deluged with applications from, all parts of the United Kingdom, and Dr. Chambers was anxious to bring out a pamphlet oa tho subject giving such information as would be of service to those who contemplated emigrating to this Colony. Under these circumstances there f can bo no doubt that Mr. Bathgate wit! be able to do the Cotony a vast amount of good. Flo is a clever lecturer, and his tong residence in tho Colony ami his great powers of observation will enable him to picture t.ife in New Zealand ns it really is. His wonts, coming from one holding a responsible position in tho Colony and not prompted by a desire to push peopto indiscriminately into the Cotony, will carry far greater weight than att the llowery utterances 06 regular emigration agents. Besides this, Mr. Bathgate » welt known to mauy at Home, an t the plain, unvarnished truths he will tell aru certain tobe attended with great good. Mr. .Bathgate has our best wishes for the success of his selfimposed and we can only hope that ! he will succeed in promoting middle ctass emigration to the Colony. What wo realty want are men possessed of some amount of capital, and farmers of moderate meana coming to tho Cotony need have little fear oa to their future prospects.

A Fijian paper says Nothing conlii afford butter evidence of the fattening capabilities of the pastures o£ Fiji than the inspection of a body of beef displayed in one of the Levuka butcheries. The carcass was that of a heifer bred by Mr. Dyer, of Wai Nunu, Vanna Levu. and weighed considerably upwards of tooOtbs.» while the meat was of the finest description. We glean the following from the Southland Times: —A noticeabto fact trt connection with the lattt harvest is the high estimation in which the harvesting and bindingmachines aru held. They have thoroughly commended thomsetvss to agriculturists, and we are assured that they wilt be in general use next season. It is well there are labor saving appliances, for complaints—-"not Toad, bat deep"—reach, tis of the high price of labor, and the uTlbunduig attitude of the laboring man in his demands for pay. The farmvrs say that with produce at ruling prices tluiy cannot ail'oi'd such high-priced labor, and will have to economise in every imaginable way. There is ptenty of work if men would but abate their demands a little, and if they do not, the farmer will be committed to the atteuiativo of reducing by one half the labor they have been, accustomed to'employ. It cannot bu said that growing oats at from Is to '2s per bushel is highly remunerative), and yet these are current pricey wMtst the wages of laborers range from Ss to 12a per day. It strike# us that labor ha? very much th<3 best of it.

We would direct the attention of flock - owners to the following section of the Sheep Act, 1S78:— "Every owner of sheep shall, twtween the first and thirtieth day of June in every year, deliver or cause to be delivered to the Chief Inspector a written ! return, in the form provided in Schedule A. of the number of sheep and lambs of each ae.x exceeding three months old owned bj him on the 31st .lay of May preceding, specifying in sttch return the ear-marks and brands upon such sheep, hvery person refusing or neglecting to deliver or cause to be delivered such return su aforesaid shah ;. c liable to a penalty not exceeding L2O. Those who have not already received forms «f the return can obtain them on application to Mr. Murison, Chief Inspector for the district.

The Australasian says" It is f|uit«: pleasant to sec a revival of the almost obsolete practice of reading and discussing papers at meetings of farmers' societies. The Kyncton Society has been discussing ' salt j(a subject noticed elsewhere), and the comI parativcly young Moira Society ha 3 had a well-attended meeting at which two papers were read. Mr. James Turnbull, the popular proprietor of Emu Plains, discoursed on sheep, treating especially of the breeds most suitable for small landholders. From such a source the advice might be taken, and was so accepted without discussion, and we trust it will tend to promote the development of sheep farming in that district. Mr. Roberts treated briefly but trenchantly of seed grain, especially of the use of * pinched wheat* as seed. Our readers will rcmeml>er that after each visitation of rust in this colony excellent crops have been grown from seed containing little more than the germ, whilst crops from plnmp seed have been more or less rusted. Of course, the conditions under which these results have been obtained were not known or investigated, but we have never hesitated to advise those who are short of plump seed to sow «pinched grain.' after dressing it, as all seed wheat should be dressed, with a smut preventive, such as a solution of bloeatone —this, be it observed, is no preventive of rust, although it will kil any germs which may be upon the grain. We hope that the Moira Society will steadily continue the excellent practice it has initiated."

