Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 6 August 1910, page 4


FARM & STATION

orr-**

DATES OF AGRICULTURAL

SHOWS.

The undermentioned dates have, under the constitution of affiliation, been fixed by the Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia as governing body:

Irwin.-Wednesday, September 28.

York.-Tuesday and Wednesday, October

4 and 5.

Greenough.-Wednesday, October 5. Beverley.-Friday, October 7.

Northam.-Tuesday and Wednesday, Oc-

tober 11 and 12.

Geraldton.-Wednesday and Thursday, Oc-

tober 12 and 13.

Pingelly.-Tuesday, October 18.

Narrogin.-Thursday, October 20.

Moora.-Thursday and Friday, October 20

and 21.

Kelmscott.-Monday, October 24. Wagin.-Tuesday, October 25.

Toodyay.-Wednesday, October 26.

Katanning.-Thursday and Friday, Octo-

ber 27 and 28.

Swan.-Saturday, October 29.

Perth Royal. -Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,. November 1

to 5.

Williams.-Tuesday, November 8. Cannington.-Wednesday, November 9.

Kojonup.-Wednesday, November 9. Albany.-Thursday, November 10. Murray.-Saturday, November 12.

Bunbury.-Thursday and Friday, Novem-

ber 16 and 17.

Gascoyne.-Friday, November 18.

Bridgetown.-Thursday, November 24.

Busselton.

AUTUMN SHOWS.

Donnybrook.-Wednesday, March 1, 1911. Mt. Barker. Jarrahdale.

Jandakot.-Wednesday, February 15, 1911. Lower Blackwood.

Wanneroo.

NOTES.

The weather at Ravensthorpe is showery. The rain has been of little value to the dam, but splendid for the crops.

The near completion of the Chapman railway is causing great jubilation, and pre-parations on a grand scale are in progress for the opening.

The crops on the hills and slopes at Katan-ning look well, but those on the low-lying lands have suffered somewhat from excessive moisture.

The continuous wet weather, coupled with the unusually heavy traffic, occasioned by the carting of sleepers, has transformed the Albany-road at Bedfordale into a veritable mud puddle.

Owing to the rains at Chapman, many farmers have had to suspend ploughing operations on account of the boggy state of the ground, and although it is rather late for seeding, the apparent risk is counter-acted by an anticipated extended season.

Mr. Harden, of Albany, has purchased Mr. James Hicks's valuable property at the Nindinups, and intends settling there very shortly. Mr. Hicks has secured a property at Pootenup from Mr. W. S. Ferry, and intends to devote his future time to sheep farming.

Sir John W. Benn, after a tour of Argentina, addressed a meeting of the London Chamber of Commerce last week. American trusts, he said, were making huge efforts to capture the Argentine frozen meat trade, but he believed they would not succeed.

Mr. Israel Zangwill, the well-known author, confirms a statement published in the "Jewish Chronicle" that the Go-vernment of Western Australia is con-sidering his proposal to purchase land upon which to settle 1,000,000 Russian Jews.

Many prospective settlers are inspecting the Bowes Estates, and every scrap of in-telligence concerning the Government's in-tentions is being eagerly sought for. Ex-perts claim that there are thousands of acres in this property, which for agricultural purposes outclass any other portion of the

State.

The report of the State Guarantee Ad-vances office (N.Z.) shows that 4,131 applica-tions for loans under the Advances to Set-lers branch had been received during the year. The amount applied for was £1,539,150. The actual advances made number 2,745, and the amount was £1,095,120. The total sum advanced to the end of the financial year totalled £9,025,275.

In the Police Court, Norseman, four persons have been prosecuted for cutting green timber and bushes within the State forest reserve. Mr. L. L. Crockett inflicted penalties of £1 and costs in each case, and

intimated that the fines in such cases in future would be heavier. He also said he was pleased to notice the efforts of Corporal Foulkes and the police in protecting the young timber adjacent to the town.

Mr. John Heath, manager of Mr. T. H. Wilding's property at Badgeting, met with a serious accident last week. While he was taking a heavily-laden waggon from Mecker-ing to Badgetting, the wheel went into a rut and jolted him off, the two near-side wheels pasring over his body. He was taken to Meckering and examined by Dr. Webster, who ordered his removal to the Northam hospital.

