The Ensign. GORE: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1. AGRICULTURAL METHODS.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1418, 1 December 1904, Page 2

The Ensign. GORE: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1. AGRICULTURAL METHODS.

The experience of later years has shoun tliat considerable changed in tile nio;liods adopted, tor tno pursuit ot the agricultural industry are ' impending. Already many 'ot the processes regarded within the memory of those thing to-day us the finality of periection have either been completely' I revolutionised or else totally discarded. A better knowledge of the why and wherefore of essentials is obtaining and gradually the old rule of ' tuumb plan of procedure is being ousted by a definite and certain understanding. It is not that the tarmers of a newer generation have any greater capacity for assimilating knowledge than was possessed by their forefathers. It is owing ehie'ly to a great forward movement in progress all over the world to tho end of securing the betterment of conditions with which rural communities are surrounded. Tliis movement (although not claiming its genisis ill any deliberate intention on tho part of the various nations to acliicvo a remedy for those obvious disadvantages under which the populations of country districts labored) is due to the stern necessities of commerce demand-

ing the exercise of greater intelligence in the preparation of food-stuffs for the market. This in its turn was tho outcome of a widened area of compe-tition-the settlement and cultivation of new countries, and tho resultant evect in the direction of promoting fastidiousness of Welection on the part of the purchaser. Were it not for the Competition offered by the Argentine and Australia, considerably less cere would be oxeroised in the matter of placing our frozen meat exports upon the London market. • The need for that care has reduced the industry to an exact science and all connected with it, from the shipping agent right

back to the breeder o! the stock, know to a nicety what is required by the Home buyers, and how that article is to be produced. There has been a sharpening of wits and a cudgelling of brains all round, and the process has been distinctly beneficial to everyone so influences. Thus we find it as a fact that the exercise of the brightest and keenest intelligence is constantly rdquired to ensure .the continued prosperity of the agri-. cultural industry with its muny branches everywhere. It follows nat'ir.d--ly upon such an interesting and valuable seriiS of evolutionary stages that those concerned in tho rural occupations should be brought to thoroughly realise that the haphazard processes which served the requirements of a forrnor order of things are too uncertain in their operation to Meet tho needs of to-day. Everything must bo thought down to tho finest possible point. Lubor and timo saving devices must be utilised, a more intense system of cultivation must be adopted, new departments of activity must be exploited and generally tho call is made for the oxpression of the l est and most enterprising attributes , of manly vigor towards a problem whoso sutisfaceory solution is alone to ho fouud in unremitting toil of the most discriminating and best directed character. By common consent it is agreed that in tho near future great changes will be witnessed in the matter "of

power for form machinery. By the most ' sanguine it is anticipated that before very long the familiar draught horhc will havo been displaced by agricultural motors, which will bo utilised not only for the purposes to which horses are now put, but also to perioral a greater part of the work , now undertaken by traction and. poi i - able engines. Whether such will even* Utah I .' prove to be the case is open to question, but certainly the change cannot be expected immediately. Tiio traditions and prejudices of centuries must first bo conquered, and then afterwards it must be demonstr;u.sl beyond all doubt that the new motive power is at least <"<(ual in point of .reliability with the old, and that moreover it is substantially cheaper. So far it would appear that the itypes of agricultural motors placed upon the New Zealand market were scarcely suited to general requirements. This is not at all to be wondered at. This style of machine!y, it must be remembered, lias been manufactured for use at Home, where farming methods aro very different to those pursued in the colony. Jlcre rapidity of working is the great desideratum, nor is there any special need to economise in the use of landau acre wasted here and there by the uncultivated corners of the fields matters little to the average New /,calami farmer. To gel his work done at the highest rate of speed possible | is the goal kept steadily in view. .'Jo j accomplish that ho uses heavy mechinery of a pattern unknown to the general run of agriculturists in <'reat Britain, so that it is not difficult 'to understand that a motor of given liorse power and speed which wo lid ):e eminently suited for general adoption in Kngland would prove a waste of money and time to operate in New Zealand. Therefore, if on ei llmiis'.ivc trials being made it is diseovercd that machinery of this character fails to accomplish that whiih is expected, it would even then be premature to condemn the whole system as incite: live. As in ploughs, binders, scedsowcrs and other implements of everyday use a purely colonial type has been evolved as the result of experience and knowledge of the conditions to be encountered, so in agricultural motors a pattern suitable lor local application will no doubt make its appearance in due course. with that made available and merits established beyond question, another problem will remain to be dealt with—the matter of labor. Though it has not so far been claimed that the ability to control most kinds of farm machinery constitutes skilled labor, a demand is almost certain to be made in that direction if agricultural motors came into general use. It is a <piestion to be considered whether, when the capitalist (for the time biing) places such appliances in the hands of his employees as v ill permit of the output resulting it' >:n j their labois being substantially increased, he is entitled to sympalltvucally advance their wages in consequence, although the means of 11,taining the larger output are the ( 11come solely of his enterprise and willingness to sink comparatively large sums to make such available. It is a question, further, whether the farm laboier under the altered condition of matters would not discover that his duties uere sensibly lightened. and taliing that aspect of the matter into consideration it is fair to balance the lessening of labor Mid houts against the little additionalskill requisite to successfully oper.i'.e motor machinery. Though probably the matter under review belongs to the futi.re, considerable instruction is to be derived from closely weighing the whole of the possibilities. If the

xt.se of agricultural motors is likely to advantage the industry to any appreciable extent it is- necessary that its advent should lie hastened by every possible meuns. The oseessive competition from other producing countries has diminished the margin oi prolU almost to a vanishing point, and the position now is flint (In- |ioplo who an; enabled to pursue tlx-ir operations at a less cost than that sustained by their business opponents must lieie.-sarily secure a tremendous advantage when it comes to marketing their several wares.