Our Auckland friends are evidently determined to use every means of securing tint class stock. On several occasions we have noticed importations of well-bred animate, and we no * team that Mesir.i M'Lean and Co.. of Waikato, havejust received from Australia a. yearling Hereford boll, said to be the finest ever brought to the Colony. Speaking of this but! the Auckland Herald says:— •• f{ ie animal was shown at Maitland, on ! the ilttnter ICiver, where he succeeded in winning the first pri..e in a field that the judges declared wast never excelled in the colony, and afterwards exhibited in Sydney, where he again took first honors out of 14 competitors. He was purchased on this ground, and Mr. Payne sul seqamtly refused LISO on his bargain. The animal is from the celebrated herd of Mr. Iteyriolds, of Tocal, 03 the if enter Kiver. and that gentleman, at the late Sydney Show, obtained the two champion prizes for the best mate and female Hereford. Messrs. T. and S. Motrin,'3 cetebrated shorthorn bull. Lord longer time for him to rest on shore before the day of the show, he would have lieen in better condition, and move on a par, as to appearance, with the animate exhibited. He beat alt the imported bulla, and gained second honors* in one of the jrrandest displays of shorthorns ever seen in a Sydr.ey show-yard. Mr. Payne had the satisfaction of disp- sing of the whole of Messrs. Morrins" stock, and. ire two instauces. obtained twice the sum placed upon the animals by Messrs. Motrin. Lord Hastings and a but I calf were sotd to Mr. George Lee, of Rtithiirat, and the remainder to Mr. |[odgkins:.»n. of Windsor."

Various expedients fi.-.v,- b-.>n devised for putting ttown the rabbit nuisance, but wmie so inexpensive and yet novel as the faltowiic.' mentioned by a correspondent of a contemporary:—'* I jMt»ws«t.-d ft wUvn I lived ou th;; Opatsi which, ou au average, brought to my house from four to five half-grown rabbits daily, or. trt round numbers, t.'OO a year. Now. Mr. Editor, twelve such cats would, to a considerable extent, keep the rabbits down on a biO-acre farm. Weasels could u>»t !><; ■ imported at a less cost than A."t per hc.nl. whereaa if every settlor, in place of drowning or otherwise destroying the kittens, would get more eats and let the kittens live' the evil woatd be remedied. A cat will go into a rabbit barrow tho same as a weasel, and is easy to be procured."

The Sydney Morning Herald. in an article ore the Sydney Exhibition, says:— "In view of the importance to the comfort and health of the people of a cheap process for producing artifit;tat cold. as also in view of the pressing- necessity which esiat3 for some practicable method of enabling the stir* 1 pltts animal products of Australasia to be conveyed by means of a low artificial temperature to those countries where the stipply is deficient, the Commission will decree, irrespective of country, the following special awards:—l. For the machine capable on Jand of producing artificial cold at the least coat—Gold medal and certificate. 2. For the machine best adapted for maintaining a tow artificial temperature oa board ship at sea, and best suited to the economical preservation of a cargo of fresh meat daring a voyage to Europe, together with least liability to derangement of machinery—A .cold medal and certificate. .Should any refrigerating machine combine both scries of merits, it will receive the donblc award; and stamped aa it will be by the reports of competent judges, the inventor, whilst conferring on the world great benefits, will seenre for himself high renown and mnch profit. The better to enable the inventive faculties of the world to compete for these two 1 prizes, the Commission have determined to extend the time for entering and erecting the competing refrigerating apparatus to the tst of February, 1550." The Australasian tells the following :

"At a recent meeting of the West Bonrke Society a little discussion (not nnnonnced in the programme of the meeting) occurred in reference to the duty imposed in this country on self-binding reapers. The recipient of one of the prizes had the hardihood to mention that the several provinces of New Zealand had last season absorbed no fewer than 1200 of these labor economises, and that, owing to the absence of a duty thereon, the buyers had obtained them for Lls aptece less than Victorian farmers would have paid, thus saving the buyers' pockets to the tunc of L13,M0 I In Victoria—for example, at Echttca—these machines, essential as they ore in some districts, cannot be purchased for less than LOO, bat at Moama, as m New Zealand, they cost only L 75. flow long will Victorian farmers tamely submit to such extortion ?"

