FARMING AND COMMERCIAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1207, 16 August 1911, Page 8

FARMING AND COMMERCIAL.

A. & P. CONFERENCE. FIRST DAY'S WORK. ARE THERE TOO MANY SHOWS? SCIENCE AND THE FARM. ' Tho ninth biennial conference of the Agricultural and Pastoral Associations of Xew Zealand was opened in the Chamber of Commerro yesterday morning, Mr. D. D. Macfajlane, Canterbury, presiding. T.ho delegates present were as follow. — Ashburlou, Messrs. J. Stringfellow and \V. Anderson; Auckland, Messrs. J. G. Rutherford, E. D. O'Eourke, and Edwin Hall; Canterbury, Mr: D. D. Macfarlane, Sir George .Clifford, Messrs. C. W. Reid, and 0. B. l'embertoiw.Egnionf, Mr. ().*- wald Huwken; Franklin, Mr. James l'otter; Ellesmere, Messrs. J. Lockhead and J. Cunningham; Feilding, Messrs. Eruest Short and Hugh Burrell; Hawke's Bay, •Messrs. A. H. Russell and It. D. i). M'Lcan; Kiiikoiira, Messrs. ('. M. liruee and E. A. Maud- Masterton, Messrs. \V. Perry and D. M'Gregur, jim.; Mnnawatu, Messrs. A. Conway and S. R. Lancaster; Mar)borough, Mr. if. M'Arlney; Northern (iinngiora), Messrs. .T.'W. Fo'stprand A. M'lntosh; Nelson, Mr. Noble Win; North Otago, Messrs. 15. Seth-Smith and T. S. Little; Otago. Messrs. A. S. Orboll and H. V. Fulton; Opotiki, Mr. A. K. Hayward; Oxford, Messrs. John Cross and W. Weld; Poverty Bay, Messrs. F. B. Barker and George Witters; Southland, Mr. D. .Mnrshall; Taraniiki,- Mr. Henry Okey, M.P.; Timani, Mr. Herbert Elworthy; Wairarapa and East. Coast, Messrs. W. C Buchanan, M.l'., and AV. 11. Booth; Waikato (Hamilton), Mr. James Anderson; Wanganui, Messrs. Fred Moore and Alfred Bui nett; Waikato Farmers' .Club, Mr. Robert Fisher. Amongst, the visitors r/ressnt and invited wero: Lord Islington, the Hon. T. Mackenzie; (Minister for Agriculture), Messrs. F. S. Tope.. E: Clifton, A. H. Cockayne, T. W. Kirk, F.T/.5., C. ,Ti Rcakes, M.K.C.V.S., I). C. Aston, F.1.C., D. Cuiklie, J. T ( . Briice, ;W;. C. Kensington, J. 0. Wilson, J.. :<?,..N. Grigg, R. E. Alexander, '1C Reid, , ".Jniiies" Stevenson, Jolin Studholinc, J. N. Williams, H. Overton, J. Macfarlane, J. G. .Harkncss, M. Murphy, W. H. lieotham, R. D. D. M'Lcan, T. W. Adams, P. Patnllo, Ewen Caupbsll, and .Professor -Hilgendorf. . Lord Islington's Address, Lord Islington, in opening the conference, stated that he believed that he was the first Governor of New Zealand who had been present at such" proceedings. Thi' range-of subjects 'was,-in many respects, similar", to those, of,.'the Central Chamber of Agriculture in England. Ho could appreciate'the. vajue of a conference such as the" "pre'ssnt ■on 1?. The Chamber of Agriculture was educational and instructive. Various committees were formed from members v >'ho examined numerous'scientific subjects'and reported en them as regarded their interest to agriculture. The reports, after being discussed by thfi Central Chamber, had formed-some of tho most valuable standards for progressive agriculture throughout" tho country. Very, valuable results eouklbo.gained"-froin , .the- .employment of scientific experts in agriculture tcgoUier with, tho practical discussions by practical men. A central organisation of Hie kind was the most effectivo means of giving articulate expression to the requirements of the farming community. The organisation ■ constituted the official channel between the farmer- (who' had -to. suffer) on the. one side, and the Government or the Agricultural Department^(vlld alono could effect, the remedy) on tho other hand. Nothing had impres.sed him more in tho Central Chamber at Home than the fact that, it had been abl? to keep itself distinct from party political controversy. Many important questions had been dealt with effectively and promptly' •through this impartial medium. During tho nast fourteen months he had bren impressed by his visits to the different-! agricultural districts, and by those he had met in those districts. These visits had been amongst the most pleasurable and instructive (if the many duties which fell to him as Governor, , and nothing had made him feel more a.s though he were at , ' -Home niuc.ngst old friends than on tiie occasion wh-:-n he had been surrounded by a group of kindly and genial welcoming farmera in New Zealand. (Applause.) Referring to his visits to various shows and the assistance which these gave; his Excellency stated that no one realised more than he did the immense eiliericy of agricultural shows, but there was always a danger that the energy of sqmo might lend to the risk of ovcr-muH'iplicatton of shows withiu a given area. (Applans?.) The effective, use of shows was, to a great extent, stultified by ■ over-multiplication. (Hear, hear.) After referring to.the iiiiportauce of 'agriculture to' New Zealand Lord Islington went on to say that the work of an association like this assumed a work of national importance. Tn the past they had rendered great service t'o the agricultural community of Xew Zealand and, in years to come, they would render still further services. Science, as applied to the far.iu, must, he felt assured, become an essential factor more and more every year. Tho time was not very far distant when there would be n hand-to-hand struggle between the agricultural nations of the world for the markets, niul flic country most scientifically equipped would obtain the first place. . .'

