TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2056, 24 July 1867, Page 2

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Tn» UKBBiPioritD.—We understand that fifty-two men haroput their names down at tlio Immigration ofllco, at bolng out of employment. Tlteso men are nearly all labouron, and aro undcratood to bo willing to accept from fivo to six shillings a day. ;. Firb BmQans.-At the la«t meoting of tho City Council it was roßolved to advertise for a otentloman who would lio willing to undertako tho oflluo of Superintendent. Wo un derntaiKl thut Captain Wilson and Mr J. .Biiiloy havo oxpresßcd their wlllingnesi to acoept tho post. .'. ~Autißtio.--A very handsome specimen of workmanship has been made by Mr Coatos, : of:Coloml)o street. It ia ut silver baton, intended for tho lemlor of an orchestra, and will be presented to Mr Morton, of Rangiora, Rb a token of the appreciation in which his to promote tho cultivation of music amongst those who attend his class is held. .The design of the baton is cliasto and olegant, there being no attempt at wclcas ornamentation. Tho baton hears tho following inscription:—"Presented to MrC. Merton, by tho members of his class nt Kangiora, and a few of his Christchurch friends." Altogether the work reflects great credit upon Mr Coutes, who has produced a simple yet graceful design of art(workmanship. : ,'Cuunon of St. John the BirasT.—A parish meeting was held on Friday evening, to;/consider the advisability of building a room for the purpose of openingaday school. The meeting was unanimous, both as to the desirability of establishing a day school, and also building a room, provided the ways and means could be arranged. The Rev J. O'Bryen Hoare produced a plan, prepared by the Diocesan architects, Messrs Speedily and Crisp, who estimated the cost at jE2SO, and stated he was prepared to lend the parish £2OO at 10 per cent, interest, the principal to remain for four years, and the interest not to commence until after the present financial year, March 31,1868. The meeting gladly accepted Mr Hoare's offer, feeling assured that the small balance would be readily subscribed by the congregation. A committeo was appointed, consisting of the Her J. O'Bryen Hoare, Dr Deamer, and Messrs Hamilton, and Hesketh, to carry out the w;6rk, which it iahoped will be completed in about three months,

Orphan Asilum.—The managing committee of this institution met in the City "Council Chamber, at half-past four o'clock on Monday last. Present: Revds C. CotJterill, and J. O'Bryen Hoare, and Messrs jlawkes, W. H. Lane, and G. Gordon. The Rev G. Cotterill took the chair, having been appointed Bishop's, Commissary. The minutes of last meeting were read and signed. The secretary, (Mr Stanley), read hie quarterly report, and dwelt on the inconTonience felt during the time the children were suffering from measles, from the want of more accommodation. Many children have been refused admittance, and consequently placed under the care of those whose means would not allow them to maintain or educate the children as they ought to be. He stated that the cost of maintenance per week of each child for the quarter, was £1.1.08 9Jd. The number of children in the house is 43,32 of whom were paid for by the Government, and the remainder by friends. A donation of £l7 3s 7d was received from the.Tonic Sol-Fa Society, which was ordered tobeacknowledged.The ladies'committteconsidered the matron not equal to the duties of the.Asylum, and recommended the managing committee to appoint another. Mr Stanley gave a month's notice of his resigning his situation. The committee expressed regret at losing his services. It was resolved to advertise for a married couple to fill the joint offices of master and matron, at a salary of £l5O per annum. Mr J. E. Brown of Kangiora, applied for a boy as an apprentice. The committee decided that they could not comply with the application. A vacancy in tlie committee jof management was decided to ba filled up at the next meeting, The ladies reported that the house was perfectly clean and in very good order. Some articles of clothing were ordered, and the committee adjourned.

I Wages in America.—The Times correspondent writing from New York on May 1 '■gays'::.—The labour difficulties, about which I have recently sent you some information, seem/ to increase. New organisations of various trades are being formed, and the labourers threaten to make an addition to thejciagges now out on strike. They are receiving from 2 dols. 50 c. to 2 dots. 75 c, a day; and demand 3 dols from this morning, asserting that if they do not get it they will strike for 3 dols. 50 c. (about 12s a day). I have ascertained by careful inquiries that there .are now about ninety working men's societies, designed for protection of their trades in this city alone. Of these twentytwo belong to one general union, which combines against employers, and supports members on strike. From a table in one of the 'papers it appears that at this moment artisans' wages vary from 4 dols. 50 c. to .2 dols. 50 c. a day.

