Farm & Station

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11493, 21 November 1931, Page 12

Farm & Station

AUTOCRACY IN FARMING.

SYSTEM IN DENMARK

CO-OPERATIVE SCHEME WORKING WELL. LONDON, Sept. 23. Those who have studied trading conditions in Denmark and a numher of Non- Zealanders have recently visited that country—must he struck with the great difference there is between the co-operative system there and the .so-called cooperation in New Zealand. . Probably this marked difference can bo attributed to tlio human characteristics of the two nations. The Danes are educated from their earliest years to take their places In the great system. Once having got into their particular niche, they do their jobs and mind tlieir own business. There are today 109.000 families in Denmark on farms ranging ill area from 1 1-3 acres to S-lJacTes. They have been put there by a. beneficent Government. Some of them have only a dozen pigs, three cows, and a few hens, but they manage to subsist very largely on the produce of their land. NO ONE INTERFERES. Every district is arranged under a co-operative system. Above that there is the provincial co-operative system, and higher still the national co-operative system.' Suitable men are appointed to fill the executive posts, and once having been appointed they are left to do their job. No one interferes with thorn unless they arc inefficient, when they arc reinov-' ed. The man at the head of the national marketing is a dictator so long as he is being einpWed. Ho does not look for advice and dictation from his board except perhaps in regard to general principles. He has Ijcen chosen for the post, and while he holds it lie expects freedom to act in the way ho thinks best. No farmer is forced to enter into the co-operative system, but once he lias made up h.is mind to do so he signs a contract which binds him for a period of years. If he breaks his contract he can be prosecuted under the common lav of the country and fined heavily. COMPARISON WITH NEW ZEALAND. The result is that a fanner inside the system attends to his business* delivers His milk or his pigs to the. proper quarter, and then, goes hack to his work. He is not expected, nor does lie attempt to give an opinion as to bow his produce should bo handled and where and at what price it shall he sold.

If any trouble arises there are experts on the spot to search out the. cause and to suggest a remedy. The whole system is a triumph of -"organisation. Tf one compared it to a form, of government tho nearest approach perhaps would He fuedalism with absolute monarchy at the head, How r different is the co-operative, marketing of New Zealand! The two systems are probably diametrically opposed, that in tho Dominion being comparable rather to a form of democracy where the smallest units are very Imsy attending to matters which should not concern them..

SHEEP-SHEARING MACH IN E.

AUSTRALIAN INVENTION

PERSEVERANCE REWARDED

There are three machines which to a largo extent revolutionised the three primary industries—agriculture, slicep-raising and dairying These wore the reaping machine and its modern developments; the sheepshearing machine ami ihe milking machine. All these have been of great value in time saving and' in doing belter work than the original methods.

The inventor of the shearing machine was the late Frederick Yorko Wolseley, an Irishman Horn in 1837,' a sop of Major Garnet Wolseley, atul a brother of Fold-Marshal Wolseley. It was intended ' that Mr. Wolseley should enter the Army, but instead lie -went' to Australia, .followed pastoral pursuits, and 'cv-' tually I 'gave'pastoralists '• an'hive'll-' tion .‘which marked a new era'in the w'b6l industry. ; _ f .

THE FIRST. IDEA. , It was whilst managing a property in Victoria in the late “sixties” of last century that the idea first occurred to Mr. Wlolselcy to supersede hand blades by machinery. Setting himself to the task, the first results were naturally crude, but lie pegged away at it and in five or six years’ time he had' evolved a weird and wonderful contrivance that would actually shear sheep, but had many imperfections. In 1874 he went on a trip to England, and on the voyage prepared plans and drawings for the first sheep-shearing machine. The motive power for this was derived from clockwork, but when made ami tried out in England it proved a failure.

PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE

With the proverbial patience ol the true inventor, Mr. 'Wolseley continued to work on his great idea and oil his return to Melbourne he tried out many methods. In 1877 he had contrived lus second machine, which Mas tried out. It Mas Morked by means of an endless rope, and, although it did the Mork for a time, it broke down and bad to be discarded. Mr. Wiolseley hung on to his idea and during the next decade he devoted much time to experimenting with e’ectricity. compressed air and other methods, and it was not until 1887, when he held Eureka Station, Walgett, that liis first sheep-shearing machine Mas perfected and patented. An exhibi-' tion was given at the Melbourne wool stores of Goldsborougli, Mort and Co., Ltd., and in the presence of leading pastoralists and M’ool notabilities be demonstrated that sheepshearing by machinery was not onlv practicable, but Mas a vast improvement on the old hand methods.