The chairman proposed n vote of thanks to Lord Islington. He thought that their own section of the community was to bo. congratulated on having a Governor who took such., a keen mid lively interest in agricultural matters. Retiring Chairman Speaks. •In his addre.-s the retiring chairman gave a I-piigthj- rrsume of the work done since the las' conference. He dealt: particularly lvit'h telephones for country, tottiers, rating of show ground?, federation, railway matters, veterinary inspection of stallions, cabbage and other blight's, and ear-marking' sheep. The New President. ■ 3fr. A. f>. Orbell, ivas elected president of the conference. Ou the, motion of Mr. B. I). D. M'Leaiu a hearty vote, of I banks was parsed to the retiring president (Jit. 11. D. Macfatlano). Mr. Orbell, in welcoming the Minist.ee for Agriculture, paid a tribute tn the. assistance given lo the farmers by the . 'in. T. Mackenzie. (Hear, htar.)- Mr. Orbi'll thanked iiieiiihers for electing him to the high om'cc.of president.. After inferring to the noinpolitieal position of tlie ai.-ociation and Ilie volume of export.-/ Mr. Orbell said that., what they wanted was to make country life moro attractive, and to do away with the many drudgeries found on (he overage farm. He iiUa-thoiight- that rural telephones should be established cverywhoie. JCvoii if there was ri direct loss at first, these telephones would,. iu an indirect way. pay handsomely, by increasing settloment, and thereby increasing the products of the land. Also, the Government should have mom experts lecturing on subjects of interest to the farmer and his family. It was al.-o very necessary to have good rrads and bridges, and what, he askoil, would be the loss-lo the country to run a cheap pxciii>intt ,lrain, say. once, a fortnight, and-thus enable tlio country folk to occasionally s'peud a day or two with their city friends. Willi a small population, ;,nd drastic labour laws, they could not hope that tho town people could successfully build up paying industries to compete against, the outside world. If the country was lo prosper, wo mii'l fettle our land (especially our good land) in small holdings. The immediate and important, problem before the farmer was the better u.-e of the land. The land of Now Zealand had risen enormously in price, and the. enhanced cost, enforced increased return. It might be admitted that the value of stock and agricultural product lmd also increased, and it might i>? asked: "Was the proportion reasonably maintained b'etnoe.n the cost of the land and l|x> return earned from its products? Alter all, the land was only worth what it , tvould produce, To many it would ap-

E3EWB AND NOTES.

