The Farm.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 30, 19 August 1871, Page 9

The Farm.

ON THE ADVANTAGE OF SMALL FAEMS. A farmer thus alludes to the advantages of small farms over large ones. In the course of about thirty years experience it has been my lot to occupy the following * small farms in addition to larger : —One of about forty acres, one of sjxty, of fifty, of twenty-seven, of twenty-eight.of thirty, of sixty-four, of forty-eight, of fifty-seven, of seventy-two, and of twenty-two; out of the whole may be reckoned fifty-one acres of watered meadows, sixty-two of upland meadows and old pasture land, each of which had been pretty well attended to, the remainder, except a trifle, entirely worn -down and exhausted by continual cropping, and consisted of light turnip soil, except about

fifty acres of strong clay in no better condition. The aforesaid farms, I put in a good itate of cultivation, and have since parted with some of them, to farmers who do well, and whatever may be said for the necessity of large farms, or against small ones, I must confess myself to be decidedly in favor of the latter; for it should be considered from the above statement; the loss to both landlord and tenant must be placed to a bad system of husbandry, and not the smallness of farms, for if those lands had been occupied chiefly with dairy cows, some sheep and pigs, and only one third in tillage, well husbanded, it would have produced as much grain and straw for the cattle in winter, as the whole did in bad culture. When such a state of culture has been adhered to, I do not recollect it to have failed in a single instance, and these little farmers with their families might have lived comfortably, and been much better supplied with diet and other necessaries. But as it was, they had fairly worn out their land, as well as themselves.

But keeping a number of horses on a small farm instead of cows, is in itself so absurd a method," that one would imagine no person would ever pretend to it, as they consume the greatest part of the produce. It is however an uncommon case.

Small farmers upon light soils, may do their work with few horses ; two good horses will do a deal of ploughing and harrowing, and those who live near each other find it often convenient to join their small teams together in seed time, draw-

ing manure and harvest work, in order to assist and expediate the work, at such busy times. In many situations, oxen, would be more profitable than horses, but for those who do not like to work oxen, good bony useful mares are best for the purpose, and if well fed and properly attended to, will do nearly as much work as geldings; and altogether so, except a little hindrance at foaling time; the profit of a good foal at weaning time, when four or five months old, is a valuable consideration.

Large farms I consider as useful in their place as small ones, and I do not comprehend the necessity in fixing the number of acres any farmer is to occupy. A person occupying a large farm may sometimes assist the lesser one in doing a day's ploughing, or drawing home some manure, &c, without any prejudice to himself, on the contrary, I have found the performing a few kind offices a benefit. There is no one in a situation however low it may be, that may not sometime or other do us a piece of service, and there is no one who is desirious of living in a comfortable way can procure too many friends in his neighborhood or too few enemies; a good neighbor is valuable, and the good will of an honest industrious little farmer in more to be esteemed and regarded, than an injurious domineering individual, let his profession and elevation be as consequential as they may; it is well for the repose of mankind that such persons are not very numerous, and we have the pleasure of knowing many exemplary instances amongst the great that do honorand credit to themselves, and impart comfort and happiness to those around them; the uneasy, unjust sort, are most composed of those who have accumulated wealth in a sudden, unexpected manner, which causes a difficulty in finding out a rational method of disposing their time or property in such a way as to be agreeable either to themselves or those who happen to have any concern with them.

Small farmers are still more valuable on account of bringing up part of their families for service, their children, in" general, bred up in habits of sobriety, frugality, and industry, make in general the best servants, and after them the children of day laborers ; and both, together may be considered the most valuable part of her Majesty's subjects; subjects not affluent but strong, hardy, and loyal, and cannot in reason be too much encouraged. It is the interest of all great land owners to instruct their agents to divide some of their larger estates into smaller ones, when opportunities occur; the public would be better served with many articles than they are at present, and the landlord would be amply repaid for the expense of buildings, repairs &c, in the advance of rents, which small portions of land, for the most part, are let at in comparison with large ones. THE THISTLE NUISANCE. We clip the following from the "Melbourne Leader :"—When man was condemned to eat bread by the sweat of his face, and the ground was cursed for his first transgression, thistles were specially mentioned as one of the plagues from which he was henceforth to suffer. From that remote period down to the present day, " thistles instead of wheat," or indeed any other crop, have been an abomination in the eyes of cultivators, ancient as well as modern. We will pass over the somewhat mythical account of the introduction of thistles into this colony by means of the enthusiastic and patriotic Scotchman who grew the first plant in his garden plot. The story may be ranked in the same category as the pleasing ancient fiction which ascribes the variegation of the " blessed thistle" to a drop of milk from the breast of the Virgin Mary falling on a green plant and forthwith the leaves became beautifully variegated as we now see them. Everyone is familiar with the tale of how the Bathurst burr was brought in the tails of horses from South America to New South Wales, from whence it has spread over the whole of this colony. It is not, however, with the manner in which the various species of thistle found their way hither that we have now to do. Here they are, and in such abundance that the momentous question has arisen, not how they came, but how we can best get rid of their presence, or, at any rate, prevent them from taking entire possession of the country. With this object in view, the- Ballarat Agricultural Society htis of late been actively engaged in a praiseworthy attempt to obtain the opinions of farmers generally throughout the colony as to the most effectualmeans of checking this growing nuisance, which the past moist season has developed to an alarming extent. The report of a sub-committee to which the matter had been referred we have already placed before our readers. At the conference of deliegates from the various shires, boroughs, and road boards, held in Melbourne last week, the subject was discussed, and amendments of the present statue, differing little if any from those adopted by the Ballarat Agricultural Society, were agreed to. These two reports will no doubt shortly form the basis