Mr. Thomas Rcid, of South Tokomairiro, has brought to our (Bruce Herald) office two fine specimens of chicory root grown on his property. It may be remembered that he aixjut three-quarters of an acre of the same last year, which realized L<3 10s por t<J „. This'year he has eight acres in crop. L'arties have said that they have not seen tiner in the Home Country, and they are competent to form an opinion on the subject. The drought appears to have been severely felt in the Cape Colony, for the Standard and Mail writes Fresh butter is now I.cint; sold retail at Port Elizabeth at 'five s!ii!liiie.-' per pound : and a Port Elizabeth paper deplore* the sad fate of the residents it that place in the following terms 'We fir-t overrun with flights of moths, th. n of caterpillars, and now of hard shell Weetles. They appear everywhere. Walk where you wil'l out of town, and you become aware of their presence by the crashing of something hard under foot. Only a few evenings ago we saw one drop between the leaves of a programme at a concert and ball in tho Town Hall.'"

We extract the following from a Home paper "The gloomy prospects of agriculture are beginning seriously to affect the value of land. The annual letting of the I'awlett Flams, near Bridgwater, consisting of 1000 acres, and used chiefly for grazing purposes, wa3 attended by nearly 600 practical agriculturists from the three western counties, but iu many instances the pieces of land did not fetch so much by 30s. per acre a3 in former years, the total decrease, as compared with last year, being L 1334." The Southland Times of a late date says : "The accounts to hand from the Western District are highly encouraging. Such weather for the time of year has not been experienced for many seasons, and the farmers arc not slow to take advantage of it, and so ploughs are going in all directions, nearly all of them double-furrow. The mild weather and the dryness of the ground is bringing wheat into favor, and from all we can hear there will be a considerable breadth of this cereal sown this season. The low price3at which oats are ruling has something to do with bringing wheat into favor just now. Certain it is that if tho winter proves as favorable as is generally expected heavy wheat crops may be looked for from the Western Districts. Pasturage all over it is magnificent just now, and stock of all kinds thrive amazingly. At Strathearn and all round it farming operations arc very active. Mr. Hamiltou is turning up a great deal oi ground, and intends to lay it down in oats and barley. His neighbors, Messrs Porie and Carrie, have also their double-furrows going, and arc preparing for oats and wheat. How much the season favors the farmer may

be inferred from the fact of sheep-dipping being quite general." An inquiry on the cause of a kind of giddincs in sheep at this season which cannot be referred to "staggers" in its European sense, but to which that name has been colonially given, lias brought two replies from New Zealand; the second, which appears in our present issue, and for which we are indebted to Mr. W . k. | of the Canterbury agricultural department, ; was accompanied by a box of specimens showing crgoted rye-grass, cocksfoot, and some others. The ergot exhibits an undepasturing where such specimens grow, abortion is or common occurrence, or that sheep generally are subject to the affection which goes by the name of staggers. It is unfortunate that ergot is most frequently developed tinder circumstances which produce the finest grasses. In Victoria the rich Hats in comparatively moist districts are its home, and the autumn its season of growth. We have reason to believe that it is of more general occurrence in the southern parts of New Zealand than in this colony. Ergot and the best manner of suppressing it, or of preventing its iil effects, lias been the subject of competitive essays in that colony. It would be interesting at ihis juncture to know whetherany and what practical benefit has resulted from those essays.—AusiraT.t ur.tt.