pear that the proportion had alioccthor boon lflst sight of in the speculation in land. . On all sides they heard of land •i.i's, but speculation and trafficking in laud was disastrous to the farm. In many districts, it was very painfully apparent that farms wen; merely hold fnr sale, and. as the speculator was rarelv u practical man, improvements were" abandoned. Neverthokw, prices had their limits, iir.U ihe financier his timidity. 'J.'Uo farm would assert itself, and claim as'its own the contented farmer —the farm his own and his own home. Then would come the full uso of that land. To his mind rural education was the very base of our agricultural structure. The. child must be provided with an intelligent interest iu rural life, and modern social conditions demanded something more than a daily round of drudgery. If the country did not offer emancipation from that, condition, could there be any other alternative than the draft of thu young to the city? .Referring to the. fact that iu New. Zealand we are yet dependent on other countries for agricultural instructors, the. speaker mentioned that we had not yet established an institution where the higher agricultural education was thoroughly taught. There were many who had attained to wealth in New Zea-land.-and the land was the source of that wealth. Were there not some who would bestow a.part in the establishment of a Chair of Agriculture at one of the I'nive'rsity Colleges? We had medicine, law, and other faculties, and why not a faculty of agriculture? We wanted our own farmers' sons to lw equipped as instructors in our own all-important industry of the land. - On the motion of Mr. .T. G. Wilson a hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr. prbell for his address. Experiment Work. The following remits in regard to experiment work were taken together:— ■ (1) By Kaikonra—That the Government be urged to carrv on.more extensively the improvement of cereals and fodder plants, bv selection and plant breeding. '(2) By Canterbury and Ellcsmere—lhat the Government be asked to conduct experiments with the view of finding fodder plants suitable to take the place of turnips and rane. ' Mr. E. A" Maud (KiikouTa) remarked that in the matter of cereals we were very much behind the times. These could be improved, as stock was improved, and ho thought that the State could assist in the improvement by its experiment farms. l)r. Hilgendorf, London College (Canterbury), expressed the- opinion that widely beneficial results would follow if the Government took this matter up. He thought th'ut a small"central breeding station would mc?t the case, together with small experiment plots in various places, [t was essential that the tests should be carried out in the soil in which the jeed was to Iμ generally grown, as too often the experiments-defeated their own end by being carrie-d out on a special soil, and when farmers tried and coilld not get the same result they lost faith in scientific experiments. Mr. Rutherford (Auckland) remarked that they had been almost as unfortunate with turnips and rape in Auckland last year as they had be-on with potatoes, as a result of the blisht. : Sir. J. Cunningham (Ellesmere) thought that it was time that something was done down south in order to deal- with these pests under local conditions. Mr. J. G.' Wilson (Bulls), paid a tribute to the work done by Mr. Clifton, of the Agricultural Department, who had given some demonstrations.in field experiments. He thought that, if the Minister was to set aside say iCIOOfI for each island and form a central station, and experiment plots as suggested by Dr. Hilgeudorf, much good would be done. Ruination Ahead. Mr. Macfarlano (Canterbury) expressed the opinion'that there.woro hundreds of farmers on the lighter land in Canterbury who had ruination staring at them, unless something could be done to rcpiace the rape and turnip crops. He thought that there was urgent need that the Government should tako tho matter up. Mr. 0.. Hairken (Egniont) favoured prowing fodder plants in experiment stations. He thought that experimental plots should be situated in places where farmers must see them. Hon. T. Mackenzie's Paper, The Hon. T. Mackenzie, Minister for Agriculture, read a paper on ' "Plant Breeding and Seed Selection." in the preparation of which, he said, he had been materially assisted by his Departmental officers, to whose efficiency and energy tho popularity of the Agricultural Department was very largely due. A few years ago the Department had not held such a high place in public esteem as itdid at present, and he hoped that tho recognition by tho farmers of the importance of the Agricultural Department would impress upon Parliament the necessity of being mr>re generous to the Department than it liael been hitherto, so that its sphere of activity might be widened,, to the benefit of the whole Dominion.'

A few decades ago, said Mr. Mackenzie, plant breeding was mainly' a hobby of the amateur; now it was rapidly becoming oue of the exact sciences which had been called iu to aid the farmer in the carrying out of his profession, lu general the aim of New Zealand farming would l>3 .to increase the carrying capacity of the land, and this became all the more necessary when it was borne in mind that land values in many districts had risen very considerably during the last few years. There could be no gainsaying the fact that the improvement by scientific breeding of those.plants that constituted tho feed of farm, animals would have a most important bearing on the stocking capability of farms. Homo season; ago a beginning was made by the Agricultural Department to' inau ; guratc plant-breeding at the. experiment farms and ht Kuakuru this work was progressing with every indication of. success.. There the, main work had been ulong the lines of breeding native phonniuiu for fibre production, and o;its for rust resistance. At Moumahaka it had been decided to make, plant breeding one of tho chief features of the operations there, and the work would bo taken in hand almost immediately by a capable officer. Special prominence Would be devoted to the breeding of improved pasture- plants, grasses, clovers, etc., and also to those plants which might be looked mion in iVcir Zealand as supplementary crops to our pastures, namely, forage plants and roots. Special attention would be given tf> the breeding of diseas.-'-rrsistance plants—a branch of work that had hardly been exploited. And it was neces!>ary to remember that tlm peculiar ebaracter of immunity must be developed in the country where the crop was to lip grown. It w;is fulile lo rely on varieties produced in other countries.