of fresh legislation for the eradication of thistles, and will, it is to be hoped, result in a workable act for their suppression. So long ago as 1856 Mr Eobert McDougali then a member of the Assembly, elicited from Mr Clarke, in reply to a question put concerning the destruction of thistles, " that some difficulty had been experienced in applying the provisions of the act," and since then it has been allowed to remain a dead letter. Individual and local efforts have been make to keep the enemy in check, but generally speaking thistle and the Bathurst burr have been allowed to grow and multiply, until now, with the largely increased area of land in cultivation, the interference of the state to check the evil can be no longer delayed. Under present circumstances the farmer who may be desirous of keeping his land free from these pests is liable to have all his efforts rendered abortive and a perpetual annual cost imposed upon him by careless and negligence neighbors. To obtain a conviction for non-compliance, with a notice to eradicate thistles under the present act would require an amount of botanical knowledge possessed by few in the colony, except Dr Von Mueller. Not only must the plain farmer unlettered in botanical science be in a position to prove that the plants he complains of are, " Carduus Marianus, Cardnus Benedictus, Carduus lanceolatus, Onopordum Acanthium or Xanthium Spinosum," as the case may be, but he must also be able to identify the thistles on the ground after the time allowed for cutting them down had expired as being the same identical plants seen by him when the notice was served. These scientific hindrances it is proposed to remove, or rather transfer. The onus of proof that the plants complained of are not those with the queer name 3 is in future to rest with the wrong doer, and truly he is the proper party to whom this puzzling duty should be delegated. Weeds are botanically interesting, and, therefore, there can be no hardship in compelling those who grow them to study botany, so that they may be able to define the difference between Carduns lanceolatus and Sonchus oleraceus, or, in plain English, the narrow leaved prickly thistle and the common sow thistle, the latter of which, it is proposed, shall be exempt from the rigors of the amended act. The foregoing amendments relate to clause 3 of the present act. Clause 4 is to be amended so as to bring the managers of commons within the scope of the law. The lowest fine is to be £l, and magistrates are to be allowed no option except in the increase of the amount; but a penalty of not less than £1 shall be inflicted on every offender. Power is also to be given to the thistle inspector to enter on land within the jurisdiction of the corporate body that may appoint him " to search for thistles, and remove specimens of the same," to be produced, if needs be, afterwards as evidence against those who may disregard the notice served upon them. It is further proposed that one notice shall be deemed sufficient for the season, and that the season shall commence with the month of September and finish in May. In reference to this part of the proposed amendments, it is worth consideration whether it should not be rendered compulsory on the part of thistle inspectors to serve all notices as soon as possible after the date first mentioned, otherwise they may be seen wading through crops far advanced in growth anything but a pleasant sight to a farmer —in search of thistles, or dropping in with a " notice to eradicate, &c," on some unlucky wight who had dreamt that he had no thistles on his land just when all hands are busily engaged in harvest work. The thistle inspector is to be called into existence for the benefit of the farmers, the utmost care should be exercised so as to prevent his presence from becoming as obnoxious in their eyes as the thistles themselves now are. This, however, is matter of detail, and will no doubt receive due attention. Upon the whole, the amendments proposed are of such a nature as will render the effectual eradication of thistles possible, and the Conference of Delegates has reason to be grateful to the Ballarat Society for having provided such a carefully digested document as that which formed the source of its inspiration. There is, however, a view of the subject that has not, as far as we are aware, yet received the consideration its importance demands, viz., the effect of the proposed amendments on the pastoral tenants of the Crown, and through them on the exchequer of the state. In clause 12 of the present act it is provided that:—" Whenever it shall be proved to the satisfaction of any two justices that any lessee or occupier of lands of the Crown held or occupied under lease or licence shall have expended in any one year the sum of one hundred pounds in the eradication of thistles within the boundaries of such land so held or occupied, it shall be lawful for the Governor to direct payment of any sum expended by such lessee or occupier in the eradication of such thistles over and above such sum of one hundred pounds expended as aforesaid." Now the question for consideration is, if the above clause be left intact whether, in the interests of cultiva-

