THE FARM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 1, 26 September 1907, Page 11

THE FARM.

OUR DOMINANT -INDUSTRY. . WHAT THE' FARMERS NEED. A PROGRAM?,IE FOR THE FUTURE. LNTERESTNG TALK WITH SJR. GILRLTH. -What. ..do'.'- tlio of New Zealand most need? .Wo-admit — everyone must admit —th'at'in the past our Government experts have'helped . the farmers as -loyally' auil eiiergeti- - ' cally as experts- possibly could. Sometimes there have been those who regarded tlie departmental aids as hindrances and the improvements of methods 'as expen'sivo experiments. But,''in spite of errors in detail,' the results'on the whole have been to tho industry's good...Tot.much has beon left undoiio;, and to-day is uo time for resting on, pur 'oars.' .Wo are at the dawn of a day 'of fibrco rivalry, and only tho fittest-will keep at tlio front. . Every year sees our implements and machinery superseded,- by ' better articles, that cheapen,, Production; our host products affected .by discoveries that improvo quality'; our rivals eopy'ing, and, perhaps, improving'on, onr systeitis ol :: organisation '' it nil ''education and tariff - arrangements and bonuses in foreign lands-attacking our markets. Om policy must be one that will keep us ahead. Every improver mcnt miisf become promptly ours." Yv'c ■ are nowr in front, and,so long as- we id our duty to ourselves, and jealously -' safeguard our.good name, we can remain there. Our lands-are capable of producing what the world requires, snd we.havo thousands of would-fc select6rs-'unsottled. : It must be oiir policy'to settle these men promptly'on-, tho land;ivhilo-the product, of. their dormant) is ... still ip - demand. f We are oh a! flood-tido, (if .prosperity. The world wants to 1/uy tho butter' and cheese, the frozen meat and wool,;the fibre —even tho poultry and .apples.—..of New Zealand. We must, jettison without m/rcy. everything that 'discounts "our [production and limits orir trade in tfeso articles. What arc -these thingtf the weak points in our great- dominant industry?. Wo -V''' let qi;e answer that question whose words. ijvill be listened to with attention by' ill, bur farmers — one whose profession" takes him into tlio four comers of. the industry, and who is intir.iatclyy(associated, by instinct and family-history, with its requirements. . Vi'f refer to the Chief Government Veterinarian,'. Mr. Gilruth ' ' .'.tun Imiginary Farewell. . .Mr. .Gilrutl'iiwas asked. to imagine himself leavyg New. Zealand for ever —leaving ifc',with- regrets' due to old haopy assertions, aiid desiring, in a farewell .mcisagb, to;tell us our weaknesses 9ud 6ti.v. what ho. bolioved to be the most iigent improvements needed for the fuf&re. Mr. Gilnith replied that'one'of the ■ grcatestcvils.of the industry wa? that the in: many instances, only, setedly ,a farnior; He was first B Ho bought his farm to Bell" it again.. Ho wanted his rates . high,'.not low, 1 ' so that the prico of his land 'p'ight be high also. Ho' tried to maWlns money in a sale, rather than, out f tlie soil by farming: >- • •• /'Pie man," said Mr. Gilrutli, "who capers this description feels no.pride in.'/is, farm,'in the of' his Triflings', in the attractiveness of his . pifi-anco, or 'in the brightness of his ja'/den. A good garden on a farm is u iarity,. and'tho owner doesn't; caro eycii if it bo necessary to put on sea./boots to.'iraclfS across the yard. . The / harm of all this is that it prevents tho / sovis from staying' 011 the farm. In / England it is considered that'it takes a-fanner five years-to'find-out what / his. farm. can do. 111 .-Nov/. Zealand there are many farms that have never liad the same occupant for fire years. Feed-the Soli.; ■ " There are, somo dairy-farmers who . jear by .year tako off from.their .farms all t..at iho soil,will, produce,' but put little' or; nothing back. The productive power of. such land is thus continually diminishing.: This'suits the business of. land-jobbing, but it'will never build up a farming industry.. " Such a man sees in his soil only its£«lling possibilities' and its virgin value, which,, ho , extracts ss fast as he.can, returjiiiig nothing in the way of manure. In Britain a farmer often pays as much' f for manure as ho docs for rent. ; ." ... ; ':. Be Enthusiasts, . ■. > " There is no enthusiasm in agriculture. , Tho'.farmer:is often just a rule-of-thumb ■ man. ■ "Nearly, all the talk about agricultural education, and nearly all' the effort made to extend it, come, niot from'r-the farmers. butfrom the scientists and others who are not actually, engaged in, farming. That brings me to the educational system.

