THE FARM.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 852, 8 January 1879, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE FARM.

CANTERBURY FARMING.

(Ashburton Mail.)

Towards the mouth of the Mount Hut Valley, facing the Malvern Hills, and look ing in the direction of Lake Coleridgt there is a fine estate of 4,200 acres belong ing to Mr. Mcllraith. On the bank o the Ashburton, and including some of thi finest level country between here and thi hills, this e»tate is one that would attrac the attention of a passer-by, by its natu ral qualities alone, without the striking improvements that its owner has added t< it. These, consisting of a capital sub stantial concrete dwelling-house and out buildings of all kinds, stables, sheds granaries, pig-styes, all of solid concrete with corrugated iron roofs, had an appear ance of stability about them that woult lead anybody with an interest in the dis trict, to inquire who might be the fortu nate possessor of what nothing short o mi overwhelming earthquake would b< sufficient to destroy, and who, like an olc English squire has set up his house to las for three or four hundred years in defianci of old Time. The stables, 111 ft long b;j 20ft wide, are fitted up for conversion inti a woolshed when required, with accomo dation for ten shearers and a screw press as well as stabling for thirty horses, and ; separate granary. There will be abou 5000 sheep for the shearing, though then we in all about 12,000 on the estate. Tin breed of these has been carefully crossed between merino ewes and Romney Marsl: rams as the most desirable for giyin< weight of wool, and at the same time weight of carcase, with the greatest powei af standing rough weather. The concrete pig-styes are not only noticeable for theii capital roominess and cleanliness, but foi Ihe choice breed contained in them. The mormous sows of the black Berkshin breed combine all the perfections of theii claims to admiration, length and depth ol sides, size of hams, power of burying theii jxpressive eyes in mountains of cheek at ;he shortest notice, and above all, tlu Dower of thriving and displaying all these perfections upon the minimum of feeding. Mr. Mc Ilraith has 400 acres of his property in crop, and nearly all of this in oats, Dut as they were a very late sowing and ■ather backward from want of rain, it was lardly possible to form an opinion of their ippearance. About 1500 acres sown in Snglish grasses of various kinds looked >articularly fine. Besides these evidences >f busy farming there were 850 acres doughed for turnips and doubtless, udglng from the soil this is a crop that vill yield a return to be looked upon as a suriosity. The soil,adeep, vegetable loam, >ver which, at some former period, the Uford Forest has extended, with a sub;oil of clay, is just the stuff to grow roots n, with a nice little crop of 60 bushels of Theat to the acre afterwards. The implenents of all kinds on this property seem o have been acquired by the owner on he same system of having the best obtaintble for the work to be done, regardless »f expense. There is a Friedlander's Dobey's patent) seedsower that can sow 00 acres of wheat per diem, and next to hat is a chaffcutter that cuts a ton per iour, and an oatbruizer that crushes from (0 to 35 bushels an hour—all doubtless jrize winners in their day, and marvels of rhat can be done in agricultural machilery. Then there are four of Woods' •eapers and binders that in themselves are eorth a day's journey to behold at work. Fhere is no want of water either on this istate, for, besides the well for the supply >f the house and the supply that lies everyrhere near the surface, a race has been >rought from a spring at Mount Hutt that larries water over the whole property, so ,hat there is a never-failing supply from everal sources, and the great scarecrow >f improvident Canterbury farmers need lever expect to make his voice a powerful me here. Mr. Mc Ilraith, in his devotion o the comforts of his house and its ap)roaches, has appropriated about twenty cres to be converted into lawns, plantaions of poplars, pines, &c, gardens, and io on ; and the arrangements of the house tself are such as are not to be seen every lay on New Zealand rural properties. Che kitchen is a picture of solid comfort ;hat would render the place _ of Mr. He Tlraith's cook one to be desired, and me that, if he will offer it to me, I shall >e only to happy to lay down the pen and :bandon Minerva for to-morrow. The livision walls of the house, filled in with i concrete made of 7 parts of sand and Tavel, 3 parts of Common earth and 1 >art of unslacked lime, are rendered im>enetrable by,cold or wind in winter, or >y sun in summer ; and this will give a reneral idea' of the owner's style of tacking the two grand questions of effectually

and comfc-rtably going about any work he seta before him.

