THE MEN ON THE LAND AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 26, 30 July 1907, Page 2

THE MEN ON THE LAND AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE.

+ MR.,J. G. WILSON'S ADDRESS.

INTERESTING REVIEW OF THE _ POSITION.

Tile Agricultural Conference opened in the Chamber of Commerce to-day, Mr. J. G. Wilson (Chairman of the Committee of Management) presiding. The following were the societies and delegaten comprising tho conference: — Ashburlon, Messrs. T. E. Upton and T. Blackley; Auckland, Messrs. J. Q. Rutherford, R. Dick and Edwin Hall; Bush District (Woodville), Mr. Samuel Bolton? Canterbury. Messrs. D, D. MaCfarla.no and H. E. Peryman; East T&iari, 'Mr, D.onald Reid, M.H.R.; Egmont, Mr. J. R. Corrigan; EUcsmero, Messrs. Jas. fcjtorry and K. F. Coe; Feilding, Messrs. L.- E. Jackson and H. J. Booth; Gore, Hon. R. M'Nab; Hawkes Bay, Hon. J. D. Ormond and Mr. Qeo. Hunter ; Mana■watii, Messrs. (3. Luxford and G. Wheeler; Maryborough, Mr. A. M'Callum and uArcy Chaytor; Nelson, Mr. Chislell; North Otago, "Mr. William Milne; Otago, Messrs. P. Patullo and E. F. Duthie; Raglan and Kawhia, Messrs. Bankart and B. Hewett; Southland, Messrs. R. F. Cuthbertson and Jas. Fleming; Tnranaki, Mr. H. J. Okey, M.H.R.. and Mr. A. Morton; Te Puke and Opitiki, Mr. A. K. Hayward; Timaru^ Mr. Thos. ' Tcschemekor ; North Canterbury, Mr. M. Macfarlanef Wnikato, A. P. Association and "Wniklto Central, Mr. H. J. Green'■pToao. M.H.R.; Wairarapa, Messrs. •H. ft. Bunny and W. C. Buchanan; Wallace, Mr. J. C. Thompson, M.H.R. ; I Wanganui. Mr. Ewcn Campbell; Franklin, Mr. John Schlaepforj Maeterton, Messrs. Wm. Perry and D. M'Gregor, :,,junr, n -^RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. *3lr' Wilson, in opening the proceedings gave a lengthy review of the leadILIU[B" t>tt bjects that came before thq previous conference,' and brought tho posi-.J-itafi.*"of. J -itafi.*"of those questions up to date. Following his review, tho President referred to general subjects. CONTINUED PROSPERITY. "When we turn to matters other than those arising from last confeionce," con.tinuod Mr. Wilson. "\yo may fairly congratulate the dwcllors »n tho Dominion on their continued prosperity, bar-ed, of , .cfitjfs'e,- upon tho increased output from 'agriculturalists and phstoralists and enhanced values. Associations all ovor the ' ! l)_6mhHoH l:ave had extremely .successful shows, and tho winter shows, which dairymen t:ikc an especial interest in, are rapidly resuming a position vory littlo behind the spring evenis. At the winter shows tho oxhibition of export butter is becoming more and move «>uccc£sf ul ; vet it winilfl seem that the prize-list is iaigely inii..!snced by how far the butter -. hss to truVil. AH things being iy[ivA, thj -butter nearest thb f-how should win [ the prizi, f-»r deterioration is very rapid *\rhtn tho buttor i- bams carried unUcr -tho ordlnrrv conditions of general mcrchanoisc. Tho jcidgi's bava tried to equalise this by hooping all butter to be cxiiibitod out of the ircoring chambers, which is a very ievero test, but one through which our butters cunio out j « oil. SCIENTIFIC DATRYIxt*. "Moi'o and moro interest is being taken ilftfiu ?tbnlitic ri'jo of d»iryirig, and the • Minister for Atj:ieulture thinks that poo--t>hi --.ro sullii.