PART-TIME FARMING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 13

PART-TIME FARMING.

SOLVING ECONOMIC PROBLEM.

CITY WORKER'S ENTERPRISE.

HEALTHY ROAD TO PROFIT.

Of all the methods of solving the economic problem of the family that adopted by the "city farmer,'' of whom there would appear to be a fair number in Auckland, is one that and evidently succeeds. To work in the city and manage a farmlet in one's spare hours might appear to make demands upon time and energy incapable of fulfilment, but that is what a number of Aucklanders are doing.

" I saw the economic position steadily getting worse and the security of employment growing weaker and decided that something would have to be done about it," said one such farmer yesterday. " I did not relish the prospect of finding myself unemployed and stranded in the town, where cash has to be found for even the smallest necessity, and decided that if I could secure a suitable piece of land I would at least be able to assure that my family would not starve." Prophets Confounded. That decision was made 18 months ago and, acting upon it, this city worker exchanged his house property in the immediate suburbs for a five-acre farmlet at Glen Eden that had. been allowed to go back. He retained and still retains his position in the city. His friends, he said, prophesied disaster. " You are not used to hard work and you are not even the right type to go farming," they said. Before the first year had passed they visited him to scoff,, but remained to marvel.

" You are a lucky man," they told him, as they stood in his green paddocks among the Waitakere foothills with the sweet air blowing in their faces and with tramcars and bricks and mortar a world away. But those who called it luck took no account of the hours of enthusiastic toil that had worked the transformation, or of the pioneer spirit that had prompted a townsman to tear up his roots in middleage and place his stake in the soil.

" There is still much to be done," he s.tid, " but we now have the place in sume sort of order. We hope eventually to be self-supporting, in a modest way. Without my position in the town it would not have been possible to take the plunge. Already, from a health point of view, the change has worked remarkable results among the members of my family."Cows, Poultry and Vegetables. The property upon which this interesting venture is taking place is only five acres in extent, yet in its present state it carries three cows, a fourth cow having heen disposed of, and 200 head of poultry. Besides milk and butter the household requirements of vegetables are met by the kitchen garden and a summer supply of fruit has been maintained. A neatly laid out flower garden with small patches of green lalvn and shady trees surrounds the house.

When the property was taken over, said the owner, the garden was a wilder* ness and the paddocks were choked with praii'ie grass. A mower was put to work and the ground cleared. A sowing of lime was made and this was followed later by a top-dressing of superphosphate. The I'esult was remarkable. Clover and then paspalum commenced to show through and soon the paddocks were bright and green. - Only a ton of lime and less than a ton of super was used, on the score of cost, but the result demonstrated what could have been done with a - more adequate application of manure. Even now, after the dry summer, there remains a sole of grass which contrasts in striking fashion with one patch that was not top-dressed. A stack of hay, taken from the paddocks, stands ready for supplementary feed. Own Pullets Raised. It was not intended, on such a small area, to keep more than a single house cow, the owner's objective being poultry raising, but an endeavour is being mads to utilise every resource to the utmost until such time as the poultry flock is developed. Poultry houses were installed on the property whefn it was taken over. Much work was entailed in making them habitable and a start was made with 19 purebred White Leghorns. An incubator was procured and the eggs from these hens were hatched. The 200 healthy looking pullets raised are now commencing to lay. The owner and his wife are both well equipped with experience of poultry raising gained some years ago, and without which they state they would not have been justified in starting the venture. As regards the other departments of their siiall farm, however, they were only l&arners when they took over the property. The kindness of neighbours helped them over early difficulties.' Intensive Operations. A programme of work on an intensive scale has been mapped out and is being followed with closer application as the farm is improved. The area has been divided into a number of paddocks to facilitate rotational grazing and topdressing will be continued. The number of fowls will be increased as circumstances warrant, and with the extension of the fowl runs the number of fruit trees will be increased. Green food for the fowls is already grown, their mash being mixed with the skimmed milk from the cows. There is no waste and each phase of development is made to dovetail into the rest.

" It all entails hard work," said this enterprising Aucklander, " but hard work never killed anyone. Every day I manage to put in a few hours on the farm, with a longer spell of work at the week-ends. Slowly we are seeing it shape under our eyes, and it is very gratifying. My wife has her own departments of activity about the place, and we are both tremendously keen. Without enthusiasm it would probobly be impossible to carry on, but now that we have tasted the life neither of us would go back to the town. If we had listened to our friends we would have missed it all."