July was a very wet month at Beverley, 5 inches having fallen up to the 28th ult., and 1,520 points up to the same date for the year. The crops on low-lying land are feeling the effects of continual rain, and a spell of warm weather would be bene-ficial. Fallowing is still being hampered owing to thceboggy nature of the ground,

and the majority of the farmers are anxi-ously waiting to commence, to enable the larger areas for fallow to be done before

shearing.

The rainy season seems to be one con-tinuous downpour this year. In July 878 points of rain fell at Mount Barker, which is the highest for any one month recorded at Mount Barker. Since May 1 1,961 points of rain have fallen. The hope is expressed that "Wragge's drought" will be experienced from now onward for at least a month. The country is absolutely waterlogged. Great difficulty is being experienced by the mail contractors in crossing the rivers on their respective routes.

A Mount Barker correspondent writes; -Mr. George Clifford has sold his property on the St. Werburghs-road, and intends leaving at an early date for Victoria, where he will in future reside. Mr. Lilford has

taken a great interest in all things apper-taining to the welfare of the district. He is also a practical mechanic of some consi-derable merit, more especially in the machi-nery line. lt is staled that he is going East under appointment to a well-known farming machinery company.

All creeks near Northampton are running, and low-lying lands are saturated. In the newly selected areas where old tracks have been crossed by new fences travellers have difficulty in driving over the new unmade roads, and spade for digging out purposes forms part of every loading. It is calculated

that only two-thirds or perhaps less of the acreage intended for wheat will have been planted, and besides this loss there is a further one on the outlay made for fer-tilising material that will now be an encum-brance till next season.

There was a fair attendance at the Build-ers' Exchange, St. George's-terrace, last week, when Messrs. Dalgety and Co.,

Ltd., submitted to auction the Edmund Station. 200 miles from Carnarvon. The property contains 160,000 acres of leasehold

country, and has running on it 700 head of mixed cattle and 73 horses. A fair amount of improvements have been carried out, including the sinking of seven wells. The bidding was good, and eventually the station was knocked down to Mr. W. Fettbach for £4,000.

The American Vice-Consul afc Sydney re-ceived a telegram from the Premier of Western Australia stating that there had been no pleuro-pneumonia in that State for 18 months, and protesting against the quar-antine in the Philippines as applied to cattle shipped from Western Australia. The substance of the telegram was transmitted to the Governor-General of the Philippines, who has replied that pleuro-pneumonia had been discovered in cattle shipped from Wyndham, and that, therefore, quarantine still applied to Western Australia.

The success of the Western Australian shipments of fruit to London this year has attracted the attention of the large fruit salesmen there to this State. Mr. Boss Walker, who represents Messrs. Edward Jacobs and Sons, of Covent Garden, Lon-don, is now touring the South-Western districts. and by the Mooltan, which reaches Fremantle on the 16th of this month. Mr. A. Duthoit, who handles large quant-

tities of Australian fruit in London each season, will arrive, and proposes to visit the various fruit districts in order to see

what progress is being made and to ascer-tain the prospects of the orchard industry

Owing to the flooded nature of the brooks between Nannup and Balingup traffic along the road has been suspended, and the mails are being conveyed per road to Busselton, The Nannup-Balingup telephone is working

in a faulty condition, and no slight in-convenience is being felt. As a result of this unsatisfactory condition of affairs, an effort is being made to have direct tele-phonic and mail communication with Bus-selton. This would be much more conveni-ent and quicker for the great majority of the residents, and owing to the nature of the country there would be little or no likelihood of interruption taking place.

The committee of the Northam Agricul-tural Society are hard at work making the

final arrangements in connection with the stock parade on August 10. and the annual show on October 11 and 12. The offer of Mr. W. H. Lawrence of a special prize of one guinea for a horse-shoeing competition at the show has been accepted. In view of the big prizes offered in the draught stallion section at the show it has been

decided to appoint three judges, each to come from a separate district, so as to ensure absolute impartiality in their deci-sions. The special prizes offered for the

same occasion for Western Australian cross-bred ewes with lambs at foot are also ex-pected to lead to keen competition.