How xo make a. Section Pat.—A correspondent of the Australasian says:—lt is often said that sheep-farming on a small gcale will not pay in this colony. On examination this will be found to be a fallacy. On section of land, if a man goes about fit'tlie right way, he need scarcely fear the result.; There are three ways of sheep-farming bn;a.Bmall scale—breeding lambs, rearing lambsjand fattening wethers. Tlienatureof the land must determine which of these three kinds'of sheep-farming will answer best. If ithe section is well sheltered, breeding should ;|be,pursued; if it is open country, rearing jambs, will answer well; and if it is rich "volcanic soil, fattening wethers will be the most profitable. At present we will consider 'the probable result of breeding lambs. Let us suppose the case of a man who has been the fortunate selector of 640 acres of land adapted to sheep-breeding, and possessed of a capital of £SOO. His first outlay is to build a hut, which should not cost him more than £2O V he then buys 100 hurdles, which will cost him £ls, and lays in a twelvemonths' supply of flour, tea, sugar, und other necessaries; which will cost hereabout £so,making in all £fis. Having arranged these preliminaries, he purchases 600 good 6-tooth ewes, with ten rami, from some good breeder in the neighbourhood, for which he pays £3OO. His capital Is now reduced to £ll6. One-half of this will be sufficient to meet the expenses of lambing and shearing; the balance should bo kept in case of. any. unforeseen accident occurring. If scab, for instance, should break out', unless the sheep are at once dressed, there Is not the slightest chance of success, I have not included a horse and cart, as tiny arc not necessary to a beginner, but rather a hindrance,... All necessary supplies oim be obtained In the neighbourhood. Let us now 'reckon the probable return at the end of the first year. If the lambing has beon a good one—and let It be romembered that upon the result of this opor&tion depends tho success or ..failure of tho untlertaklng-500 lambi jjhbnld'lie added to the original stock. Allowing ja. decrease of fifty for deathg, tho stook at -shearing time should amount to 1050. Thoiwool of such » (look, if a judicious selection hag boon made, should be worth X2oo}; 400 lambs should bo ioldfor£lOu, ..:rctalnliig 100 owe lambi to mako up deficiencies in the flock. Tho scoontl year would be commenced with a capital of from £3OO to £3s(l'. One-half of this should be spent in fencing the section, tho remainder would no ample to pay expenses, and leuvo a reserve in case of accidents, The second year's lambing would probably result in about 450 lambs, .which, added to tho original stock and last year's lambs retained, would make a total for 'shearing of 1050, The wool should bring about £200; 350 lambs should be sold, which would realise £BBlos, making In all £2BBlos as tho income of the second year, loucwo lambs having been retained to meet tho deercaao in the Hock. Tho third year would be commenced with a capital of about £.IOO, Half this amount could be expended in building a small cottage and woolshwl s the other .•half .would be ample to meet current expenses. The lambs ami wool at tho end of this year should yield about £275, retaining 100 ewo ■lambs:-■"■At the beginning of tho fourth year it would bo necessury to sell off all the old

ewes, which would probably number about 400, and which would realise, Bar, £IOO, Thoso would hare to be replaced with young ewci, which would cost £2OO. This would raiuce the Income to about £175, but still Ample to meet all expensei, If there la any truth In this calculation, It will bo teen that after three yecn a solector will liavo his land fenced,acottagoand woolshcd erected thereon, and an annual lucomo of nearly £.IOO, The successful Issue, of course, mainly depends upon careful management and tha übsence of disoaio,