Begin"with..the Schoolmaster.. ! " I think in this matter wo should gtart, with tho schoolmasters. No schoolmaster :or schoolmistress should bo allowed to teach in a rural school without first possessing somq - knowledge of.,the ,elements, of . agriculture. !All the example's they use in their teaching should,, as far, as possible, relate to agriculture.. Instead of .basing their sums .on so many-yards of. tape,' t'noy,.should base'.them, on ,'f.so ' many pints;-of milk.' ■We are follow'-, ing too much the lines ''followed iii Europe, wbcro the circumstances are different: . Knro'po is a big workshop —a big factory,-manipulating finished articles. Our land" is, a big farm; producing "tho raw material; and our' educational similes and object-lessons should, tako that .into account—at least, in ths country schools. The . teachers , must be-'entliusiastic, and . then the children also will be entliu- . siastic, and through the children they will teach enthusiasm to tho parents. We must begin with, the normal school for' tna'tibnrs', who should have 8t least r.ne year of - their'training-in 3 tho country—on 4.11 axperirnentabfarm or rloinonstnition farm'.-'if you liko, b-ut any where so lons-as it is a'.good farm. ' It is strange that at-present the teachers in tha "country- are paid worse than those in' thu towns, iu spite of the drawbacks for themselves ■ and their children..

Experiments! Fields. ' , " The Department of Agriculture shoiild establish propor experimental fields in different districts, apart from the'experimental farms. This; 'would get the A, and I'. Societies interested, and;'they, could get two or thrc-o of their young, men tci' look after tho operations. A man. from thfc depart-;-..liio:it should lay down the plots and i ndirect the work, a'ri'.l the results in different districts' all'over the -country should be coi.ijjared: The director, of course, should be'a man trained in that ...particular.' line. He should bo a ccientific man, thoroughly trained in agriculture proved by examination. In fact, he should havr. t.ahen a degree in agriculture, ,'a'nd , be a D Sc. or a s!.ffc. He ijho'.iid' be able to thoroughly adi'ise the experimenter:-!, and thoroughly' appreciate i.he result*;. , and he n;i;st also, of course, lie, a practical man. '.0' 'liidorslaiui t.he '.liiiiculties. The Slate ■.■.•■•lel'-l, no -loub:. -.readily the sec! a in I manure, ai::i 'lay haif ih.j'cosr; the A. ami I' .Socie- »•' •'■♦"!' would ; pay the rest .the to .-.Ofut" til"' hue! ami the laboui Kerry. f IV.'.IM 'In';/!, l.ire si I r "Ji;';ur:icy, there ciiisi ' h<> Use

