NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1933. EGGS AND BASKETS

Northern Advocate, 8 June 1933, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1933. EGGS AND BASKETS

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

The old saying about the unwisdom of putting all one’s eggs in one basket may be applied with, particular force to the fanuing industry. There has been 100 great a tendency to concentrate on one particular phase of farming. The coming of high prices for wool, for instance, made farmers concentrate their energies upon the breeding of sheep, 1o the exclusion of dairy cattle and Ihe sidelines of dairying. Then, when prices for butter and cheese began steadily to rise and the outlook for a continued market at high prices seemed assured, farmers whose land would carry cows turned their attention to dairying, only to find that their neglect of this branch of industry had unfitted them for the task of taking advantage quickly of the new field which had opened up. Then, with attention focused on dairying, they entirely neglected woolgrowing, with the result today

that those who would like to engage in mixed farming find themselves severely handicapped. We do not suggest that -dairyfarming and sheepfnrming can always go hand in hand —the difficulties in the. way of this are obvious--but we mention the matter to emphasise the fact that farmers would always be well advised to run as many sidelines as their properties make possible. If the average farmer will pause to take stock, he will he surprised, 'especially the fanner who lives in a favoured territory such as Northland, to find how many baskets he might use profitably for the sidelines his farm could produce. Apart from development of pig-rearing, which is a natural auxiliary of the dairy industry, there are many tilings to winch the farmer should devote attention. There is the planting of trees, for example. Many a farmer today is obtaining quite a serviceable revenue from the pine trees which he or his predecessor planted not so many years ago. The planting of the trees was no doubt regarded as a futility by many people, who now wish they had been, guilty of such folly. As the laird advised bis son. “Aye stick in a tree, Jock. It’ll be growing while ye’re sleeping.” This advice may be applied to many trees other than pines. There is the lung oil tree, for instance, drown in odd cornel's of a farm today, the tung nuts, when forwarded to a central depot, as is done with cream at the present time, would provide a useful addition to the farmer’s income in the course of a few years. Then there are various classes of beans, the claims of which we have at different times urged. It is believed that beans, for which a good market could be found, may be grown to advantage on areas which would otherwise be waste land. The growing of tobacco is another sideline which suggests itself. As is shown elsewhere in the “Northern Advocate” today, the North provides a kindly soil for the growing of the fragrant weed, which, apart from its commercial value, would certainly have a home market. We have mentioned only some of the directions in which the larmer might develop sidelines, but they should suffice, to show that, apart from the main source's of income, material assistance may be obtained from taking advantage of the gifts which Nature, brings within the reach of tin* thritty and the economical. If all the possibilities of Northland farming had been fully exploited, the low prices which are being obtained for butler today wouldi have lost a lot of their sting. Tt’sj never too late to mend.