AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

At the annual meeting .of the Canterbury . Agricultural- and Pastoral Labourers ' Industrial Union it was de- 1 cided to ca'il a special meeting to con i sider financial arrangements with a view to taking a' case before the Conciliation * Council. The sheep returns place Wairoa County in the fourth place in the North Island? and tenth in the Dominion., It is- stated on good authority that' |he>GoTOrnment has taken. B*af£ -* Tun, ' of ~ ■about 1(^000 acres, for "cltiser :se*fFement. Most of- -the land is ,of- excellent 'quality, for grazing, and is cloee to the town of Wairoa, "Hawke's Bay/ - Mr Ernest j3hort, of Parorangf, intend» to make a trip to the great International " •Exhibition in Biieoos Aires, the capital of the Argentine Republic, next year. " Mr Short will take a number of sheep to the* Exhibition. A movement is on foot in the Auckland district, to bring- about .the sale of cattle by live weight. _ „ Mr Levy, th» big Waira'rapa apiarist, will have no less than between 1200 and 1300 hives going this season. Out 'of" onegroup of three hives last season, ho informed a Wairarapa- Daily Times reporter, h* took about 8001b of honey, one of the hives containing' 3001b. Several seasonsago- he took from a yard of 100 hives an average of ljcwt from each hive, or a total of 7£ tons, .but it is* not. he concluded, all profit by acy manner of means. A shipment of Japanese onions, which arrived at Auckland from Sydney-on AugusJ29 by the Wimmera, \#as. discovered by the- Government frnfr (Mr 4J. '" Ha-rnett) to be affected jvith Japanese onion 1 blight. The blight, which, it is stated, ba* noli been Known in Auckland before, is^a fungoid disease similar to potato blight in appearance. Out of ,600 cases 500 were condemned by the inspector and sent to | the destructor. 1 Mr A stan, chief Government agricuij tural chemist, when speaking on manures j at Palraersion North: "I will give you one i word of advice about buying manures and phosphates— that is. . don't be too mean with them. Don't be like- the man who. thought he was going to save money, and' fed his hens on a mixture of sawdust and' : pollard, and when the chickens came oufr ihalf oif them were woodpeckers." Recently-published »tatist:cs show- that ■- j sinee 1 1873 j. lemarkabk decline in the* sheep population of Germany, from 25 mil- ' iion -to ?£ million, has taken place, thedtorease being equivalent to about 70 per j cent. Pigs, however, are increasing very i rapidly, having numbered 22,147,000 m- • 1907, as against 12,174,000 in 1892. Horses in "1892 numbered 3,836 r OOO, but in 190T totalled 4,345,000, while cattle during the. 2,5 joars increased from 17,556,000 to 20,631,000, of which aggregate 10,967,000were, returned as cows. Among the illustrations this week is oneshowing the draught horses purchased ia [ the South Island, mostly in Otago, by Messrs Dalgety and Co. for Mr B. Short,, of Feildiuif, as the foundation »of a Clydesdale stud farm which Mr Short has decided to add to" his Rom-icy sheep and Hereford cattle collections. In this, as in other matters, Mr Short has displayed great enterprise, and has not hesitated about payinghigh prices for animals considered suitable. . He also recently commissioned Mr Hugh Hocken, flic well-known horse J judge, assisted by his able stud manager, j Mr John Winchester, to buy the best stallion obtainable in Britain, and also one, I two, or three other animals. Mr Short* ! agents, Messrs Dalgety and Co., have now i received a cablegram from Mr Hockoa stating that he is shipping by the steamer j Rimutaka (due here on October 19) a i Clydesdale stallion, a filly, a colt, and 1 throe mares. Mr CHv+cra, "mar.iger of -the Northern Wairoa Dairy Factory, received a'temptiiig.offer from the Agricultural Department? toact as one of the dairy instructors. 'In - . I order to retain us services the directors: j had to increase his remuneration, antf he- • is now aaid to be the hrgheit-aalAried dairy j factory manager in the Dominion. At thej meeting of the company it was stated that ! J. Hughes, a, Liverpool provision merchant, I with 70 shops in' different part* of - the^ ! North of England, had made a searching investigation- as to the quality of butterfrom 24 of the most important factories in- ; New Zealand, and had decided that tho- | n ost accept ible from the consumers' point of view was thiit from Northern Wairoa. and Thames Valley (Paerea). The firm in question had »3nt out a representative toeecure the output of the two factories named. The Thames Valley directors had, however, deciiled to consign before thearrival of the firm's representative. The directors of the Wairoa Company have deferred final consideration of the offer made Tha agricultural statistics of the Argentine show that during the year 1908* Hie evnoits wore :— Wheat, 3,636,293 tons; linseed, 1,055.649 fcms: maize, 1,711,805 tons; oats, 440,041 tons; barley, 19,905 tons; wool, 175,538 lons. Analysis of the lucerne plant shows that it rank's among th< best animals foodstuffs. . When the plant was coming into bloom the i analysis showed that it contained the fol- ! lowing percentages : — Protein, 18.47; fat,. j 1 14: carbohydrates, 64.04: water, 4.40; ash, 11.95. It may be stated that the value, of j the feedinsr stuff is measured by the quan'i tity of protein md that an increase itt .carbohydrates generally indicates a deterioration in its feeding quality. Pi^-breeders shouH bear in mind that - suckers in the spring are worth three timer the price they are in the autumn. Thosethat have sows to farrow early should see that they are kept in good condition and, make arrangements to have warm, watertight quarters when their time comes, as if a young pier gets chilled before it sucksit is fatal. There has always been money

Officials, dairy inspectors, expert 0 , instructors, msnaffers, dairy farmers, and medicaT men advot-ate the Hartnett milkinjr maer^ne. — Nitrmo an<J Blair.

in pigs, and there is h'kely to be belter if they axe well-bred and carefully looked ' after.