An adjourned meeting of dairymen em-ployees was held at the Claremont

Hotel, Claremont, for the purpose of forming a union to improve their work-ing conditions. The meeting was largely attended. It was resolved to form a

union, to be called the Dairymen Em-ployees' Union, and 21 new members were enrolled. The following officers were elected :-President, Mr. J. Innes ; vice president, Mr. S. Jeffrys; treasurer, Mr. D. Cox; secretary. Mr. Joseph Fabre; trustees, Messrs. T. Taylor, W. Thurley, and R. Bentick; committee, Messrs. R. McLaughlin, G. Woollans, S. C. Wilson, F, Bickwith, W. Johnson, M, Chapman, and J. Tonduit.

Exports of Australian wheat and flour to oversea destinations from December 15, 1909. to the 23rd ult., are officially stated at 35,942,384 bushels wheat, 880,650 sacks flour, or a wheat equivalent of 40,169,504 bushels, valued at £7,850,000, against 32,063.449 bushels, value £6,360,000, for the corresponding period of the previous year. Approximate shipments from the different States are officially stated as follow :- .

Wheat. Flour. From- Bushels. Sacks.

Western Australia .. .. 1,850,000 9,720 New South Wales ; ;. 7,907,000 158,000-, Victoria .. .. ... .......:. 11,524,842 482,200 South Australia ........14,660,542 230,730.

'--...Total. -............v- 35,942,384 880,650 The settlers in the Capel district are

asking the Government to clear land for

them with their traction engines, on the came lines, as is being done at the Ludlow Pine Plantation, It is realised that this method is far more effective and cheaper than any of the mechanical devices so far offered to settlers. A number of those in-terested are prepared to pay the Government cash for the work, if the amount asked is reasonable, and there is no doubt that many others would be glad to make similar arrangements. It remains to be seen whe-ther the authorities will take this oppor-tunity of aiding the people already on the land, those who have had to rough it, or whether all the assistance is to be reserved for those whom they hope to attract to

our shores.

A notice appeared in last week's

''Government Gazette" to the effect that the non-cultivable Crown lands

in the South-West and Eucla divi-sions will be made available for selec-tion under grazing lease conditions on and after Tuesday, August 16. It is pointed out by the Lands Department that there must necessarily be delay in the classification and survey of lands ap-plied for under grazing lease conditions unless the services of additional survey-

ors can be obtained, as all the surveyors in the department are at present fully

employed on the survey of land for agri-cultural settlement, which must take pre-cedence of surveys of lands selected under grazing lease conditions.

A pleasant day was spent at Goomalling

at the local public school, the occasion

being the celebration of Arbor Day. During the morning the children gathered in the

school, where they were addressed by Mr. A. J. Hoddy (visiting officer), Mr. Plaisted, and Rev. Mr. Bull. The addresses were in-terspersed by several songs and recitations by the children. ln the afternoon the schoolmistress, Miss Dunn, asked Mesdames

Glass, Davenport, and Lloyd, Nurse Sunter,

and Miss Fyffe to plant trees in the school ground. The ladies in planting the trees referred in high praise to the care and attention given to the scholars by Miss Dunn. Sports for the children were then

carried out, under a good committee. After the sports had concluded trees were planted at the teacher's residence by Mesdames French and Powell, the Messrs. Lloyd, Da-vies. Rule, and Hoddy, and Master Davies.

In the House of Representatives last week Mr. Livingston (S.A.) continued the discus-sion on Mr. Atkinson's (T.) motion that in the opinion of the House the Common-wealth should forthwith take over the in-spection and effective control of produce passing from State to State. He said that such an inspection was required in the in-terests of Producers. There was a large quantity ot produce sent from South Aus-tralia to Western Australia, where this would come in. He hoped :that the Govern-ment would see that there was free inter-change between the north and south of Australia. Mr. Greene (N.S.W.) thought that the.motion went too far and that some control should be left in the hands of the State. Mr. Joseph Cook (N.S.W.) said that the matter had been discussed in the previ-

ous Parliament, when it had been decided that it would not be wise to abolish all State control. The debate was adjourned.