-ient.ly educated to accept . .Government * bsi'ection of herds and ,nnl!cin<;-3!i!cls. It is quite certain that '^«*f ir>spc iion which dniry compinios 'li'avb- irstilutcd has entirely failed to havo the milk of nil stipp'iers brought in a proper condition to the fi'ttorv : and althoagh it is a f".ct that, by tho c ireful rip-:ning of the cream ami the use of tho freezer, the butter-maker i=i .'ble, even with tins disadvantage, fo turn out a firet-cla^s arli"la, yet it is .obvious that milk in a dou'itful coinlilion mutt havo a deletciioas effect on the rdiriufarturcd aitio l^. Dairy people, .ill ; h'oso they mo nearer to a dairy espori- • lnontul stnti»!i, \s±t as yei thore are no fignr, to justify tho hops. The Levin cJJperimctitp] farm has demonstrated that ' hords can. .by a system of tvniglit and lest in mil!/, reach a much higher ' standard in a very ehort- lime. 1 L" EDUCATING TIIE FARMER.. '•"•*'ln the (jujstion of education of the farmer by the recording of experiments tg&e'ft by Agricultural and Pastoral fcsoiMtie* we »rv «oui»iMliat bthind. Only vie "Canterbury Association has a jouv- ! W,} in which it records its own, and Herh.ip» it would not be out of place j if '"file record of all tho experiments j should be printed as an appendix to the proceedings of' this conference. Gjc.it .advance bin been made in the teaching* of.jagricultunl (subjects in our primary xehools. and it is ea t-iifactory to see that ', fife seed sown by tho hist conference ,' should- have borne good fruit already. •Wo have itinerant teachers in nearly '. uvery school district, and in the \ L'rdfiing Colleges (us can bo seen by a - visit to tho Training College, under Mr. UraV: in Wellington), who are giving ' instruction to the young men and women attending tho classes in this important - branch of oducation. There will be a considerable amount of attention given to this cubject at this conference. BOY TO-DAY— FARMER. . ; - . TO-MORROW. < "Mr. Dealtin said the other day in 1 L.o;sd.on .'Wo Colonists aro men of ■ plain- wordß and blunt speech, and wo ' haVo a great faith in education. The Enipire of to-morrow is founded on the education and . training of to-day.' So' it is with farmers. The boy in tho country school is the farmer of to-mor-row. How are we to train him so that he may give his best work? Science, too, in connection with agriculture has not been asleep. I alluded at the last conference to the experiments which were being made to extract nitrogen rfrom the air. It is now a commercial product, as nitrate of lime and lime nitrogen, and produced at such a cost that apparently when tho principal sourco of the world's nitrogen (the _ nitrate of soda from the plains in Chili) become exhausted, we shall have perfected the process, and need have no fear that this source will become exhausted. OUR WATER POWER. "Nitrate of soda is too expensive for us to us>e here, but when it becomes : necessary to make our nitrogen here, ■WD-- have the cheapest of all powers, '• water, in sufficient quantity to enable ', us to turn it out as cheaply as any • country in the world. The only source of nitrogen wo have in the colony, viz., driqd blood, would seem to be too ' slow in action to act upon cereal crops b during tho short time they occupy in I growth, and required to be sown in the : autumn. Crops respond to nitrate of 3 soda* in a marvellous manner very soon • after the application. There has boon i a series of experiments conducted in Scotland lately to ascertain whether limb nitrogen has the same effect as ■ the other manures containing nitrogen. • So far there has been nothing conclusive arrived at, but, as far as can i be seen, nitrate of soda and sulphate , of ammonia havo given better results. There is yot no sign that the Minister ' oi Agriculture deems it likely that soil

