FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 264, 26 March 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Thk Weather and The Farm.—Two slight frosts occurred during the present week, but little or no damage resulted therefrom. The days have been delightfully warm, and growth continues good. Fair yields are being obtained from the threshing nulls, and consignments of this season's grain are now being railed to the city.

I Wheat.—Since the withdrawal of the ! representatives of the Southern millers (whose operations were, after all, but of a very limited character), the local market has weakened, and 4s Gd is not now to be obtained. It is not likely that Waikato has produced more grain this season than can be absorbed by the provincial and city mills, whilst Canterbury will have a large surplus to dispose of. Thus the future price in Waikato will to a large extent bended by Canterbury quotations (which in turn are directly influenced by those of Mark Lane), and a fair local price would bo the Canterbury quotations, f.o.b. at Lyttelton, plus 2d or 3d a bushel freight. At present the Canterbury market is very quiet, growers being firm in their determination not to accept less than 4s to 4s Id at country stations, and as buyers arc not inclined to operate at these figures a considerable quantity of grain is going into store. Buyers are not offering beyond 4s to 4s 2d, f.o.b. at Lyttelton, equal to 3s lOd to 4s at country stations. In Victoria, notwithstanding the general discontent amongst the wheat-growers at the price offered them locally, the export business on farmers' own account is not being entered upon with that promptitude and energy that would at once ensure the success of the scheme. From New South Wales 40,003 bags, equal to 170,000 bushels have already been exported to London, -Marseilles and the Cape, and, remarks the Mail, remembering that the requirements of Queensland this year are two million bushels, it will be seen that the reputed surplus in New South Wales will all be required before next harvest. + + +

How Wheat Pbices Abe Made.—A correspondent of an English exchange gives the following terse description of how daily wheat prices are made : " To-day, for instance, the markets are tame ; no one appears to want any wheat. The bears see a chance, and sell the market 'short.' To-morrow the scene changes; a real or imaginary demand springs up ; the bears get scared, run to cover, buy in their short stuff, and thereby break the market. The bulls get elated, and 'go long.' Next day the scene changes again ; the demand has disappeared ; the bulls take alarm, sell their long wheat, and thereby break the market. Only that and but little more, and thus arc daily prices made."

The Last Harvest : Comparative Results from Early and Late Sowing.—At the Canterbury Agricultural College the harvest work has all been completed, anil the yields of the different ci\jps ascertained. From the subjoined figures, it will be seen that there is a marked difference in the yields between the early and late-sown crops, the returns from the former being considerably beyond those obtained from the later sown fields :

Bshls. 5 acres Chevalier barley, sown .September, average yield per acre .. .. 10 21 i acres nonpareil wheat, sown May .. 30 10A acres white Tuscan, sown May .. .. 33 1)1 acres white Tuscan, sown June .. 30 luj acres Hunter's white, sown May.. .. 34 25* acres pearl, sown May 20 24A acres pearl, sown June IS 19l acres Sparrowbill oats, sown July .. b 7 11* acres Sparrowbills, sown September .. 13 8 acres duns, sown July 3f> 5 acres pigeon beans, sown September .. 20 6 acres dun peas, sown October .. ..11 ■J acres linseed, sown November .. .. 10 The total quantity of grain h rvested was 4398 bushels. The average yield of wheat per acre over an area of acres was 26 bushels, and of oats over an area of 38 acres 30 bushels.

Anthrax. —Anthrux is one of the most quickly fatal diseases to which sbeep are subject, and flockmastcrs must always hold themselves in readiness to deal with an attack. The first symptoms of the disease arc red eyes and swollen mouth and generally shortness of breath. If at this stage, the animal is drenched with a solution of Epsom Baits, 4oz. of tho salts being dissolved in half a pint of cold water, there may be hopes of recovery. Ten grains of quinine may be given one hour after and repeated in six hours. This is conveniently given in a little oatmeal gruel and poured down the throat. The swollen parts of the shoulders cr flank may be rubbed with camphorated spirit. + + +

A Good Food.—As there is every prospect of butter reaching a h : gh price this winter, it may not be out of place to suggest to che dairymen of tlrs district the necessity of using their straw to the best advantage. It has been found that 40lb straw, 201 b turnips, and Blb crushed oats arc about as good and cheap a food as cows can get for their daily wants. The whole mass be steamed thoroughly, and fed in t»vo m<a!s at equi distant in tervals. On this feed a cow will produce from 2751bs to 3251 bof butter in 300 days. There are various changes and combinations of this ration, such as a substitute of d fferent kinds of grain or bran, also a considerable advantage has been found from feeding linseed daily.

Purchasing Artificial Mancrk3.— The Tyneside manure merchants have issued the following warning to purchasers of sup 1 rphosphate :—The commercial value of a superphosphate entirely depends upon its gua'anteed mini mum percentage of soluble phosphate, though .all superphosphate of whatever strength contains at the very least 2 per cent, of lnsolub'e phospba'e. Some unscrupu'ous dealer?, however, by adding the soluble and insoluble phosphates together, convey an entirely false impiession (,f the strength of the manure, and securrc for themselves thereby at least au extra 2s 6d per ton profit. A superphosphate, for example, 2S to 30 per cent, soluble phosphate and two or three ditto insoluble phosphite, contains a total of 30 to 33 per cent, phosphate lime, but is on'y sold by tbe manufacturers as a 28 per cent, manure. Farmers are consequently warned against accepting invoices of this character which are usually intended not only to make the superphosphate appear of higher an alysis and commercial value than they really are, but to handicap the honest dealer who strictly retails the same strength ?s he himself purchases wholesale. This warning, however, doe 3 not invariably apply to bone manures.