A Hquattrr'h ExPEniHtCB w Fabmimo IK Qukknaland.—The following extract in from a letter signed " A Squatter," and published In tho Roehhampton Bulletin:-" Let mo state, by way of prefaco, that I was bred an ogriculturist, and have had nomc agricultural experience in New South Wales, having cultivated largely there, in connection with the management of a squattage, not only successfully, but paid a largo portion of the cxpciwcs of the sheep station from the profits of the farm, so that I commenced my experiments under the belief that 1 had some little knowledge of what I was about, and being one of thoso who ' have baen here for ten years,' I had also the advantage of some knowlodge of the climate. I thought, at the same time, if it were possible to supplement tho profits of grazing by connecting farming with it, here as in the South, wo were foolish to be rationing our men on flour which costs us, laid down on the station, from £3O to £7O per ton, and feeding our horses (as we were compelled to do during the late drought) on corn imported from Tasmania, and carried on drays over imndreds of miles of rough bush roads, at high rates of carriage. I commenced by selecting a piece of land for a cultivation paddock, about fifteen acres to begin with, and had it properly fenced. A rich dark friable soil, basaltic formation, resting on a fine gravelly subsoil, with some lime in it—good aspect, not too flat, just slope enough to carry off any superabundance of surface water—and which I consider equal to anything I ever in my life put a plough in. I had it ploughed, harrowed, left to sweeten, and ploughed again, and then planted with maize, believing I had only to keep it free from woeds, and properly hilled up, and pull the corn when ripo. The corn came up, remained green forawhile, then turned yellow, and then died. Well, that was only one failure; it was_ an exceptional season, perhaps, and exceptions, you know, only go to prore the rule. I ploughed again, harrowed again, and planted again the following spring, this time ploughing in a part of it to give the roots a deeper hold in the soil than they could have by the ordinary method of planting. It all came up again, but the rain did not come down, and so again it all died. After awhile the rain came down—plenty of it, to put the soil in first-rate working trim. Well, it's not too late yet: so I had it planted again. The seed was duly steeped to make it germinate quickly, go that the roots might have a fair hold on the soil before the moisture had time to evaporate from the surface. I visited the paddock daily, scraping the earth off in places to see how it was coming on, and found the men were planting too much seed in a place; luckily so, however, for I found at the same time numbers of brown wiry-look-ing grubs, about an inch long and one-eighth of an inch thick feeding on the soft milky germ of the seed. This fellow, I feared, would prove fatal to the crop again, but he didn't quite. I had the satisfaction of seeing it come up once more, thin and patchy in places where the grubs were, most numerous, but fine, healthy-looking plants, and enough of them to yield a fair crop. It grew rapidly, although no more rain fell until it came out in bloom, and the cob* began to form; and I was complimented by passersby on having as fine a field of corn as they had seen in Queensland. The weather continued hot and dry, and instead of rain there came two or three days of hottish wind, which blighted the corn, and my hopes as an agriculturist, for another season. What corn there was is now pulled, and stands me in something about £7 per bushel. Now here is a piece of that 'virgin soil which (you assure us) only requires the labour of man to make it productive,' and which has had the labour of many men, and beasts too, expended on it, and has not yet been productive, for the want of that knowledge, which I trust you are now going to impart. I do not say, and never have said, that the soil here is unfit for agriculture, because I believe it to be superior in every respect to soils from which I have drawn excellent crops, witli very much less labour; but I should be telling an awful crammer were I to state, as the result of my own experience, that the climate is favourable also; and if asked, I should be compelled to admit that not only do I think it unfavourable for the culture of cereals, but for the cultivation of any annual vegetable product that requires a regular and seasonable supply of moisture to bring it to maturity. But here, again, I find you come to my assistance, and at once point out a remedy, viz., " works of irrigation on a large and scientific system." Although I had heard of this before, it was always from people whi) had not counted the cost—people, in short, who make assertions without troubling themselves first to ascertain how far they are either true or practicable, just as you have told us the squatters do about our soil and climate, and I am truly glad to have it from so good an authority as yourself, who can doubtless prove it by a business-like statement, of the method and approximate cost of such works in a country that is destitute of perennial rivers—such statement, of course, to be based on the average wages rate current in Queensland since it became a colony. I am sure the information-will be most acceptable to many of your readers as well as to mys If. I have been labouring under another hallucination, which I wish you would also explain away for me, viz,, that in a country where ' the soil and climate are admirably adapted for cultivation/ works of irrigation on a largo and scientific scale were unncessary, being aware that in such climates cultivation is carried on successfully without such aid. When I speak of successful cultivation 1 mean cultivation that yields a profit to the cultivator; for if we have to carry it on at a loss, we may just as well do without the extra expense of irrigating. I had also run away with the idea that in a country where the highest wages perhaps in the world have to be paid for labour, this drawback, added to the others, would preclude tho possibility of our competing successfully with more favoured countries; but this, along with the other foolish squatting notions, I trust you will be able to clear away."