The annual meeting of the Benjaberring Progress Association was held on Satur-day week, at Mr. J. P. Stratton's Goulburn Valley Farm. There was a large attend-ance. The following officers were elected: Mr. J. S. Carter, president; Mr. R. S. Newbold, vice-president; hon. secretary. Mr. J. P. Stratton; treasurer. Mr. H. Skewes; committee, Messrs. B. Evans, W. Grace. C. Hebb, C. Thomas. W. Davis, A. Lowrie,

and J. Riches. It was decided that the As-sociation should meet on the last Saturday in each mouth. The construction of roads to sidings aloug the Dowerin-Merredin line was discussed, and it was decided to ask the Roads Board to clear a road for a dis-tance of ten miles north and the same dis-tance south from Benjaberring, Wyalcatch-em, and Korrelocking Sidings. It was also

decided to ask that the town site reserves adjacent to the sidings mentioned be sur-veyed into blocks suitable for business people.

A pruning, grafting, and budding de-monstration under the auspices of the Darlington Progress Association, took

place in the orchard of Mr. Dreghorn, on Saturday afternoon last (23rd instant). Between 60 and 70 visitors were present. The experts of the Agricultural Depart-ment, Mr. Hutcherson, on fruit trees, and Mr. Lankester, on vines, were kept busy the whole afternoon demonstrating and explaining matters to the interested spectators, and answering the many questions asked. Mr. Watt, a

local fruitgrower, also demonstrated, and explained the methods followed by him-self. The demonstration was an unquali-fied success, and the chairman, on behalf of his Association, and the visitors pre-sent, expressed their gratitude and in-debtedness to the gentlemen named for the very valuable and instructive lessons given.

The opening celebrations of the Gnowan-gerup Agricultural Hall took place on July 20. The building committee were

unfortunate in their choice of a day, as adverse weather conditions prevailed, and greatly interfered with the success of the function. The football match had to be

abandoned, owing to the slippery and slop-

py nature of the ground rendering play impossible. However, about 4 o'clock a break occurred in the weather, by which time a fair number of residents and visitors from neighbouring towns began to arrive Mr. Bell, the secretary of the building committee, asked Mr. Arnold Piesse, M.L.A., lo declare the hail open, and in doing so presented to Mr. Piesse a silver key, on behalf of the building committee, as a memento of the occasion. Mr. Piesse, in declaring the hall open, congratulated the residents of the district on the possession of the building. When the doors were thrown open a well-served dinner was wait-ing within for all whose appetites were made keen by the bracing air outside. The ladies were kept busy waiting at the tables until the whole of the food supplies were exhausted. A concert in the evening, under the direction of Mr. Piesse, M.L.A., was well attended, extra seating accommo-dation having to be provided.

The annual meeting of members of the Bedfordale Agricultural and Horticultural

Society was held at Bedford Hall during last week. The president (Mr. A. J. Egan) occupied the chair, and there was an attendance of about 40 members. The an-nual report gave a resume of the work of the past year. The balance-sheet, which in conjunction with the report was adopted, showed the receipts to have been £89 11s.

8d., and the expenditure £86 3s., leaving a balance lo credit of £3 8s. 8d. The chair-man informed the meeting that the last instalment of purchase money on the piano

had been paid, and the instrument was now the property of the members. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the retiring officers, and all who had assisted the society in the past year. The election of officers resulted as follows:-Patron, Sir John For-rest ; president, Mr. A J. Egan ; vice-presi-dents, Messrs. M. H. Jacoby, V. Hamersley, G. Throssell, J. Hawter, G. F. Marsh, J, T. Smith, and L. Butcher; committee, Messrs. Ryniker, Livingstone, Duncan, Saunders Skewes; treasurer, Mr. D. Waters; auditor. Mr. J. S. White; secretary, Mr. J. H. Champion; trustees, Messrs. Cross, Marsh, Waters, Smith, Egan. The ladies having handed round refreshments, a couple of hours were pleasantly spent in harmony and dancing.

