FARMING NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1096, 13 May 1863, Page 2

FARMING NOTES.

In every country the first creditor is the plough, that original and indefeasible claim supersedes every other demand.—Edmund Burke. This adage is as applicable to the plough in New Zealand as it was forty ages since in the Valley of the Nile and as it is at the present time on the banks of the Thames; the subjects branching from it are as interesting as inexhaustible, and have always occupied the attention of the greatest minds from Cincinnatus to Washington, from Virgil to Sinclair and Arthur Young. Among the evidences of progress in the colony the establishment of agricultural and acclimatisation societies is not the least remarkable, and if one may judge from the great and lasting benefits conferred by them on other countries, they must be attended with incalculable good to Canterbury, as they must necessarily lead to the introduction of improvements in every branch of farming. If agriculture has not kept pace with progress here, that has been owing to local causes which more or less prevail in every new country. The expense of labour and machinery in proportion to the price of agricultural produce has been the main cause, and is one which must continue to militate for a considerable time against the introduction of scientific farming, but it does not preclude the possibility of arriving at an improved and more profitable system of husbandry. The system hitherto practised in Canterbury is so faulty, except in partial instances, that it could not fail to be attended with great loss and often with ruinous consequences to farmers, who either, untrained as agriculturists, or lacking the necessary means, pursued the repetition system of growing cereals for a series of years, until the soil became totally exhausted and unfit for the production of grasses. Exhaustion should not only be never contemplated, but cautiously guarded against, particularly in New Zealand, where the application of manure on a large scale is out of the question. to the opinion of the most successful as well as the most experienced agriculturists on the Plains, three cerea 1 crops should not be exceeded before laying down, and two, when the land is light. This plan will ensure not only a better crop of hay, but a superior pasture, as grasses to be remunerative require a rich and healthy soil as fully as cereals. When managed in this way, the land after being depastured for five years or so will be found in prime condition for cereals again. There are other crops the cultivation of which should not be lost sight of, not only as useful and lucrative in themselves but being necessary as an intermediate course in preparing the land for the reception of the cereal crop with which it is intended to lay down the grasses. Mangold, peas, beans, carrots, and potatoes are all well adapted for this purpose; in fact, their general utility is so well known and so long established that it is only the innocent amateur farmer who requires a hint on the subject. The collection of farm yard manure should, when circumstances admit, be carefully attended to, as it will always be found necessary either for agricultural or horticultural purposes; with this object in view, the farmer should provide a commodious stockyard in which to stow his straw as it constitutes the best receptacle for droppings, and in the process of decomposition absorbs large quantities of liquid manure; the saving and judicious application of manure thus obtained, although attended with a little extra labour, would be more in accordance with the principles of economic farming than the prevailing fashion of burning the straw. Fanners should not be startled at a little expense in maintaining the condition of their farms, as the soil once exhausted requires many years to retrieve its energies. Intimately connected with successful farming is effectual drainage. This can be effected to a great extent by open draining in Canterbury, but the British system of thorough subsoil draining can be only thought of in partial instances, where the cheapness of material for draining and other circumstances facilitate the work; tiles are too dear, but shingle when convenient and available would answer the purpose in some cases quite as well. There is another branch of farming, that of raising good stock, which as being at present the most profitable, and promising to v be so for a considerable time, merits the greatest attention. In order to realise the advantages of this system it is requisite to select and breed from the best bred short horns that can be procured; a mixed breed might suit as well for the dairy, but their progeny would be so inferior in size, shape, and propensity to fatten, that no farmer would adopt them except as a matter of necessity. Those who desire to excel in this department should be most assiduous in creating shelter for the cattle during the winter months by growing lofty fences and raising belts of trees when such improvements can be effected without inconvenience. In confirmation of this statement it is only neces- . sary to refer to the admirable system and manage-

