SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 8

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(F*OM OOtt OWH COERESrONDENT.) The rainfall for the past year was very light, having totalled only The Weather 21.88 in, which is about haft and the average rainfall of^ the Farm. Southland. The rainfall was distributed over the year i! 6 follows : —January 0.95, February 2.29, March 2.72, April 0.91; May 2.42, June 1.10, July 1.07, August 1.23, September 1.69, October 2.14, November 1.06, Decem- i ber 4. lOin. It will be seen that only during last month was the rainfall heavy. Unfortunately strong gales of wind have been prevalent during: the last two weeks, and the heavy rainfajl of December has not been sufficient for turnips sown since Ohristma*, owing to the rapid evaporation from the surface. Second sowings have been made, but the steady genial rain, amounting to fully half an inch, which fell all day on the 16th inst. has caused seed to germinate which was sown three weeks ago, co that perhaps second sowings were not required in some cases. A large breadth was sown with turnips before Christmas, and the turnips look very well everywhere. The conditions of growth were very favourable last month, and all crops and pasture never looked better. The harvest will be early. It is probable that reaping will be general about th.3 middle of next month, and thaia good deal will be cut before that time. The oatrf are strong in the straw and of good length, and the same remarks' apply to wheat. This year and last a good crop of the latter ce/eal could be produced on the coldest soils here, which shows how detrimental too much moisture is to the attainment of the best results in farming. It is woithy of remark that early sowing ha 6 been advantageous in the case of both cereals and roots this year and last. Turnip thinners are more easily procured this season than has been the case for some ' time, a fact which is probably owing to some extent to the universal use of the combined double ridgers, which reduce the labour of thinning to about a. third. It is also easier now to get satisfactoy work performed, as some farmers through sowing a very small quantity of seed on the raised drills do not concern themselves much whether hand-hoeing is performed or not. Turnips and rape sown on the fiat surface with the drill are looking splendid, and there is to be seen also rape sown broadcast without manure, which is likewise very good, but in this instance the soil was in good manuxial condition and rich in humus besides, which' is the kind of soil that 6uits this valuable forage plant. Altogether, those who have- been keeping the plough going this year and last are finding farming of considerable profit. Stock as well as crops are profitable, but the plough mu*t be kept going for the former as well as for the latter, as both nutritious- grasses &ni . forage crops are required: old leae abound- j ing in inferior grasses and weeds that were ! : not sown cause loss directly and indirectly, | inasmuch as they are neither fattening nor i conducive to the maintenance of a good ' state of health. The cutting of the rye- > grass crop, which, by the way, is a very t fefi&U one and of considerable was.*

commenced about the Bth inst., but a number found that they_ had commenoed_ too soon, and ceased cutting till the 13th inst., by- which time it was ripe. The crop :e: c nearly all cut at date of writing, 16th. The . threshing machines are being got ready, but it should be remembered that ryegraes neads to be at least two weeks in the stook before being stacked or threshed. When it unfortunately happens that a portion of the turnip crop fails CatcH when it is too late to sow Crops. again, it is, of course, advisable to sow something else in order to provide some spring feed. A catch crop is usually understood to mean one that is taken between harvest and the sowing of a. spring crop, but the term m&; conveniently be extended to include a cro_r; that is taken after a crop of another End that has failed. The principal catch crops are oats, rye, Cape barley, and rape. Rye is the best owing to its hardiness, its early and lat-* growth, and its habit of growing : a numbe- of times after being eaten down Last year I sowed some with the grajs in January. It was eaten down during ! the winter, and afforded two or three bitjs during the spring also. About 2£ bushels should be sown with the drill in 7in rows, or the same quantity broadcast. Boiling should not be performed, as a rolled surfacecakes in winter. Rape does very well along with rye, and there would be no harm in sowing some with the drill, although it probably would not be luxuriant in the* spring. A bushel of rye weighs 541b. Until the second sale of the season buyers did not trouble about visitWool. ing the farmers, but 6ince then they have been active, and some uncharitably-disposed farmers say that it is too often the case that the first sales are dull. The price paid on the farms for superior crossbred wools is from Bid to B|d and 9d in a few cases : partially cotttd and dingy. 6d; bellies and pieces sd_; aud locks 23. B-ut ther3 are more offers in the best wool-producing localities at from 7|cl to Bid. Last season those who are selling at the firet-named prices received Is per lb. It is a strange circumstance that there are more cotted and partially cotted fleeces than usual this season. In many places there ar* upwards of 20 per cent, of such fleeces, which depreciates the value 2£d or 3d pei- lb. Hawkosworth, in his interesting book on "Australian Sheep and Wool," says that "sickness is one of the main causes of a wool cotting, when the wool is deprived of its proper succour, yolk having ceased to nourish the wool. Under these con*difcions the fibres become dry, and instead of slipping over each other, as when yolk is present, they entangle or cling together Some lands of mineral formation, as linve or iron, will cause the sheep depasturing on such lands to have their fleeces 'moro or lees cotty. In the Highlands of Scotland and the North of England all the wool is more or less cotted, especially if the sheep have not been greased or buttered." But the past year has been so favourable to sheej> here, as proved by the unusually small mortality and the good condition, that sickness could hardly have been the cause of the condition mentioned, and it appear? I in flocks that have ,been uniformly weil fed since last shearing, but not to th-i same extent as it does where there was a shortago of feed in the spring. One farmer is of opinion that in his case the keeping of the sheep for three weeks in spring on turnips which had deteriorated through sprouting has had something to do with the cottinij referred to. There <s also noticeable in a number of clips this season a break in the wool half an inch or so above the cut of the shears, which shows that a check was received in the spring. It is a well-known fact that turnips were overabundant here last spring, and that sheep were kept on the turnips longer than usual. Now, as turnips deteriorate rapidly m September unless the leaves are eaten off, and age of little value in October, it is reasonable to conclude that the faulty condition of some of the wool this season has been caused by unnutritious food in the spring, and an effort should be made to avoid such an error in future. The term "break"' ia not synonymous with "tender." The former "'signifies that the wool will break in a certain part of the staple, but

the latter is applied to a wool so weak 4, to break in any part of the staple, and no* in ono paticular part. Hawkesirorth, in the work cited, says that "tenderness is caused by a long, lingering sickness, when the woof does not receive its proper nourishment in the shape of yolk. A continuous droughty season impoverishes the wool greatlythrough the want of water, causing it t<* become tender. A want of feed will alsi* have the same effect." But a break int wool is, he saya, quite distinct from tenderness. "This defect is the result of a sudden sickness, or a change from a bare td a green, luxuriant pasture. During severe illness the blood of the sheep becomes impoverished, and does not' throw off those elements from which wool ia^formed, theretore causing a stoppage of growth. Thia thin growth appears throughout the whole of the fleece, and is so regular that one can. tell at what time of the year the sickness took place." Probably shortage of water has had something to do this season with the anomalies mentioned, as well- as superabundance of innutritious turnips and the shortness of the pasture in the spring. -