RURAL TOPICS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9042, 7 March 1908, Page 7

RURAL TOPICS.

'THE "FORWARD DELIVERY" WESSON.

THE HARDY BUSH FIRE

WINTER PROSPECTS

Stock purchased on "forward delivery" lines has, according to a local authority, now been almosb wholly received by those farmers who deal on that plan. "Speaking plainly," said a Masterton stock buyer to an Age reporter, yesterday, "forward delivery purchasing is a straight-out gamble on the part of a great many, and this season has shown that it is not always a profitable venture. For instanc?, 1 know of two young speculators who last month found themselves compelled to ilk send a line of 400 sheep to the yards, ,™ and on these their losses totalled nearly £l6O. Now these men never intended to hold the sheep—in fact they had not the accommodation— and through the market being flat at the time the forward delivery 'parcel' ""• was due they burnt their fingers pretty badly. However, there is the legitimate grazier who buys for fattening and other purposes, but through the drought he, too, has found himselt forced to sell at a very bad time, and some losses were very heavy. Now that pretty well all for- I ward delivery orders are fulfilled, the J market should steady somewhat, and J if the present rain continues suffici-1 ently long to give the grass a start, before the frosts set in, really good, sound-mouthed sheep will recover appreciably. Store wethers have bee'n ,-j* less demand than in previous years trough a fear on the part cf farmers that the frost may get in ahead of the rain. "It is believed," continued the buyer referred to, "that many thousands of the sheep taken out of this district this season are still being depastured on South Island runs, and have never been offered in open market. "I think a word of appreciation is due to the freezing companies for the way they have st)od to the farmer and relieved him of his second-rate 'fats,' when there was a superfluity of such, and it has undoubtedly helped a good many farmer" who might otherwise have been awkwardly situated owine: to lack of grass." Will the rain that has fallen quench -v flkihe bush fires? was asked. \v "It is very questionable, indeed," was the reply. "You townsfolk might be under the impression that the whole country side is participating in this rain, but the chances are that it is not. Now, en Thursday there was a fair droo of rain fell here, while out Weraiti way not a drop had fallen up to the time I came awaylate in the day. Then again, a bush fire dies hard in any ordinarily dry season, and this season every log in the country is like tinder. You would really be surprised how dry the bush and stump country generally is at present, and the rain will have to be ample enough to thoroughly saturate the dead timber for the bush and log fires to be considered no longer menacing." The opinion is current among agriculturists that the present year will see a lot of winter oats sown. Last : winter oat sowers had a bad The season was good up to a certain point, and fields were ploughed in plenty. Then came a rainy spell unprecedented in the recollection of the "oldest inhabitant," and while winter oats in one paddockwere six inches high, in the next paddock the drill waited in vain for a dry day to come when further crops could be sown. Grass seed sowing will commence almost immediately, and should the weather continue favourable, ploughing will be undertaken on an extensive scale. Last Saturday a farmer at Manaia was to he seen out with a team turning over furrows of soil as hard and shiny as it could well tie. Nevertheless the team made good progress over the ground, and now that the rain has come no doubt the farmer in question is congratulating himself on "getting in early." The chaff market is in a hypnotic state. Very few local farmers have done any deals with their grain, and *« the question is—to sell or not to sell; ''•^mwhether it were better to risk a rise f> ▼ and sell now, or to chance a fall and sell later on? The rain has been too tardy for many rape and turnip crops, but a few are looking capital. A late rape •crop on Messrs, Shaw Bros', property at Te Ore Ore is considered to be one ■of the finest in the district.

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