tors, it is desirable or necessary to compel the Crown tenant to clear the whole of his run. We know farmers who have paid one shilling, and even one and sixpence, an acre for the eradication of thistles over the whole of their farms during the past year. Twenty thousand acres, at sixpence an acre, would leave a heavy balance for the state to pay above the sum of £IOO paid by the squatter. If this is necessary, • by all means let it be done, but is it necessary? The thistle is a weed among a growing crop and in good pasture land, but in some places it becomes a source of nutritious summer food for stock. Where thistles are growing at such a distance from cultivated land as to prevent the risk of contamination, is it desirable that the Crown tenant should be compelled to destroy in September or October what in December or January would be of infinite value to him ? The consideration of this part of the subject involves the question of how far is thistle seed carried by the wind ? Our own experience is that thistle down flies a long way, but thistle seed such as will grow, is rarely carried to any very great distance. The elevation of the starting point has, of course, much to do with the distance that the seed will travel before it reaches the ground. What the car is to the balloon the seed is to thistle down. A thoroughlyripened seed sown brings the downy balloon to earth, the first touch of wnich severs the two, when the down rises minus the seed and sets out on a harmless rolling journey through the air. Taken in connection with the facts, as far as we have observed them, relative to the dispersion of thistle seed, we certainly think the suggestion made by the thistle inspector to the shire of Portland, Mr Douglass, that the act be confined to cultivated land and Crown lands within a mile of such cultivated land, is deserving of more serious consideration than it has yet received. It would be a pity if the cost of working the new act should render in inoperative.

The Price of Wool. —According to the writer of " Weekly Notes" in the " Nelson Mail," it has been calculated ' that a penny per pound affects the incomes of the sheepfarmers of New Zealand, in the aggregate to the extent of a little over an eighth of a million; therefore the rise in price which has taken place within the last few months, and which now amounts to tihree-pence per pound as compared with what it was at the time when the greatest depression prevailed in the wool market, means an addition to the wealth of the colony of £400,000, supposing it to be maintained.' West Coast Timber. —The timber trade of Hokitika is assuming large proportions. On Monday, vessels sailed from that port for Lyttelton, Dunedin, and Nelson, whose aggregate cargo amounted to 200,000 feet of sawn timber.

London Wool Market.—-One of Eeuter's telegrams, special to Grreville, and forwarded by the Claud Hamilton, contains information of the wool market from June 23rd to July 8. The following are the particulars :—London, June 23.—At the colonial wool sales 222,000 bales were sold ; prices were Id to l|d higher. July I.—At the colonial wool sales prices advanced |d since the opening of the market. July B.—Wool active and advancing. Prices have advanced I\A to 2d. The Sea Encroachments at Westport.— The "Westport Times" says that there ia every appearance of a beach forming nearly parallel to the present low-water line at the rear of Gladstone street, Westport, and extending from the extremity of the North Spit to beyond Dr Thorpe's residence. For some time past the unusual break at that distance from the shore favored the belief that a large deposit of sand, sufficient to form a large bar, had been piled up during the late floods and severe weather; and this is confirmed by the report of persons who have viewed the locality from a favorable position outside the bar, state that a large beach is forming, the present depth of water scarcely exceeding two feet. If this should prove correct a very serious case of apprehension to the residents in that portions of the town contiguous to the beach will have been removed.

The Govebnoe's "Visit to Westland.— The item oh the Estimates for the cost of the Governor's reception was the subject of some warm discussion in the Wesfcland County Council. Mr Guinness particularly addressed himself to the amount of £SO, put down for the citizen's ball at Hokitika, expressing a very decided opinion that the citizens should have paid for it themselves. Mr Barff was also warm on the subject of the ball, which he considered had been conducted in a spirit of exclusiveness which led to its failure. Several remarkable instances were mentioned of exorbitant charges made for services rendered. The trip to the Grey was stated to have cost £4O for horse hire alone, and the use of a carriage was charged at the rate of a pound a minute: The County Chairman acknowledged that had he known that such exorbitant charges would have been made he would have endeavored to have made- arrangements beforehand. He, however, turned the tables upon Mr Guinness by stating that that gentleman had been commissioned to make a contract for the hotel at which the Governor was to stop, and yet that the charges for a period of not quite two days amounted to £l2O. Mr Guinness stated in reply that he and the others with him who entered into the contract considered it very reasonable, but he did not doubt that the hotel-keeper considered it a very good one. The vote, which was £450, was eventually passed.