COSTLY EXPERIMENTS BRING SUCCESS.

Like many other inventors, Mr. Wolseley spent many years and much money in elaborating has idea. His experiments cost him ovor £20,000 and lie died a comparatively poor man. But for the May many prominent squatters stuck to him his efforts Mould have gone for nothing. They helped him by taking shares in his company and sticking to him in the critical period. Many improvements in (details Mere added and in the ’9o's shearing by machinery became more or less general. Dunlop Station was the first to demonstrate the success of shearing, on a large scale, by machinery. In ISSB a shed fitted M-itli foriy stands shore 180,000 sheep. The adjoining station, Toorale. followed, and it is on record that in 1894 Dunlop and Toorale together shore half a million sheep M-itli Wokselev machines. Many of the big stations installed machinery, and with fifty to eighty stands big tallies .were made. Since those days machine shearing has gradually ousted the hand blades.

COMING BACK

GOOD PROSPECTS FOR WOOL

“Wool fabrics are once' more coming back. We can non- predict that with careful scientific development of processing, both mechanical and chemical, an increasingly prosperous time is beginning for our industry. There is no need for us to be despondent even at this time of world depression,” said Dr. S. G. Barber at the British Association meetings.

“Wireless, telephones, electric light, etc., are household emenitics sought for by all. We must use wool to insulate the electric wires and afford the double advantage of durability and safety from fire. “Imagine the ordinary individual at home after , the day’s toil,” he said. “He cun .sit in a wool upliol.stered chair, wearing comfortable wool slippers, his feet on, a wool rug, surrounded by u well-designed wallpaper, the surface of which is wool, reading his newspaper. “Even the newspaper could not have been produced but for wool, since tho whole rotary printing process of tlio modern, newspaper functions with the aid of resilient woolfelt pads on which the type impresses, ifs messages •to the, millions . of readers, , The paper ifiself is' .made into (sheets ■ by. pressure., between .woolleltoi’oHers. . ..... , ,

\- “The: beauty 'of:tone _of ■ the.' phino in r tlw/. is ; contributed. to' ( by Jiaininers,. , For .sport” . the family.! >vpre 'flannels. bleached,, to 'withstand .iaundering antj lisps wpoF leii-covered; teiixiis, balls./'Sport and business appointments. are 'inado ;by, telephone' thi’opgh, an . .with a wool insulated .switchboard. “For' golf and; motoring, wpol'V* is. also a’necessity. . Finally,, the. family retires to; 'rest on wool mattresses, 1 wrapped in woollen blankets.” . • P GpKSE-KiLLING - WEEVIL. / • The- latest' experiment ,in the ‘ control of gorse’ is/linng ;carried out in Otago., It is being done by ‘tlio! liberating 'of Apion weevils, These wee-, yils,'of 'European . origin, Hive xm\the seeds : of ■ the" gofrse, - burrowing / into the pods, .slacking them * dry and depositing eggs 'for' the'increasing • of their race. Great care was taken be-, fore' liberating’ those . weevils -to make sure 'that'they Would; not same time destroy vegetation * ether than.’ gorse!' It"was' found that 'they will not take’to peas' or beans,' or any of the "oilier-varieties "submitted. f ' The

By “RUSTICUS.’

gorso land chosen for their liberation is at Manuherikia, Saddle Hill, and Flagstaff. Dr. Miller, of the Cawthron Institute, M’as so satisfied with the Otago experiment that lie has. undertaken to send down another consignment of the Apions.

FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

PRAISE BY AMERICAN PROFESSOR,

An interested spectator at the Royal Show- Mas Professor F. B. Linfield, Dean of the College of Agriculture, and director of the Agricultural Experimental -Station, Montana State College, Montana. U.S.A. Professor Linfiekl, who is making his first visit to Australia and Now Zealand, made a special trip immediately on arrival at Auckland in order to be present at the SI yaw, which has impressed him very favorably. He found that many of the problems lacing the farmer in New Zealand Mere similar to those being grappled with in his own State, and that the methods being adopted here were in every way comparable with tl(use being tried by Montana farmers, having regard, of course, to altered conditions.

