WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 9

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

After "a -week' of fine weather the land is drying'- up fast. On some The favoured patches where the Weather. soil is of a candy nature and '-. drainage good teams have been able to get to work, but on tb© heavier lands it will b» a few days yet before it wiO be fit to carry the horses. Although we are nearing September 1. there is no necessity to try to get oa tbe l»nd before it is 'fit, .except where it is inteeded to put in grass, . wjueh abouM. bY sows as early -as posnble thK month." 'At the- smote time, grasses .rebuke a; good, firm, w*dL-w©rked seed-bed, winch can only be Accomplished when the soil is thoroughly dry. We .hear -a number of* .reports that wheat ' will largely, replace oats oa TbeChoi«e the Coast, tbe same as In of€r*M- other parts of the Dominion. From personal observation and information gathered from farmers at fir3t band I have come to the conclusion that the extra area sown with wheat will not hs very great Even should the whole area in grain be put in* wheat it would only add a fraction to tbe Dominion's output, showing how infinitesimal grain production is here as yet. Thete are only six counties between Wellington and New Plymouth that have over HKJO acres in cereals— namely, Wanganui, 'Rangitikei, Oroua, and Manawatu, the figures feeing as follows: — Manawatu: Wheat 646 acres, oats 5962 acres. Oroua: Wneat 109 acres, oats 2521 acres. Rangitikei: Wheat 26H acres, oats -8742 acres. W&nganui; Wheat 362 acres, oats 951 acres. Hawea comes next with 107 acres wheat *nd 2964 acres onte, and Taranaki 132 acres wheat and 2150 acres oats. These counties aggregate '4044 acres aoder wheat and 22^290 acres' under oats. * The other 10 counties on the Coast average about 600 aores each. ' From this it will be readily seen that whet" may be done in this district can bare, no with regard to the export trade in grain. Of the total acreage under oats fully half is cut into chaff, which leaves only about 85,000 bags of oats to meet the' wants of one of' the largest and most populous districts in the'Doniinion. So far we b*v© been dependent "on the South Island — we may say entirely if we include the city of Wellington — for breadstuffe, and t&so for horse feed, and are likely to' be. so for some time to come, as population increases faster than the stumps can be extracted to make tbe land ploutghable. Every year tihe area of arable land is being added to, but it is *11 Utilised for' growing 'odder for. dairy corns ano" lamb-fattening. The question is being anxiously asked* Would it not be better in F«t " face of the outlook for Fat lamb*. lambs to sow grain instead of rape, kale, and other lamb fodder? By reports from tbe Wairarapa it seems that is not the opinion there, as there is likely to ' be. a laxgar area of rape sown there than usual, and that seems to be the best way of meeting the intricate and difficult question at issut- It is contended by come that tk<£'~bost way .o raise the price of lamb is to restrict the output. Certainly that might have fome effect, but it has to be . semem'bered that the present ootfgegt km on tbe Home- market is not due to any abnormal increase from New Zea land, as shown by the export return?. But supposing that restricted output did raise the price of those sent forward, what is to become of the balance o£ the lambs j bred especially for fat lambs? If >t were possible to keep them until they grow into mutton there seems no better prospect for mature meat than lamb, and although the outlook for wool ie better the fleece of the fat-lasaV J*eeds is light, and will not pay for their grazing. Eves supposing it ■would pay to'loeep the lambs the biggest factor of fill Jias to be met. How are we to find pasture* for any gr*atly-increa«d number of sheep? Owincr to the grand season that we have had feed is abundant, even with an increase of a million over last yeaa% but no one can foretell what the spring, and summer may. be, and from the 10 million, and over of, ewes now lambing we may with confidence expec to add another eight million of months that will have to be filled in another two . or three months. 'Cooking at the question from every position the oft-given advice holds good — when the prd.uct« of the farm are fit accept the market pi-ice of the day. Farmers throughout the Dominion are well advised to provide fodder, as the Wairarapa men are said, to be doing, to finish off their lambs as usual. - Besides, it has', to be -reroemtiered* that should "only" a million — * third -of last year's exports— be kept back, in al! probability a would lower the price of ©tore lambs 25 per cent., so that it will be better, to take 7s or 8s for a lamb fat than 4s~ or 5s as stores. Lambs have been sold at less than that in tho past, and may be again. At the annual meeting of the shareholders of the Wellington M.E.'Co. Welltajrton i* was clearly shown that Keat Export the company has been from Company. firat to last carried on in the interests of the meat producer, whioh should satisfy those who havo been blaming the -company for -tbe late low prices for irtrtton and lamb. This i« how Mr W. C. Buchanan, M.P., a director, and one of tihe original shareholders of the company, stated the position of directors. He said: "It was started as a country settlers' oompany, not to buy stock, but to ship stock on owners' aooount, and so badly was the company supported at first that there was no optioa bat to freeze for country settlers. Later on more capital was got in — from the country settlers, not from the town — to enable the company to increase the freezing power. As time went -on town investors, findiog shares in the market, bought them.

