THE NEW THRIFT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20084, 13 November 1930, Page 17

THE NEW THRIFT.

THE WOMAN ON THE LAND.

FARMERS' WIVES FACE NEW

problems.

(SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR THE PTIES3.) [By One of Them.] We hear much to-day of "the man on the land, of his problems, financial and agricultural, of his endeavour to meet changed conditions in the Home market, of his fight to maintain quality and production, and at the same time to reduce the cost of that production. That he is having £p grim struggle, all admit. That the odds seem heavy against him none denies. But what of the woman on the land? How i 3 she facing her problems? How does she meet the slump conditions which affect all classes of the community to-day? Perhaps it is dangerous to generalise, but from m.y own experihere, amongst the farm women who share my anxieties, my hopes and fears, there is a fine fighting spirit. With a humour akin to the grim jesting of the men in the trenches we defy fate, laugh at life—and carry on. We grizzle less, and work more—and what a variety of work we find to do!

In the Kitchen. Domestic help we have long dispensed with. We have learned to simplify living conditions in the home. We still coolc ample meals, but they are simpler in the making and loss exacting in the serving. Washing day, baking day—indeed all the routine of housewifery still demand our attention —with this difference: where, once they absorbed us, they have now become but part of our day's activities. It is not to "keep house" for the man on the land; to-day we face the fact that we must help him to keep a house over our heads.

The cry is always "Production and more production," and yet nothing is produced without labour. We have realised this, and, together with it, the depressing fact that labour costs are stiil too high in relation to the returns from them. We cannot, and do not, all become "women of the plough," but at least we do the work that was once "the hired boy's" job, while those of us who can still pay wages send our manpower out to till and toil, top-dress and harrow. Working Cheerfully. Oddly enough, we shoulder our new burdens on the whole cheerfully enough. I who once declared that I "had done with cows for ever," have to-day milked happily, rejoicing in the daily increasing yields. That butter-fat is at a very low level I cannot deny—but tile sun is shining, the grass is growing, and — well, that is enough to rejoice over, anyhow.

With prices for dairy produce so low we are careful that our cream is always finest. Our separators are beyond reproach, our cream well cooled. Anxiously we await the results of experiments with cheese. Our dairy exports must be above reproach. To-day we cannot afford to manufacture a second grade article. What was "good enough" in the days of careless plenty will no longer pass. The man on the farm knows that his cows must "test" well, and produce highly; that his mutton and wool must meet the requirements of tho'overseas trade. With newly awakened interest we help him to keep records of stock and flock, and use our judgment to aid his decisions.

Help From Poultry. We have carried this selective process to our poultry yard. The hen which "lies" more than she lays, is doomed. Here again the margin of profit is so l narrow that we cannot afford to keep boarders. Prices for eggs have been low, and many of us find it difficult to show even a small profit on our outlay. Some of us here, situated favourably as regards a town market, have shown a fair profit on table poultry. In the past we could count on a payable price from live-bird sales —at the present time dressed poultry alone shows a fair return—therefore we prepare our ducks for the tables of our fortunate city sisters. The knowledge that we are gaining, 3s per pair on our dressed ducks soothes the ache in our backs, is balm to painful fingertips. Profit in the Garden. Our garden has become a source of income also. From asparagus beds we' are able to make a very helpful contribution to the farm finance, while lettuce coming on to a bare market, for some weeks past, has paid the land woman for her work. Although vegetables in the height of their season do not bring big returns, early produce can always show a good profit. The first peas of the season, early potatoes which have survived the risk of frost, all these are to-day grown by the woman on the land. Flowers, too, while they add to the beauty of her home, can 1 be profitable, too. My tulip bed, which was a joy to look at, produced very payable cut . blooms. Various cut flowers, autumn berries, and kitchen herbs have a ready sale.

Small Fruits for Early Market. The hose is running on my raspberry canes. lam careful to do well by these, as I find raspberries pay me very well. Small fruits are all profitable to those of us who live near the market, and although the picking is tedious, the returns wil warrant the effort. We are learning "the new thrift,'' we women on the land. Clothes long discarded are brought forth and put to new uses. From velour coats, long out of fashion as a garment, children's, slippers are made ... and soon. Women's Institutes. , In this, connexion we owe much to the Women's Institutes, which have become Dominion-wide, and which have branches in even small communities from Auckland to the Bluff The institutes have demonstrated farm house-hold-economy in all its phases to the land woman. The arts and crafts which have been taught to country women have enabled many remote from towns to make profits from less perishable eods than poultry and produce. -The making of gift articles in leather, raffia, etc., has become a pleasure and a source of profit to many wives and daughters of the farm. From a cultnral point of view, institutes, women's branches of the Farmers' Union, the coming of radio, together with the advent of electricity, have made life for the women on the i land pleasanter and less shut off from I the gaieties of the city than was the woman's lot in the earlier farming days.

Victory Ahead. On. the whole the land woman of to-day is doing her bit nobly. - Against some the dice is loaded. Poor land, or land overpriced, reduced returns, and heavy taxation make it impossible for all to win out To those who struersle through there will come not only material gain, but also a spiritual profit born of the travail of these dark days.