, N t pursued on Mrs. Deans' farm at Riccarton, "hich may be justly regarded as the model farm of C- nterbiiry. It's natural combinations have certainly lYorded si-eat facilities for improvements, and these f .re been most judiciously accomplished under the snuerintendence of the manager, whose abilities and v xn-ioiK'C as a practical agriculturist in the colony, riiit him out as one whose example should be folLvod by those engaged in similar pursuits. Great' interest is being aroused on the sub•,J of keeping sheej) in paddocks, and as Tom them is obtained the staple product f° New Zealand the question is one of the last importance to the fanner. This is clear when we take into consideration that England, although a Mivil'l speck on the map of the world, produces more mutton and wool than the entire universe, and this altogether owing to Iter paddock system. New Zealand" as regards soil, climate and extent, is the nearest parallel to the United Kingdom, and it is a tural deduction that if she does not become her rival she will make a great approximation to it in the course of time. The same heads and hands that produced the one can produce another out of the same '"xhe'artifieial grasses which flourish in England hive been attended with the most magnificent results; mid these have, for the most part, been introduced from foreign countries, all of them warmer than England. We may therefore expect that the same Brasses will flourish better in a climate that has a month'more spring growth and one more in autumn than the home country, shortening the winter with itsHecessities by one-sixth of the year—a fact which must enable the country to make great and rapid strides. As it appears our destiny is to be long confined to the export of raw material, it follows that ve should avail ourselves of every improvement calculated to promote that object, and among these the cultivation of grasses is a first necessity. Vrnonffst the prejudices that have been imported here is the idea entertained by some that a more profitable sheep than the Merino can be obtained by crossing: one not yielding as fine but a heavier fleece, and move mutton. The high price of butchers' meat at present is an inducement to speculate in that direction, and the home demand for a longer stapled wool is also a stimulant to experiments. The sheepfanner should pause before embarking in such an experiment, as the practice is not sustained by theory. The first cross of the Merinos with the South Down may yield a sheep well adapted for the purpose, but breeding from such would entail degeneracy and a mongrel race. This plan would not suit unless the farmer was certain of getting rid of the ewe lambs before the breeding season. The system to be recommended is simple and more certain, and that is, to select individuals of a pure breed that possess the desired qualities. Well chosen merinoes will answer the purpose; they have proved

themselves as useful in paddocks as in open pastures, and are even house fed on the continent. Their greater suitability to all the climes and conditions in which our domesticated animals thrive, is established for a century, notwithstanding the deep-rooted prejudice that was long entertained against them in England and the greater part of Europe. The opinion of Lord Sommerville, one of the most celebrated breeders of sheep in England, was," That shortwoolled sheep are close in the grain as to flesh, and high flavored as to taste, and that the long-woolled sheep are just the contrary." And he also says that '■ though the mutton of the Spanish sheep was always excellent, their carcases were extremely different in shape from that mould which the fashion of the present day teaches us to prefer; great improvements have been made in this article by a careful and attentive selection of such rams and ewes as appear most likely to produce a comely progeny, and that no doubt can be entertained that in due time, with judicious management, carcases covered with superfine Spanish wool may be brought into any shape, whatever it may be, to which the interest of the breeder may choose to affix a particular value." In furtherance of these opinions, we have the support of an official document emanating from Lucien Bonaparte, when Minister of the Interior of France. He reports, " That the Spanish breed of sheep that produce the finest wool, introduced into France thirty years ago, lias not manifested the smallest symptom of degeneration; samples of the wool of this valuable fiock, which was brought from Spain in the year 1786 are still preserved, and bear testimony that it has not in the slightest degree declined from its original excellence, although the district where these sheep have been kept is not of the best quality for sheep-farming; the draughts from the flock that have been sold by auction have always exceeded in value the expectation of the purchasers in every country to which they have been carried that is not too damp for sheep. The weight of their fleece is from six to twelve pounds each, and those of the rams are somewhat heavier. Sheep of the ordinary coarse-woolled breed, when crossed by a Spanish ram, produce fleeces double in weight and far more valuable than those of their dams; and if this cross is carefully continued by supplying rams of the pure Spanish blood, the wool of the third or fourth generation is scarcely distinguishable from the original Spanish wool: These mixed breeds are more easily maintained, and can be fattened at as small an expense as the ordinary breeds of the country. No speculation whatever offers advantages so certain and so considerable to those who embark in it, as that of the improvement of wool by the introduction of rams and ewes of the true Spanish race among the flocks of France, whether the sheep are purchased at Rambouillet or elsewhere; in this business, however, it is of the greatest importance to secure the Spanish breed unmixed." The late Mr. Rich who took so much pains in breeding Merinos in paddocks at Auckland, while producing individuals of great weight, fineness of wool, and length of staple, failed to produce rams or ewes at our pastoral exhibition on the Ashburton worthy of a prize in the opinion of the judges, and this was, we understand, in consequence of the want of sufficient wool on the belly of the sheep, and we believe he imported Merino sheep a short time previous to his death to remedy this deficiency. The public can have ocular demonstration of the baneful results of crossing sheep and careless breeding from them, by viewing the animals of that class introduced here from Nelson and the Northern Island.