Mr. T. Boss Walker, representing Messrs. Ed. Jacobs and Sons, fruit brokers, London, is again on a visit to Western Australia. He left Perth recently to address meetings of growers at Bridgetown, Preston, Donnybrook, Boyanup, Harvey, Pin-jarrah, etc. Mr. Walker spent a fortnight in this State last September, on the invitation of tho Central Fruit-growers' Association, with the object of interesting the local fruitgrowers in the

export trade and of disseminating infor-mation with regard to the oversea markets and the way to get fruit up for disposal in them. Largely as a result of his visit some six or seven thousand cases of apples and pears were shipped to London and Hamburg, and, as may have been seen from the returns, the results exceeded all expectations, Western Aus-tralian fruit realising many shillings a case higher than the bulk of that shipped

from the Eastern States. He is now here to fulfil a somewhat similar engage-

ment to that of last year and to do what he can to further develop the export trade from Western Australia.

A statement by the secretary of

the Royal Agricultural Society (Mr. Theo. R. Lows) suggested that fruit-

growers in the State had not availed themselves as they might have done of the opportunity of sending exhibits of

their produce to the fruit section which had been added to the Royal Horse Par-ade now in progress. The president of the Western Australian Fruitgrowers' Association (Mr. Jacoby, M;L.A.), said that it was all very well to say that fruitgrowers had neglected an oppor-tunity, but it had to be remembered that they were a busy people, that they had little time just now for arrang-

ing exhibits, and that moreover they had little to gain by sending in exhibits at all. If the Society, which had a paid staff as against the honorary staffs of the various fruit societies, had approach-ed growers and guaranteed to make the growers had been approached in that way. For the mere gain of a few certi-ficates it was not worth any grower's while going to the trouble and expense of sending down and arranging exhibits himself. He could get along without

the advertisement.

"Dalgety's Wool Review for 1909-10" says: 'The information tabulated hereunder, covering a period of years, showing the num-ber of fleeces per bale and number of bales per 1,000 sheep, demonstrates how many more bales are now filled by the wool from 1,000 head of sheep than was the case, say, ten years ago. Compiled in accordance with latest sheep returns, the comparative state-ment referred to is as follows :

Year. No. of sheep No. of bales

and lambs' per 1,000

fleeces sheep, per bale.

1896- 7 .. 59.65 16.75

1897- 8 .. 60,08 16.64 1898- 9 .. 59.62 16.76 1899-1900 . 57.95 17.25 1900- 1901. 55.88 17.89 1901-2...... . 55.42 18.04 1902-3 ....... 51.36 19.46

1903-4. .. ... 55.51 17.09 1904- 5 ...... 52.70 18.97

1905-6 .. ... 50.27 19.89 1906- 7.. .. 49.65 20.15 1907- 8 .. . 51.72 18.97 1908- 9.. .. 47.79 20.92 1909-10.... 46.49 21.51

"These figures point to the improvement in the hocks brought about by careful culling and selection, but the decreased amount of wool now put in a bale is important."

"Dalgety's Wool Review for 1909-10," re-ferring to the results of the English sales, states:-"Values for all and every grade of wool have been on a high plane, with the result that the average price per bale for wool sold in Australasian markets has been £13 12s. 2d., or £2 5s. 4d. more than in the previous year. The total value of the 1,889,745 bales sold has been £25,712,774; and even presuming that the portion of the clip which has been sent direct to London for sale has only made a like average, the net gain in wealth to Australasia from wool alone will have amounted to

£33,128,496 as compared with

£25,950,912 for the preceding year,

£28,768,952 for the year 1907-8, and £29,685,740 in 1906-7.

"In over four years Australasia has ex-ported £115,534,100 worth of raw wool, in addition to well over £1,000,000 worth re-tained for consumption, and in these figures no allowance has been made for wool ex-

ported on skins, or in the form of 'tops,' i.e., wool partially manufactured. As a mat-ter of fact, the monetary return from the exportable surplus of Australasian wool for the past year will be considerably greater than the figures quoted, for the simple rea-son that the proportion marketed in London will net considerably more per bale than that sold in Australasia, because the market has been a rising one, and also because the wools sent forward to London for sale con-tained a large percentage of scoured, and practically no farmers' wools or odds and ends of station clips."