AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The High Commissioner for New Zealand is drawing the attention of the Board of Agriculture to new methods adopted by . "vendors of " milk-blended"' butters. They are (save our London correspondent) now offering this class of butter as " So-and-So's own." Thus it is thought to set up an attempt to drive a coach and four thiough the Butter Act recently pa*eed, and the High Commissioner means to tjtop it if Tie can. " Frosted wheat." it was explained at -the Conciliation Board at Waikari on -the 20th, "is an agricultural cala.mity peculiar to the Waikari district and to -parts of Southland. Mr John Allan, in the course of his evidence, explained the nature of the scourge. He stated that when a hard frost came before the grain ■was in the ear it never germinated, and liad to be cut down and burned. The frosting was due to a fog. sometimes, which came up the Waikari Valley. This condensed in the shape of frost on the ears of the grain, with the result that no grain matured. English Kinas for 700 years have been -aenculturists ; but it it, safe to say that no ■model farms in history compare with Windsor, and that for knowledge of the national importance of stock-breeding King Edward VII excels all his predecessors. He has done as much for cattle as Edward 111 for the warhorse. No factor has done so much to promote small farm settlement and keep the families together on the land a« th" creamery and daiiv factory. Hence the determined fiorht which the settlers made during the fires in the north to preserve their creameries. The Taranaki Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association (Farmers' Union) has accumu- j lated funds ©f £1330. and a total value of policies held of £204.000. So far it has had to meet no claim on account of fire. I A witness before the Conciliation Board In the farm labourers' demands stated that the odour f rojn artificial manure was so offensive that whenever he was working among this class of material he had to ch&nere his clothes in the washhouse on reachin-gr home. 1 The dairy expert has informed a ManaT»*tu Standard .representative that the 4rought is causing dairy farmers a loss of

the odour

. at lea*t £10.000 a month, as compared with ; last season's returns. T "The giowth of weeds is an evil of absentee ownership." said the Taranaki Commissioner of Crown Lands the other day. ; | The port of Bluff heads the exports from ' the Dominion ports during the month of January m rabbits, is second in cheese and '■ tow, and third in flax. 1 Despite warnings repeatedly given, some farmers jn Yiotoria, persist in turning cattle, generally dairy cows, into fields of growing sorghum. At Benalla. recently (says the Au&traiasian) a num'bor of cows died a few , minutes after being turned into a field of soTghum, and the other day a dairy-farmer at Pyramid Creek, in the "Kerang district, lost seven of his milking-herd in the same way. This is owing to the fact that at certain stages of its growth sorghum develops prussic acid, one of the most powerful poisons known to science. This fact \va« established several years ago by investigationsearned out at the Nebraska Experimental Station, U.S.A., by Dr A T Peters, of that in1 stitution. The inquiry indicated that there "Was danger in allowing cattle to graze on —1, young plants; 2, second guwth; 3, frosted p'.ants : 4, stunted plants. But. on the other hand, it wa^ found that it the. crop at any stage or condition of its giowth was cut and allow eel to wlt in tho &un for a few hours before being fed io the cattle, j it was a perfectly yafe, nutritious, and wiholesomc fodder. | Should cows be stripped after, milking or not? Discussing this question in an English journal, Professor M'Connell, the eminent English dairy expert, says that he is one of those svho all his life was accustomed to see cows stripped out by a responj sible person, who followed after the regular g-ang of milkers; but recent event* caused him to change his mind as to the , advisa.bleness of the practice. Many au- | thorities have pointed out aforetime fhat, as I the milk secretion was intimately connected j with the nervous organisation, the stopping of the milk and then coming back to start it again was doing the cow harm, as it amounted to restarting of the nervous I energy About a year ago Professor M'Conrell stated his 'belief that stripping was absolute 'y necessary. He now begs to take , it all back, as since then he has tried his | cows the other way, with the most satisfac- j ,' lory results. They are now milked out ' I at one sitting, and if a small quantity be left in the bag, the professor argues, it does the cow no harm, but helps to swell the totail yield a( next milking lime. If thera is any possible gain, then, in stripping th-p contends that it is discounted by the harm done to the cow br the stripper in starting her nervous force onoe more. Alongside of the cessation of stripping, ihowever, another practice has also been .abandoned — ' that is, the changing round of the gang of milkers, so that each cow is milked by each milker in rotation ; every man now sticks to his own lot of cows, and a.s one cow drop= ' out and another comes in, the lots