Tiio Old Men are the Vouns Men. " Tho farmers of this country have, of course, dono wonders — especially the pioneers. They are tlio men who arc tlio old men now, tlio men who havo made farming successful. Tlioy aro still tho men who are enthusiastic', they aro still tlio men who are attending lectures. Tho old men . aro to-day the ' young men tho men who are still doing-t-lia -best work for tho industry. Plant Trees. " Lots of our gullies ought to bo filled with trees. They aro unploughablo, and aro a source -of Hoods: I know a Canadian who got a good plantation of trees in a gully by firing seed into it from a cannon. • Timber will soon bo scarce, and when wo get a timber famine wo will be in a very unpleasant position, being so romoto from other "supplies. A farmer wants timber for..posts and shelter, and many other, purposes, 011 his farm, and - lie should provide. it» liberally. It should bo arranged that a man's timber .plantation should not be taxed till it is saleablo. On similar terms thoro should bo an area of untaxed native bush allowed to oyery farmer.- In Canada there are tree-planting.stipu-lations included in tho..conditions, of settlement.-; A..man gets 160 acres freo and another 160. acres if lie plants 10 per cent, of it in..approved,trees: In Oamaru the hill-tops could .well.be planted with trees, .. - The _ Forestry Division would doubtless assist., Keep the Milk Clean. "There are.two great stand-bys for New Zealand—(l) dairy produce, and (2) fat lambs. -In.eithor of these two branches.of,industry I don't think wo need • fear P.ompetition, so long, as wo keep up the quality. That is a sine qua 11011. It would pay the country to rofus.9 to export anything, but. tho best. It is admitted by everybody, that it is only waiit of skill or experience, or tho -meessary clean supply of milk, that presents 'any factory from turning out first-grade butter. ' If the ex-, port of inferior butter were prohibited, i.am quite sure every 1 dairy factory would, soon .1)6 able to turn out the very host. The Stato has dono much for tho industry, ever since the time when Mr. .V, Sawers made such a success of his position as first dairy instiucior in i'AO days of the old raw method?. It is now realised that the factories havo , reached almost their limit of efficici-cy: further adyancp must come. f.vora improvement at the sources of_ supply. There -is every reason to believe . that recent complaints of quality'were due to carelessness at tl-o dairies — in other words, to dirty milk, the 'only enemy' of the dairy industry to-day. Tho State should — and, indc-od,' intends to; — make it impc-ssiblo that anyone should supply to the factories milk which, by virtue of its bad condition, filth con-, tamiuation, cr disease infection, is likely to-deteriorate"'the quality of the factory's output, and thus do.an injustice to the other suppliers and'the industry generally. Tho Dominion has hitherto applied all. its efforts to improving the system.of manufacture, but has left the raw - material unimproved. This is now to be attended to. Victoria has within,.the last two years advanced tremendously ahead of the Mew Zealand practice in tiiis respect, and it is not wise for us to allow a sarious rival to outstrip us in this way. Test the Goivs. I " The average dairy'farmer is'not careful enough to get the most productive. herd ho can obtain. . Tho. experimental, farms are doing much in this direction, and showing the vaiue of the Babcock. tost'in. ascertaining the relative values of /the.,c.ows. v But .tho farmers should use this instrument, mucli more than they. do. .In. addition, farmers too often forgot, in choosing a good cow to breed from, to choose also a bull from a good milking strain for her, mate.. They, think of the bull only as a means of keeping the cow in -milk, and forget his influence on the future mombors of - tho herd, .'ilore caro should bo used in purchasing cows. When a farmer has more cows than ho wants, he does not sell his best.. Ho sells those that have tlio worst faults." Considering - that, an average good cow should give . £10 or £12 worth of butter-fat per year, one can hardly expect to.purcliaso the-best of a .herd for £i or £5.. The Sacrifice of Calves. "It is a great pity that.so many calves are killed annually. Of course, it hasn't paid in present conditions to keep thom, but one largo firm of exporters have informed me that it. is their intention to pay. a good sum — I' 2os. each — for a selected number of good hand-fattened two-months-old calves, and freeze theiii, in order to try tho market in .London. •If the trial proves to bo. successful, it will mean a market for at least tho nialo. cakes, which are at present considered useless, and the company deserve to be. highly commended for., their, endeavour to extend the market. Weakness.ln Meat inspection. " The wisdom of the. State's action in inaugurating a system of inspection of all meat exported was only thoroughly understood on the publication of the Chicago horrors. Undoubtedly, if it had 'boon in the power .'.of tho astute' 'Americans to point to Now Zealand .as having no system of inspection whatsoever — oven admitting theirs to ho incomplete—it would have greatly damaged our credit, in this reaprct. That the 'guarantee of health is fully appreciated in Great' Britain I had ample proof when I was recently at liome. Unfortunately, the State guarantee of health is also assumed to be a guarantee of quality, which is not tho ease at tho'present" time. - Hero, again, it doesn't pay to export inferior. quality, and' in justice to tho freezing companies' one must admit that it is but rare indeed that, this is done —except in a particular class of meat called ' boned' meat, regarding which' I have frequentlj" expressed myself in tlio reports. Fattening the Lambs. " So far as fat lambs aro concerned, the companies now practically refuse to export any hilt the best gradc-s. The lamb trade is 0110 that is advancing by leaps and bounds." There is 110 reason why all the sheep that can be spared annually should not be sent away as lambs instead-of'being loft as wethers. Many farmers now, who have land that suits, fatten off' their lambs 011 the ewes, having first produced crops that lend themselves to this system. After that they can buy the weaned lambs from other farmers, who are les3 favourably situated, and fatten them off 011 the later crops. That is not dono as much as it might be dono. - • Specialise. "In the Old Country the experience of time has shown that certain districts aro much more suitable for fattening than .lor breeding, and that.it doesn't pay' to attempt the latter. The reverse is also true of other districts that are..more suited for breeding than for fattening. These -circumstances have caused districts.to be known specially as breeding or fattening -districts as tho ease may bo. The same distinction nr.ght to die made in New Zealand. The West Coast, for instance, is suited for brooding, but not !'r::' fattening, hoc:u'.iie it is' too wet in the winter. Every farmer knows the best qualities of bio district, but up to n-'W they have not i.ol inl.-i the habit of speeiai- ! " Canterbury, of corns:', specialises