They did so with their ©yes open. They knew -the object with whicb ihe company i was started, and if they were now slightly • disappointed that the returns, for instance, had not been equal to those from the Gear Companj, he said deliberately that the management of the company from year to year had not- been to blame. The difference in ihe returns between the Gear Company and their w company arose mainly from the fact that at the time when the Meat Export Company had no -capital with which to 4>ay ,he Gear -Company had the field to ifeelf, and made profits that had never been possible since. Outside of its freeeing- business the Gear Company bad 1 sources of, income -that had never been in 1 possession of the Meat Expon, Company. The directors- of the,-latter company recog- , nieed its responsibilities to the. town share - | holders, and they had done their best to make the business oi the company a eneoess from the business point of view.." Further, Mr Buchanan said : "He thought that the record of dividends from year to year fox a good time post, had not been a bad record for non-business -men. He thought that the directors as a whole from time to-j time could offer a very fair comparison' to | the success of many oi the town business nwa," This reply of Mr Buchanan's was to, Mr EL Ba-loombe Brown, who, seconding .the • morion 'for the adoption of the report, saia he thought it was unfortunate that a> big company Kke theirs efeould bo controlled entirely by directors wiio were farmers And not business men. He ad-mitted-the capacity of- the men who oontrolledr it, but a man could not be s Jack of all trades. He suggested to the directors that they should consider whether, when a vacancy occurred, some well-known local business man t ehould net be appointed. The principle that there was *iever to be a business man, on the board, but that it wits to consist exclusively of farmers, who could not know the ins and out of business to iho. fuileet extent, had induced one man to cell out his ©hares. Dr Knight followed in the same strain, ending by saying : "It was high time that they came out from the bondage of the shepherd kings. Each director as -an individual did his utmost for the company, but it was not sufficient that only one class should b? represented on the board." It was aojntcd ou* that out of 35,000 shares' 'n fcb? company 14,000 were> owned by town residents" who had no voice in the control of the company. This demand of the town shareholders for a - say in the management for the purpose of increasing the dividends at the expense, of the farmer will— or, at least, should — have a good effect, although not in the way intended, but by farmers rallying round what is in reality a co-operative farmers' freezing company *nd buying lip whatever townheld shares, come on the market, and thereby make "sicear" that the company will never be exploited at the expense oi the producer. The- non-supplier shareholders have nothing to complain of, as the dividend for years past has been 8- per oenfc. "until within the las' six months it had to be reduced to 2 m cart., -instead of 4 per cent., which was fair interest considering the cheapness of money until last year. The Feilding A. and P." Association is nothing if not progressive. At F«i!dtor the last monthly meeting of . - *• •***"• the committee it was deAuodatjM.. cid€< j to jj^ a hopjQ jxtr&de • 'on September 17 in Gorton and Son's paddock next bbc saleyards at F^ilddng'. For .years past, the Manawati* A. and P. Association have- <he!d a horse parade on their grounds at Palmefston, but for some reason "farmers took little interest in the matter, which is to he deplored, as at a parade, when the horses are brought together, the breeder nae a better opportunity of making a selection. As the day fixed - for the parade a* Feilding is eale day, there is sure «o be a iarge gathering of farmers within, a radius of 20 miles, which should entice horse-owners to eater for exhibition. As a matter of fact, horee-owne*s have for years made a point of parading on the road round the saleyards, so that now they will have a better opportunity of showing in. order. . A.NTTQUA OVIS.