are kept a-s equal as possible. As far as Professor | M'Connell can see, the results to the cows, to the milkers, and to the milk yie'd ar* 1 eminently satisfactory, and he for one will not go back to the old Bvsteni. According to the Dominion, margarine can Ibo bought iii Wellington. It is made in Npw- Zealand, packed in neat Tmtter-box*"; like tho--e used in the export trade, and soid by the sblb box at 7i J . per pound. This Is practically orlv ha 7 f the price of the be>t butter, and doubtless those people of «mnli | moans wl,o have, at present prices, had to I r'efns'i their childien butter may adopt cheap rni.rgarine as a substitute. At last week's meeting of the Chris*chureh City Council the manager of the city abbatoir reported that during January 1118 cattk were slaughtered, of which 10 I wsr3 cene'emned : 7717 sheep, of whifh four wer^ condemned : 2382 lambs, none being condemned ; 555 pigs, of which two wore condemned, and <28 calves, which were all passed. I The Tim am Hera'd of the 20th inst. state? that laige quantities of stock have been cotiing forward for freezing lately, the dry I weatho.- and consequent shortness of feed I probably causing farmers to dispose of what they aro unable to properly feed. At Sniithfield during the past week or so an average of 4000 sheep and lamibs have bsen killed daily. and yesterday it was expected a total of 5000 wou'd be reached. The I stock ore all in fir?t-cla=s condition — better j thin thi-; time last year, says Mr Baxter. ' the Timaru raa'iairer— and the dressed weight of many of the lambs ranges from 401b t » 421b. A vvel'-known Wairarapa dairv-farmor informed a Wellington pressman -that he thought that the high price ru'incr for butter this season would have a stimulating effect on the bacon industry. People would look upon butter more or le.*s as a luxury, and would resort to fried bacon, which, owing to its fatty qualities, could be eaten beHtr with dry bread than with bread and butfer. Confirmation of this view is already given by the fact that, with the rise in fhe price of butter, there has been an increased demand for bacon, compared with tb? correspondnsr period* of former years. Since the beginning of the butter season, on July 1, 10,748 tons have been exported from Victoria.. On the basis of 100s per . cwt this gives a tota 1 value of £1.074.800. I In hi<- weekly report (says the Melbourne Weekly Times of February 15) the Superintendent of Exports. Mr Crowe, states that the value i<< worked out on this basis at the time of shipment for convenience, as it is impossible to tell at the time of shipment

what the butter will leahse at ir= dL-tina-tion. On account of the oo»M^teml\ high puces that ha.\e ruled dm ing tho pr< -out season, the average pi ice rea'ised for Yic torian butter will approximate 115s per c«f in London, so that the c i f. value of the , 10,748 tons will be £1,236,020. or £161,000 more than that shown upon the 1000 per cwt basis, which has been adopted in all the weekly reports. During the week February 6 the exports amounted to 689| ton*, of the approximate value of £68,975. Of this quantity 525j tons were sent to the United Kingdom, 121£ tons to South Africa, and 42^ tons to Eastern ports. During the same -week 13,938 boxes were inspected for export. These computed 10,218 boxes salted and 1612 boxes unsalted for th° United Kingdom. 1190 boxes for South Africa, and 918 boxes for Eastern ports. The Victorian Cabinet has decided to appoint a board, consisting of officers of the Lands Department, to investigate the merits of each bottler who has recently sustained lo^s, through bush fires. It was stated that no assistance should be granted except in cases where the settlers had no other means of making good the loss The British Australasian of December 19 ob«erves that Western Australasia is making quite a name for herself jn Smithficld for frozen lambf. Wettem Australia, as a shipper of frozen meat ia quite a novel idea, and carries one back to tihe .seventies, when Xew Zealand used to find a considerable market | for hei general produce in the Australian colonies. Western Australia is now starting for herself as an exporter as Australia did :n the early eig-hties. With the timber strike well over, with a good season, and with the fruit industry opening up in a promising manner, the finishing touch may j now be considered to have been gnen to the j good fortune of the Western State. It is stated that the authorities in ArI gentina have succeeded in combating the grasshoppers, which there do untold damage They ha\e invested in 5000 tons of zino sheets — a purchase wihich must have cost at least £100,000. The sheets are set up on their edges, so as to form a continuous wa 1 !. On the side from which the locusts are approaching a trench is dug. When they come to the zinc the insects are stopped. Its surface is so "greasy" that , they cannot climb it. They fall into the [ trench and are easily destroyed. As against the first cost of the zinc, which is undoubtedly heavy, it is stated that it is virtually indestructible, and that it probably pays for itself in the first year. The London Meat Trades Journal reports that at a meeting of the Hull CorI poration Sanitary Committee