Canned Meat for Klondike.—" Writing from Ottawa on January 4th, the Canadian corresponrlcnt of the Otago Daily Times says : —" I hope the people of New Zealand have not lost sight of the splendid commercial chances which will be presented to them in this great rush to the Klondike. The men who are going in must have their food in the most condensed and portable form, and this opens a way for the use of many tons of canned meals, Your people care in a position to supply these at cheaper rates and in more attractive form than any other packers I know of. Your mutton and beef in tins is very much superior to the article put up in Chicago, and the cost of c.niage from the latter point to the coast would probably be as great as that from New Zealand to Victoria, by way of tbe Canadian-Australian line. These steamers offer exceedingly low rates for north-bound cargoes, and it would seem that this Klondike movement is a very favourable opportunity for the in trod uc tion and prompt sale of vast quantities of your excellent tinned meats. It is not yet too late to take this matter up, and as one who is deeply interested in

the promotion of intercolonial trades I earnestly hope your people will set themselves to the task with becoming vigour. It is perhaps the chance of a generation Send diggers, but do not forget the meats and tinned goods eoneta'ly." + + + The I'/jo I'KFona Fa::.mer.—lt is hu«t seldom that ih- Brit »h farmer or hit friends will lulmi. that lie U in any eon dition but one of semi-bankruptcy, aud therefore the admission by a leading English paper that Irtish agr'culture is enjosably pospenusis as n vel as it is grat tying. Lass y.-ar is saiil 10 have been the most satisfactory year which litis Ivcu expeiienced for t«n \ens past, f no: for a longer period. Probab'y says the writer, " tin widespread satisfaction manifested in firming c'roles might le m;<re correctly attributed to the absences of adverse balances rather than to the appearance of consderable credit surpluses in the year's accounts," but on the other hand the future is ro garded vc y hopefully. The crops were not remarkably good. Tne average yield of wheat was below that of ths previous year, and bar'ey wis als - ) lighter, but oats give a letter return, and against the decreased yield of hops had to be placed the root crop, which except in the case of mangolds, was one of the best gathered f>r many yeatv. "Pi ices of grain were better all round than it ISOG, the higher uites being maintained throughout the year ; aud it is rcmaiked that it is a good few years sinca the corn section of the farm brought the crower so good a let urn in money as in 1897, the steadiness rather than the briskness predicted of the markets being accountable for this." The season was a good one for livestock, and disease was not troublesome The pedigree stock-breeding business was particularly satisfactory. Generally speaking, the past year is said to have left the farmer with fairly p'easant food for reflection, and with g. o 1 grounds for hope fo: still better times during the current year.

A Huge Dairy Farm.—A series of illustrated articles on Coolangatta Farm, New South Wales, described as the largest dairy farm in the world, has app'ared in Country Life. The farm is put of the Berry estate c-f 70,000 acres, founded in 1822 by Mr Alexander, who took up 10. COO acres iu the first instance, undertaking to keep and manage a hundred convicts by way of payment, and afterwards purchasing 60,000 acres. So successful was the undertaking that in seventeen years the population of the ettate numbered 3500. The estate now belongs to Dr. Hay, .and overs'Jo tenantfarmers are settled upon it. Soon after it came into his hinds the present pro prietor dee'ded to convert it, in effect, into one huge dairy farm, and there are now upon it a large central butter factory ;ni thirteen cream ries, which separate the milk supplied by the. surrounding farmers, and send the cream to the central factory, while the separated milk is taken back by the fanners. The number of cows milked is about 15,000, producing butter annually worth £IOO.OOO. The average return per cow is much higher than in tha rest of New South Wales, as the late Mr Barry pa : d great attention to the improvement of cows on the estate. Of the 20,000 cwt. of butter made last year, about half was sold locally, the rest being consigned to Messrs Weddel and Co.. London, fr-r sale in th e United Kingdom, where it has already acquabed a high reputation for its excellence. At Coolangatta, tie home farm, Dr. Hay keeps nearly 500 cows, and these are regularly tested, so that apy producing less than 500 gallons of milk, 200!b of buttc- per annum, may be weedul out. The latest development of the enterprise is the es'ablishment of a milk-condemii.g factory, capable of dealing with 2000 gallons of milk daily.

A " Striding '" Industky.—Dairy farmers ought to be convinced by this time that the dairying industry in Australia has made astounding progress. *' The wonderful strides that dairying has made " is so inevitable in all public references to tho subject, that any entetprising reporter might safely anticipate that it will occur, and " write it up " and get into type in advance. Under the circumstances it is painful to have to conclude that the phraso on which so many public men and writers ha?e lingered 60 unctuously will soon have to be dropprd. When men ppeak of the strides that the indut-try has made it must be presumed that they refer to the long steps towards prosperity that have been recorded, And t.eso entirely depend upon the returns that are received by the producer engaged in tho early morning, noon, and late night occupation of dairying. Well one of the greatest stride/ that the industry has made this season is the kind of advance that a man would make if ho stepped off tho top of the Sydney Post Office tower on to the George-street pavement. Australian butter has stepped downwards about 12s per cwt. in the London market, and this is decidedly the greatest, stride the industry has taken for a vear or two. Australian producers have been often told that they must produce as cheaply as possible, so as to shake the place of the Danes on the markets. Not long since a Irade journal in Sydney rejoiced at the probability of Australian butter being sold so low in London that it would givo the Danes a hard knock. Wei!, wo have gone down 12s a cwt. or thereabouts, but the Danes don't appear to be seriously staggered seeing that their butter remains 12s to lGs per cwt. above Australian. At tbe same time our butter is all right as fur as quality is concerned. The difference is that the Danes see that their butter is fold at something like its proper value at first hand, while we allow the second and third shoals of middlemen to absorb the producer*' profit.—Sydney paper.