survey should be undertaken, as ' has been recommended by Mr. Aston in his reports several times. Invention and experiment have given us a number of milking machines, and th^y 'are now beyond tho experimental atagoj and., quite a number are being installed for the coming season. GOOD PRICES AND NEW LAND. _ "Wo thought at the last conference time that prices for our products might give way at any time, b\it wo have had an uninterrupted continuance of good prices, and tho colony has been very prosperous. Our exports have reached 19 millions and our revenue neatly 85 millions. To show the, magnitude of our calling, the sum $1 "|!:LS/?00,000 comes from farm, produce. . There is reason, at any rate, to 1 expect mofe renunerative prices for our product than Were some few years ago when wool reached 4d and 4id a lb, even if they do not keep up to their present level And we can yet, with good land laws, break in many many millions of acres of virgin land, which should in a few yoars be producing very largely, andwill swell the exports. There is yet & great stretch of rough, though firstclass land to be settled between Wanganui River and tho West Coast, north of Mokau, which might easily be made to carry another million sheep, and which I should doubt if it would ever bo suitable for dairying. It will be more accessible when tho Main Trunk Line is through, and is mostly the blue papa formation which has proved such successful . graaing land wherever it has been improved. Hore, and also in the Auckland province there is mucb native land to come into cultivation, and there are very large possibilities in the way of increased' dairy" output, though no doubt there is littlo agricultural land in Now Zealand which has not been occupied and cropped, so that it cannot be expected that we shall have any groat amount of surplus grain to export. ROOM FOR EXPANSION. "But thoro is siill room for great expansion in tho 'export of wool afacl dairy produce. This year we reached high water mark in tho export of wool, with 426,582 bales, though thoro was a falling off in Otago, no doubt owing to the drought, of 5000 bales. There seems still a buro 'market, and the wool goes quickly into consumption, so there is every reason to expect fair prices for tho wool which is growing. Halfbrcd wool still is in -wonderful do mand, and any country which grows this wool well must be highly remunerative, as this class of New Zealand wool seems to have an elasticity \vhieli is unprocurable in any other country in the world. LAMBS AND WETHERS. "The basis of our export of moat seems more and moro tending towards an incrsaso in the number of lambs, and a corresponding decrease in the export of wethers. The lamb trade scom3 to bo also a specialty of our own. . The alarmist sixid that as soon a3 tho Argentine turned its attention to lamb and bvttcr, they -would reduce the value materially of our export ; bvit this year both tho export of -butter and lamb has fallen considerably from Iho Argentine, and it in "satinfartory to note that ours has increased, bollj in quantity and price. Pur greatest competitor for tho lamb trado in Great Britain is the Commonwealth of Australia. Good seasons, and the amount of sua they have, gives them a great advantage in getting a very large percentage of milk lambs ; but tho seasons aro not always satisfactory. and Gonio of the Commonwealth is nlrcady crying o"t for rain. Thi\v havo one grnt advantage over us, the. ondless supply of mothers for tho fat lamb trade. The prires given for the blackfaced studs in the Sydney sheep sales nnd for the English Leicestprs nr^ an -indication that the.? are- extending thin trade. Their Inmb comes in earlier than ours, almost ;nid-spason befwean tho English lr.mb and our own, and this h^is made our early lamb Icfs profitable than previously. The small ncz-. of jo'nt nnd bone in lamb is a R-eat cdnsidcratinn to thoso who have to oconomiso. Lar.ih mny, and docs, f.prinato in pri^o, but the demand is an increasing one. Thcro are Glill no Ricrns of a, bettor arrangement for selling our produce in London, by a combimtion of sellers, than there has boon and we suffer as to price in consequence." "n concluding, Mr. Wilson ''welcomed tlio dologates, and added : "Tho presence of so many mombcrs cf our greatest industry gives an opportunity for forming public opinion on subjects pertaining to their calling." On the close of the addrers. a vote cT thanks was given to Mr Wilcon, and the conference deHdod > lbc.u tho address should be printed. Mr. Wilson was' rc-elqcted chairman. RABBITS AND SMALL BIRDS. Mr. Patullo (Otago) moved : "That efforts be nuicJo to secure simultaneous poisoning for rabbits and small birds throughout tho districts." Mr. H. R. Bunny (Mastortnn) seconded. Mr. Buchanan thought tho position was far from satisfactory, as returns showed that tho export of rabbit? was as great for la3t year as for 1900. Trapping should be abolished. Other speakers emphasised the need for drastic acto n and that legislation regarding tho destruction of Email birds should apply to towna as well as countiy. Mr. J. D. Ritchio (spcrctary of iho Agricultural Department) did not agree with Mr. Buchanan. Rabbits were becoming a thing of the past, as this year's returnß would show. Small birds, however, were quito a different thing. They wore a poßt, nml w.-ro placing a largo tax upon local bodies. It was proposed, in a Bill now boforo the Minister, to divide the colony into districts, in charga of boards, and organised action would be taken in cown and country against small birds. (A delegate : Will the Bill como down this session?) Mr. Ritchie hoped so. M;\ D. D. Macfarlane said it was a mistake to think the rabbit had ceased to be p. nuisance. In Canterbury tho rabbit was an insidious evil. Tho motion was carried. Mr. Gcorgo Hunter (Hawkes Bay) moved : "That the Government bo urged to take more active moaaures in dealing with rabbits on unoccupied oral native lands." The mover otated that the high country in tho bay province made for a growing rabbit evil, unless tho Government assisted. Wr. Clifton (Chiof Stock Inspector) said the Hawkes Bay district was in charge ot a Rabbit, Board. In other parts of the colony active measures were taken by Government officers, and a largo sum of rnonev was spent in fighting rabbits. Mi*. Ritchie corroborated Mr. Clifton's statement, and added that 1 if delegatos would inform tho department concerning neglect on Crown reserves, it would bo enquired into, as tho department desired to suppress tho rabbit. Mr. Jackson (Foilding) thought inspectors woro given too much country to cover. The department needed more money to do effective work.- Mr. Ritchie said tho department had not been stinted in funds for this work. The motion was carried. NOXIOUS WEEDS.' "That tho Government be urged to take moro active steps to cope with the spread of noxious weeds on nl l unoccupied and native lands and railway lands." This motion was moved by Mr. Bunny and fleconded by ivir. Buchanan. - The notion was carried.