FARMING IN VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11188, 9 February 1897, Page 7

FARMING IN VICTORIA.

fßr Sylvan;] (Si/iliicy Mail.) LAND VALUES. As the formers grew prosperous land rose rapidly in price, and the hanks finding that the securities were reliable began to force a groat deai of the money that was so plentiful in the colony upon tho holders. Milch of the trouble that , has since befallen tho agriculturists of Victoria miy. bo ascribed to this. Only the mbst capable men upon the land could continue to pay high interest and stitvive, and the position of the others was critical in the extreme when bad times once mere succeeded, and tho banks suddenly wanted all overdrafts reduced. , Speaking generally tho example of Victorian farmers should induce all others to make a hard and fast rule in this respect. Borrow as little as possible at any time, but borrow not at all in prosperous seasons, should be the motto of all farmers. With a small unencumbered holding a farmer can enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that all he has upon his acres is his own, his homo is safe, and he knows that there is little danger of other people stepping in and taking his holding with the improvements he has worked so hard to place upon it. AN ENORMOUS OUTPUT. The area under wheat increased enormously under the leasehold system, and •with the introduction of implements that enabled men to successfully cultivate tho great tracts of mallee country. The - maximum yields were reached in 1892-3, when the output of breadstnffs was over 12 000,000 bushels. About half of this was available for export,, and the colony should have seen prosperous years. Unfortunately the bursting of the financial and land booms bad completely ruined the local market for produce, while wheat was at a very low price the world over. In these and succeeding years the wheat was sold at unpayable figui’es, as low as Is 3d per bushel being accepted at some of the up-country stations. In fact, the farmers suffered from the inevitable consequences of over-production, and a great many were ruined in the midst of plenty, simply because grain was almost t unsaleable, and they had nothing else to sell. Later the inevitable law of supply and demand worked against the producers on contrary lines to these. The crops in 1895 were almost total failures in most of tho districts. Prices were better towards the end of 1895, and very much better still in 1896. Yet it is only the favoured few who have derived any benefit from the rise in values, the vast majority being crippled by the wretched yields they have harvested,and others completely ruined through getting ho yields at all. ( In no country in the world has the fact that cereal raising; alone will not keep the farmer on his land, been more effectually proved than in Victoria.

'DAIRYING AND OTHER INDUSTRIES. There can bo no doubt that the successful establishment of the butter expqrt trade came to the rescue of the bulk of the people on the laud. Even those ■who farmed m the most favoured districts, ■such as Warrnambool, were struggling, against the fate that over-production was bringing over the heads of the agriculturists of the whole colony. The bonuses allotted to the factories, and the encouragement given to the establishment of factories represent the only practical attempt made by any Victorian Government to allow the farmers some compensation for. the losses they had sustained through the protection-run-mad policy that was overgrown to an extravagant extent. The prospect of being able to obtain a fair price for milk, and a constant, reliable market for the article appealed to all the people who held small grazing areas with their cultivated land, and they were not slow to seize the opportunity. There has been no boom in the factory system in Victoria, and no fortunes in it for the farmers. At no time has it paid to hire labour to milk cows —a fact which accounts for the large landholders adhering to sheep and general grazing and leaving dairying severely alone. The quantity supplied to the factories or creameries is usually regulated by the number of working members in the supplier’s family. Suppliers have found that by a kind of family co-operation they can carry on the ordinary farm work and milk a number of cows at the same time. These are the people who keep up the great" milk supply from which the large export of butter is produced. Clearly then there are no fortunes in dairying in Victoria. At the same time, it has proved a reliable source of revenue, it brings a monthly return in cash which enables the

farmers to pay their store bills and something more. Milking for the factories, * though a much smaller enterprise in most cases, has kept hundreds of families upon the land when cultivated crops have failed them and would have left them -in the lurch. Naturally the industry has extended all over the colony. From Warmambool, and Gippsland in the south to the Murray, from Gippsland East to the South Australian border on the west, factories and creameries are to bo 1 met with everywhere. The greatest centre is Warmambool. In this district there are a score of factories within a few miles of each other, and the limited companies which control them are very prosperous. With the exception of some large exporting companies which have their headquarters in Melbourne, the factories and creameries have been established by companies, the capital being subscribed from the immediate districts. Business men in the country towns have taken shares in some of these companies in order to promote local industry, but the best plan has proved to bo that of having supplying shareholders only. In some cases where there are investing shareholders the directorshavelimitedthe dividends payable to them, and in othershonuses havebeenpaid to supplying shareholders. By restricting the list of shareholders to suppliers the industry becomes distinctly co-operative, since under capable management the whole of the profits over working expenses must go to those who supply the milk. The factory system in Yictoria is well up to date, and is kept so by the conferences in Melbourne of managers and members of the Dairymen’s Association, who discuss all the latest improvements and receive and digest suggestions as the best means of securing the advantages of the home markets. The value of the Government brand on exported produce is often questioned. Some exporters maintain that if the Australian article is what is wanted it will find its purchasers in the home markets at prices on a parity with those ruling in England. However this may he, the exp'ort of butter has been very successfully carried on under the Victorian system, and its champions have therefore the strongest of all arguments to advance in its favour. The factory system on a co-operative basis is .gaining ground in the rural industries of Yictoria. Cheese-making is being extensively canned on, and ham .and bacon factories are becoming numerous. In this latter connection a word about pigfarming may not be out of place. Pigs are always healthier on an open run, aud nothing has proved better for this purpose than lucerne. As an aid to his system of mixed farming the farmer cannot have a better thing than a pig-proof fenced lucerne paddock. I have often been surprised that the value of this manner of running and feeding pigs has not been more universally recognised in the districts where lucerne thrives. In New Mexico the ranchers raise thousands of porkers on lucerne, and send them straight to market without a mouthful of grain. When the export-of bacon and hams from these colonies develops, pigs will probably be in great demand at the factories, and the open-run system of raising stores should advance with the export. Breeding and fattening for the lamb and other fat markets is advancing in Victoria, and for these purposes the Southdown, strains are being introduced with success.. In fact, Judging from the splendid qualities of the Shropshire and other sheep of this class, it would seem that the best fattening jheop were almost unknown in the colony (•r piany years.

general. The history of irrigation in Victoria is not a very creditable record of State management. The subject is too large to be dealt with in a space at my disposal. It is only interesting here because it has resulted in a new industry being added to the resources of the fanner. Fruit and vino growing have induced an enormous outlay on the part of enterprising and hopeful farmers and orchardists. The ultimate outcome of all this is still matter for speculation ; but in the meantime the prudent agriculturist, in tho northern districts at least, will add a little frnit and some wine production to his scheme of cultni’e as another string to his bow. The record of farming in Victoria shows that the successful farmers are the men who have made the best use of their own heads and hands and tho hands of their families, and have not fallen into the error of putting all their eggs into one basket. ,