the chief inspector of foods reported that at the request of the River Plate Beef Company he examined a frozen forequarter of beef, weighing 14^1b. The beef was accompanied ' by the official Government label certifying soundness for food, but the beef was found to be badly affected with granular tuberculosis. The inspector suggested that a representation be made to the Argentine authority with reference to the matter, as, judging from the advanced degree of the disease in the glands, he had no hesitation in saying that the- offal must have been extensively diseased. An experiment wa« made some time ago in America to test the relative merits of various breeds of sheep. Ten lambs of ' each variety were selected and fed in the f-ame way. Of the English breeds the Cotswood gained most rapidly in weight, the Suffolk and Lincoln breeds coming next, and the Oxfords and Dorset's last. As re- i gards yield of wool, the Lincolns came out j at the top, with a fleece averaging 12.851b; the Cotswold came next, with fleeces of 12.651b ; the Lejcester.s, 11 501b ; Oxfords, 10.951b, Shropshires, 8.751b; Suffolk's. 7.651b; Dorsets, 6.811b; Southdowns, 6 751b; and merinos, 9.91b. The most valuable fleeces in natural condition were the Leicesters, the Lincolns, Cotswolds, and Oxfords following in that order. The merino fleeces were valued at the least money per lb in the natural condition, but after scouring lommanded by far tthe highest price. The merino fleeces shrank no less than 67 per cent, in weight. The Leicesters shrank the least, only 38 per cent. The matter of trimming sheep for shows has attracted some attention in connection with recent shows in th' North Island. Apropos of this and other matters Messrs F. Hutchinson and J. H. Absolom, who acted as judges of the Romneys at one of the shows, were interviewed by a Dominion reporter. Mr Absolom said: — '"We do not believe in those animals which are manifestly got up for show, with excessive trimming and tco much high feeding. Farmers should know what they are getting. At the Hawke's Bay show, we our=elves entered a well-conditioned pen of five sheep. We did it simply to hold our own with others whom we knew were doing the same thing. Later we turned these animals out on the hills, and now you would not pick them out of a mob of culls. In the present instance we ha\e noticed the excessive i rimming and condition, and we have decided against it. Another thing: We have tried the Engishblood Romnevs, and we hav-e found that we can breed better in New Zealand. There is also no doubt that the imported sheet) is more given to kemp than those in New Zealand. In Hawke's Bay it has been suggested that sheop should not be shown in a ' fak-ed ' condition, but the association there has evaded the matter by leaving it to the discretion of the judges We are tgtinst tl» bueiiwss, and w« are

- going- 1o do our be-t to *fop it. You a-k j what t\pc ue prefer in fiomncjs? Well, ■ heie ir 1-= Oui Jme i* a strong head, with I a !>la< k no-e , no fuirv wool; bone, but not I .i?si(-uoK sol up, and not o\erfod. In | coni'ii-Mon wo nuy -tate that wo have tof',iy rocened numerous crngratulations on the stand winch we have taken on this subject.' An Austialian farmer, formerly of Now, Zoaland. who \\ a- at the «lio\v piound, sajd that although they had the tnmmeis in Australia they had not reached the stage of development that has been attained in New Zealand. " I remember," he =aicl, '"a peculiar thing that occurred at Blenheim some years ago. A farmer look a Lincoln sheen and trimmed and fed jt to make it 10-ik like « Leicester. When the Blenheim show came round he entered it as an English Leicester, and it won the championship." Mr E. D. O'Rorke, who is a frequent visitor to the Home Country, and from his youth up has had a good deal to do with light hor-ps, informed a Dominion leporter that, "During the la^t few jears 1 I am mclinod to think, from eeneral ob- j sorvation and from the animal* I ha\r> had j befoie me when judging at •xariou* «hnws. i that the New Zealand hor^e has deterioiated, for one does not come across many of the biir upsiandina olas= like thoe in the Wangamii district 20 years ago Tho«e horses were a splendid class, with good hard bone. legs, and feet, up to weight, and with fine courage. I( i« now becoming more and more difficult to procure that type. This, I think, is ciuc to the export of some of our hei>t mares; the lack of encouragement given to those people who have gpod stallions, and tjje u«e of unsuit- j able sire*. I feel quite convinced that an ! importation of really good Arab stallions woud go far to help the improvement of ! the Xevv Zealand hor^e, ac fheir value lias been proved, on the remount breeding | farms in India and elsewhere. Many j stallions which have hereditary diseases arc allowed to travel this country and serve mares. This should bo stopped, and I think it is quite time breeders combined , with the Government to stop it. I am ' inclined to believe that the time has arrivpil I when stallions advertised 1 for public use , should be licenced after examination and , passed by a. board composed of practical breeders — who know the class of horses re- ' quired — and \ctcrinary surgeons." I