With plant breeding seed control and "pert selection wore closely related. The .-•owing of clean pure seed would have a groat effect on the condition of onv pashaw, and (ho necessity for legislation was obvious. 'J'liis sD.~s.ion. as he had mentioned before, ho would place before -J'arHnmont a. Seeds Control Hill which had for its object tho |U'iia!:'air.;; <:f lo\-.--gradi; sesd. 'I'hc Bill would not in itself be more than a brahmin;;. It would insist in a certain degree of eloniiHnes.s of tinfeed, and possibly of germination. It. would be well for farmers to consider also the strain of the seed they bought and the conditions under which il: was cultivated for s-oed purposes, but the Biii would not deal with them. What ho sirn?(l at in (lie iiieaniime was io secure that the farmer would be supplied with le..isonab],v tine seed.

Mr. J. i.i. Wilson, in eomplinitulini; l.lip Hnn. T. Mackenzie on tlio statement ho had made, slid thai; he thought lhal a regular statement should be made in the House by the .Minister for Agriculture just as was marie on i-'inanee and Public Works. The Minister had indicated Hint, he had in his mind exactly what he v.-ns going to do with each of the experiment farms, and that was very satisfactory, seeiuf; the numeroiH changes of Ministers which they had had in the p.'i-t. Mr.: W. C. lluclianan, M.1 , ., made n slalemont as Co what was done in the mailer of experiment works in Ihn Cninmnuwrnllh nf Australia. There they, lintl five collr-gn-i mid !l."i experiment farms. The students numbered .jilt), and "d 7 handswere employed. In ull there wore .VWII acres in cereals, lilO in trees, otc, and 2321 in other crops. The total area under

crop n : as K.'ll'D acres aud the toliil area <if ariblo land Hi.'J'J!) sicwv. There were ~f>l Inrses. 2271 cattle, II.GU sheep, and J 509 pigs nn thu l'arms. Hither tile Commoiiuea'.lh must be making a great mistake (s.nid Mr. Buchanan), or wo were Insuring far l:v----himl. At tho sinie time", he ilid not think that there was much doubt n.s to who was ripht In his opinion, we Inn been lagging behind in agnciillurol education. It was difficult to get members, to take <in interest in agriculture in the House. Hβ hoped that tho Minister would not apply for ;i paltry ,£20(lfl. as suggested, but would put a compi-elian-sive programme before the House, and, if he. could not get it all endorsed, he would get part of it at. least. The Minister for Agriculture, replied that he would give Ihe points rni-J'd his attention. . 't'hern was no doubt in his mind that a day could bo well spent in I'arliamcnt in di?.cu.ssio" agriculture. In his own speeche-s he devoted more time to agriculture than to geucral politics, and lie was sorry that all members did not do the same, instead of dealing with what someone said years before. As to the charge that New 'Zealand was lagging bahind. ho could say that we were spending more per acre than Australia was. Taking the dairying division alone, tho Department in .New Zealand had done splendid work, and the work in this direction was a vindication of every penny spout. (Hear, hear.) A great deil of work bail been done in a quite, unostentatious manner. Mr. Okcy (Taranaki) thought that the Minister sliculd make a statement to the House'just'as was done by the Minister for Finance, or.the Minister for Public Works, and that a discussion should be hold on it. The Minister observed that the opportunity to discuss the whole-' Agricultural Department was. open time after time during tho session. The whole point was that members were too lazv to discuss the matter. Tho amalgamated remits of the Kaikoura. and Canterbury Associations wero agreed to. Soils and Grassing. Au interesting address on soils was given by Mr. B. C. Aston, of the Agricultural Department. In connection with this paper, the conference also discussed the rjuestion of improving the grassing of tho soils of the Dominion. Several speakers took tho opportunity of remarking on the damage done by native fern which rendered thousands of acres of land waste. ' A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Aston for'his paper. The conference adjourned uutid 9.30 this morning.