MIXING BRAINS WITH THE SOIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15056, 27 July 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

MIXING BRAINS WITH THE SOIL.

BY JAS. W. MOILEAITH, MTT., »*

The splendid munificence of the late Sir John Logan Campbell serves to remind ua of the supreme importance of agriculture in the social and commercial life °*■ New Zealand. To the growth of this industry, combined with the rise in prices of nearly all agricultural products, our remarkable prosperity since 1895 has been almost wholly due. For not only have the products of our farms increased wonderfully in volume and somewhat in variety, but | during the past 17' years the prices of these products have advanced on the •whole nearly 50 per cent. On the other hand the advance in the prices, of the articles we import has been comparatively trivial— hardly more than five or six per cent. The result has been inevitable; the inflow of goods into this country in exchange for our exports has increased in volume far more rapidly than our population. Hence to everyone in the Dominion has .fallen an increased and increasing share of the good things of life; hence" a, wonderful rise in the standard of comfort, a, rise which only those that remember the gloomy days of the eighties can adequately appreciate. Indeed, it is safe to assert—and statistical investigation and calculation support the view— our consumption of commodities per head is now on the whole about 100 per cent, greater in volume than it was a quarter of a century ago. The rapid increase in the marriage and the birth rate, and the progressive decline of the bankruptcy rate, synchronous with the rapid rise in the price of the products of the soil, all go to show how vitally dependent our prosperity is upon the agricultural industry. But great as the increase has been in our output of agricultural produce, and wonderful the prosperity resulting therefrom, there will bo found but few to contend that our farming industry is established on a really scientific basis. Let us not forget that our prosperity has been due very largely to causes of world-wide operation, causes beyond our control, and bub extremely little to any progress we have made in scientific farming.

Good fanners are as rare as great busiless men. The best of them are only just jeginning to realise the latent powers that ie within the first eight inches of top soil; of what lies below we have hardly yet began to dream. It is the same the world over, otherwise we would not witness such a disproportionate rise in the price of agricultural produce, as compared with the rise in the price of manufactured joods. Fortunately for the community we have men of the stamp of Sir John Logan Campbell, that not only realise the _ supremo importance of the industry, but at the same time give generously of their wealth to promote its advancement. Auckland has now a unique opportunity to enter upon an era of scientific investigation, from which the agricultural industry of Auckland in particular and of New Zealand in general »hould derive incalculable aenefit. For it is idle to pretend that the present jxperimental farms in New Zealand are loing anything tike the work that is possible for well-equipped agricultural coleges to do. It was my pleasure and priviege, a short time ago, to pay a visit to ihe Hawkesbury College, the great Agricultural College of New South Wales. Tins :ollege is concerned mainly with the trainng of residential students, who pay a comsaratively small fee for the course of instruction. This course is of the most /aried' and thorough character, including, n addition to the ordinary farm operations, the shoeing of horses, the repairing >f machinery, the operation of steam and >il engines, the . manufacture of butter md cheese, the growing and preservation! >f fruit, and the testing of sous. The latter is of the highest importance ; md the site of the college was selected jo that the soil should vary from the richest alluvial deposit to soil apparently so barren as to appal the average New Zealander. I spoke of our Lincoln Colege, and the director hinted, rather 3luntly too, that any fool could grow crops it Lincoln; whereas it takes a genius to jrow them at Haivkesbury. And this is a aoint that the future Board of Governors if the Auckland Agricultural College should note: That in Auckland we have in immense area of land apparently of ihe most barren nature, and that no agricultural college can be held to have disiharged its highest functions unless it lias Drobed so deeply into the chemical mysteries of Nature that it can replace the <ude bracken and tea-tree with the rich, sermanent pastures of advanced farming •.ommunities. But the Hawkesbury College is not consent merely with training" young farmers. Its portals "are wide. Every mid-winter the students are given a month's vacation, and n their places a hundred practical farmers inter, many of whom have applied at least 12 months' previously for admission. These lie all men with a grievance : A is anxious to learn soil-testing B would learn woolclassing; C cannot produce cheese to his satisfaction; D. E. and F. have difficulties if their own, and desire expert instruction. The Government, is sympathetic, and grants return railway fares at single rates. The college lodges, boards and instructs these farmers for the incredibly small fee of two guineas for the month. How much the experiment 'is appreciated is evident from the photographs of the farmers that adorn the walls, each photo., -says the director, being accompanied by a, cheque for £20, subscribed by the farmers for the benefit of the college. ■ Eecognising that the fanners., like every other professional man, must be caught young, the Government keeps a watchful eve on the State schools, and takes the greatest care that the State teachers shall have a, thorough training in the principles of agriculture. Thus it happened that-on mv visit during the summer vacation, no less than 120 State teachers were in residence at the college, maintained free ot cost by the State, and learning at firsthand and on a grand scale all the principles of that science which it will be their duty to expound in the State schools. There they reside for four or five weeks, and the skill of the whole staff of experts is at their disposal. A more earnest group it would be difficult to find, whether busy at pruning or grafting, carpet-garden-ing or milk-testing, at photography or the preparation of lantern slides. Here, too, are sent the teachers that display the greatest aptitude for agricultural instruction. These receive a year's expert training, and arc afterwards appointed as itinerant instructors to the State schools. Would it not be possible to do something similar ■ for our New Zealand teachers ? And every summer also from fifty to one hundred boys, specially selected from the citv schools, boys that indicate a desire to" become farmers, are given a fortnight's holiday on the college farm. They live in tents, and lead a glorious existence for a fortnight; tours by day, and lectures and displays b'v night, reveal to them the charms of country life. This experiment was initiated only a few years ago, and already, says the principal, many of those boys are returning to take up their residence as permanent students. Will New Zealand take a. leaf from New South Wales's book ? Sir John Logan Campbell has started us on the way. It is idle, of course, to contend that his splendid gift is sufficient to endow such an institution adequately. Will the prosperous merchants and farmers assist? If such were inspired with a truly patriotic purpose there should bo little difficulty in raising the endowment to at least £100,000. Parliament, too. should aid so noble an effort. Then if prices continue to rise our prosperity will increase with the years; whereas, if the tide of prices ebb as fast as it flowed, such scientific agriculture will be the moans of mitigating, if not of wholly averting, that almost certain disaster with which the staple industry of our country will otherwise be threatened. We shall have jmixed brains with our soil.