FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1920, Page 8

FARM AND DAIRY.

ATJSTBALIA'S RECORD HARVEST. Reports received by the Australian Wheat Board from the wheat-growing States indicate the probability of a record yield. Members of the board at the meeting recently were unanimous in the belief that the harvest would greatly relieve the financial stringency in the Commonwealth and establish a good balance of trade in its favor. Consideration was given by the board to the question of the formation of the pool, and the establishment of controlling organisations, in view of the determination of the four wheat-growing States to acquire compulsorily the whole of the wheat within their'borders, and to handle the 182021 crop practically under existing pool conditions. The Commonwealth authorities have been asked to appoint a representative on the new board. Among the questions discussed were those of chartering, selling organisations, and control. It was pointed out that all tho wheat must be sold in cargoes from day to day, and that trade conditions should operate to the fullest possible extent. Further details of the scheme will be discussed to-morrow. ' The representatives on the new board will be men for Agriculture, and a growers' representative from each State. In the event of the Federal Ministry joining, there will also be a Federal representative on the board. In a statement recently, the Federal Assistant Minister (Mr. Rodgers) laid stress on the need for prompt* and decisive action in regard to the harvesting and marketing of the coming crop. He said that it was of the utmost urgency that a controlling body with statutory authority should be at once constituted to deal with the coming harvest. The Australian Wheat Boards no longer had power to deal with flie new crop. Already inquiries for new wheat were being received from overfcas. and to obtain the advantage of the world's; high values for the.new wheat, forward sales should now be made. It was safe to predict that the bulk of the export wheat of the coining year would have to be sold on a ci.f. basis, tlius placing the obligation to find shipping upon the controlling body at this end. Willi forward sales and the securing of ample .shipping, the wheat should be moved continuously from the eommence,ment of the harvest, and the strain of finance would be lessened. Immediate action was essential.

In conversation with a reporter at Masterton, Mr. Robert W. McLaren, who has been eighteen years in the Argentine Republic, stated that good grazing land in that country could be bought af from £ls to £2O per acre. The cattle raising industry had enormously developed in recent years, and attention ivas also being paid to sheep. A big percentage of the cattle were Shorthorns, and the sheep were principally Rqmncys and Lincolns. When he left in June last, beef cattle were selling at an average of C2ii to £27 for a 7001b or* 8001b beast. Wether sheep were fetching from 3;V, to 4os per head. In the retail shops, hoof was selling at from 10d to Is 3d per lb, and mutton at about the same price as in Now Zealand. The cost of living in the best hotels in Buenos Ayres, where there was a population of about two millions, was from 23s- to 30s per day, Butter was selling at from Is fld to 2s per lb. The railways are chiefly run by British companies, and a large portion of the capital invested in the Republic was British. Petroleum springs were being worked by the Government in the south of the republic. There are very few secondary industries in the Argentine, which is essentially a stock-raising country. The Government has fiscal land for sale in the back country, but so far there lias been Wtle demand for it. There are vast areas stlri capable of improvement. The export trade has enormously increased in recent year*. There are about fifteen freezing works in operation up the river. The labor employed on the estancios ts chiefly Spanish. Alfalfa, or lucerne, is the chief cattle feed in the Republic,

In the course of an interview with a representative of a Masterton paper, Mr. Robert McLaren, a New Zealander, who has been managing an estuncio in the Argentine Republic for the last fourteen years, stated that the Swifts and Armours had been operating in tho Republic for ten or twelve years, and the producers had not suffered. On the contrary, they were receiving higher prices for their stock than ever before. There were no signs of a monopoly, and no attempt had been ma-de to squeeze out other firms. The competition had been good for the country, Mr. McLaren did not think the New Zealand farmers- had any reason to fear the American firms. He slated that he was of opinion that in view of the necessity for /rpsh markets New Zealand should encourage (he American' firms by giving them a license to export.

As showing the* value of lucerne as a fodder, Mr. W. ShirTcy mentioned to the Kketaiuma Express that a paddock of bis at Martinborough last season gave I three cuttings, which at £lO a ton, which could readily lie obtained for it. L'livc a gross return of. £<io per acre. An excellent performance has been rc- , corded on behalf of a pedigree Friesian 1 cow, the property of Mr. Vernon Marx, ,of Mnngatoki. The cow in question is j Alcarta Clothilde Pietje, and the test oxI tended over exactly one year. During ' this period tiie cow produced 23,01 libs 'of milk, and 842.71 ibs of butter-fat. The greatest quantity of milk given in one day was 031bs, and the maximum yield of'butter-fat for on 0 . day 3.341b5. This record is the more remarkable from (lie iact that, while milked for the first two | months on her four quarters, at the exj pirntion of that time the animal met ' with an accident and lost one quarter, milking on only three for the remaining period of the test, viz., ton months. This is probably the best performance ever put up by a cow under similar condi- , lions, says the Eltbam Argus.