Before any comparison 'of conditions could be made, be said, it was necessary to remember that Montana had an area about one-tliird greater than that of New Zealand, and that its population M’as only 550,000 compared with the Dominion’s 1.300,000. The climate, apart from the winter climate M’as more like that of Western Australia than that of New Zealand, and two million acres were irrigated land whieli Mas now always dependable fjor crops, the chief of which in that area M as sugar beet. “We are concerned in Montana M’itli the production of raw materials —wheat M'ool, beef, and hides—as New Zealand is,” he Meat on. “As for dairying, Neu* Zealand is differently situated, IJor M’e are only beginning that industry. Beef cattle raising came first, and it is very hard to get a cowboy even now to settle down to milking cows.

DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP

“I am particularly interested in the sheep here —they are different from outs. Ybu have good wool, possibly due to the climatic conditions, and arc working largely toward the English mutton breeds of sheep, for your market is for lamb and the coarser wools. Your holdings are fenced and are relatively small. Wo depend to a great extent on the merino—a French merino that wc call tho Ramlfouillet. which is a big sheep—and there is a tendency towartl the Lincoln, the Cotsuold. and the Hampshire, sometimes with a cross-for. mutton. Our sheep. , which are kept out on the range, must have a herding quality, Bor M'e keep them in flocks of some 2900 under one herder. In summer lie is with them day and night, and in the M’inter he brings them in. sometimes for three of four months, according Ip the severity of the snowfall. “From one-half to three-fifths of our 'sheep income is derived from lamb, which has largely in the past been sent at the beginning of the ■ winter to the corn States lor the final . fattening. In the last fear years wc have been encouraging our people to fatten their omu lambs. They eomo from the range at alput 90 to 100 days, usually on lucerne liay, with some grain (wheat and barley). They will gain up to 231 b in tho time, and arc usually marketed at from 8.5 to 901b 1 live weight. They have to travel 100 to 1500 miles, and they lose from seven to eight pounds on the. journey. CATTLE AND PIG SELECTION. “We have been trying to organise a do-operative method of selling wool, but witli.noe much success. In general, the buyers eomo out to the farmers, or buy through a local Association-. There is ilot the combination that you have here. We are working at present for a State organisation of nfool sales, spell as is found in Australia and New Zealand.

“Cattlo wore really the first farming proposition in : Montana,..though .now we have /four million sheep and li .million .cattle, net .counting lambs or calves. Xu sheep we are, getting almost 'wholly 1 to ! a/ewe 'llock,; though 30 years ; ago ' tlicro" were : far more, wethers.''' . T . - •.

“The . variety , and quality, of the sheep' at : this ; Show, have impressed mo. Ypii'bavo:’ a. greater variety of, breeds' than'wq/liaye,' and are spice- 1 ting'' and working, toward ... typos adapted to "your climatic' conditions and your .market.' The ; ltyehind-Sbuth-doAvn cross, seems .to give a superlative/ sheep -for • this:. purpose, . and/ r can see '.what’'it J is'; you : want. / /'

: '“Another'/ point in", which your practice; is”similar''.to; ours .is. in.' the; /of; certain • types ■ of liogs-r j .(you’ - u speak .. always . ' of 1 pigs)—the I Efirgo Wliite, • known' to us as *t)ie Yorkshire,; ,apd .ft,lie. 'Tamworth, getting' awiiy/from/thel chunky fat hogs. ; We'aro'.cioing. l the'’Same ) 'leiightening en.t ; ahcX .getting' away -from, excessive ;fat.V,pVe.!Xii l 5 r t } .speoialjy, developed brfeedS) ; l'aiid;/instead'/of ' the BeXks}iir<£ Wj- use; the Poland. China, ' for the ;Yorkshire' the Chester ■ White / ‘ and« for • tlie-. Taniworth the Du roc Jersey. ' There is not much ‘difference here; .we; try)for, a’,long-bodied, • deep-sided, hog,- with a good constitution .«■ and giviiag'i a, good 'Utter. / ; /

GOOD QUALITY OF STOCK. “Tho stock I liavo seen kero is just us good in quality as anything wo liavo in Montana. Of course, our cattle business is largely affected by tlio fact that we work in big ranges, so that we use the Hereford a lot, though many like the Shorthorn. Formerly we used to run them until they were four or five years of age and then fatten them on good grass before marketing them, but the tendency now is to take them from the range and ship them as two-year-olds. The low price of wheat lias led with us to its use for fattening steers, with very good results. Professor L infield, has only seven days in the Dominion—having spent his- four months’ leave of absence in .travelling to Japan, Java, and Australia, with on'y a few days in each country.