Near''to this property Mr. Patton has a pretty estate of 500 acres at Methven, and further on towards, the Bakaia 800 acres more. Of the . Methven property about 200 acres are in crop ; about 80 in oats, 80 in wheat, and 40 i.-i barley. , The 300 acres remaining are in English grass. These are all, more particularly the barley and the grass, looking in promising condition and with the showers we have had the last day or two are no doubt out of any danger from want of moisture, and in full way to a largely remunerative harvest! The soil of this property is of the same quality as that adjoining, namely, a dark loam on a clay subsoil ; and the Owner has a pleasant hoiyse. upon it, only as he was away I had not the pleasure of seeing it. I arrived at a fine square built handsome weatherboard house that seemed to be fitted with every convenience, owned by Mr. D. Cameron. In the afternoon so restorative was the effect of Mr. Cameron's kindly hospitality that, mounted on a splendid mare from his stable, with a shoulder- and chest like an old fashioned English hunter, I was able to ride with him round some of his property of 16,000 acres of freehold land that are included within the thirty miles circuit of Springfield. The soil of this estate generally consists of a light loam on a subsoil of clay, a first-rate land for the growth of grain of all descriptions. Some shingly soil here and there covers the surface, but it extends no distance as in other parts of the plains, and reaches no depth. The quantity of land devoted to crops this season is about 1200 acres, 730 being iu wheat, 190 in barley, and 260 in oats. Besides this there are 2000 acres ploughed for turnips and in course of working now, and 4000 acres of grass, permanent and other. Some of these crapa are first-rate, and one paddock of 26Q acres of wheat in particular, for {strength and evenness and length of straw beats anything I have seen in my rambles this season, and when seen as this is, in so large a quantity together, it offers a picture worth seeing. The want of rain had not done much damage at the time of my visit, and that has now been more than remedied by the benevolent old dame at the head of the housekeeping in New Zealand. Some large paddocks of barley and oats, though a little thinned in places by the wind, looked altogether splendid, and the same with the grass, one field of 300 acres particularly sending me into spasma of admiration. It is gratifying to see that large land owners j like Mr. Cameron share your Rambling Reporter's favorable views with regard to the growth of barley, just testifies to the soundness of his advice where he offers it pro bono publico. The number of sheep on this estate was between 15,000 and 16,0QQ when I was there, just before the shearing commenced, though about onethird of the number is annually cleared off just at this season, and this clearance had just been made. The breed is nearly pure merino, but about 6000 are a cross j with the Lincoln. The clip was expected to yield about an average weight, The I lambing season had been pretty good. Beyond a few miloh oows for use in the house dairy, there are no cattle kept on this estate. The number of horses is between forty and fifty, draught and hack and altogether. Some in this number are worth better description than mine to do fall justice to their good points, but if I fail with regard to any let it be distinctly understood that it is not through want of admiration but through want of a sufficient training in that delightful school of horsey young men and stable keepers. There among the draught horses were the team of three that were shown at Ashburton, and should have had the prize instead of Mr Grigg's, in the opinion of some. A splendid bay hack colt by Sorcerer, and a bay haok by Traducer, and another by Culloden, were especially worthy of note also. The outbuildings about Springfield that would most attract the notice of a stranger, are the woolshed, a fine building of 80ft. by 40ft., arranged for 12 shearers, and fitted with one of Anderson's rack and pinion presses, with a second floor for granary or wool store ; the old stables, one for 16 and the other for five horses, the new stables for 26 stalls ; and the new accommodation for men employed on the estate, in which arrangements of every kind, both for the sleeping and boarding of 40 men, will be included. Too much cannot be said in praise of these stables and the lodging for the men. No expense or care has been spared in making them clean and comfortable for the human

lodgers, and wholesome and convenient for the fotir-footed servants. A fine contrast between the old style and the new is afforded in the old and the new homesteads. In the little homely but pretty cottage of the old home, shut out from all view and sheltered from the gales by the surrounding gums and poplars, and still made sweet as a nosegay by the old fruit trees and flowering hedges remaining, one sees the grateful love of Nature that first started the colony. In the new and pretentious home, facing one of the glorious

landscapes that New Zealand is now known to afford, there is all the sumptuous regard for the advantages of appearance and excellence of material that capital and educated taste teach the rising generation. Tn the careful and elaborate farming instead of the old slovenly careless pigging along, we see the new style, the recognition "of the wealth and beauties of the new country and the determination to make the most of them. In the old times the owner of an estate like Springfield was content to camp out in his shanty by the side of a creek, and with his black pipe and his favorite collie dog for companions, to dream of the day when he could go home to the old country and renew any ties of affection or relationship broken off by the ways of the world. Now-.a-days a thriving settler brings his own stream of water, as Mr. Cameron has done, from the hills twenty miles away, and puts up his mansion with all the refinements of civilisation by the side of it, and lays his land out as an investment to pay him so much per cent, as a home for himself, to which he will bring his ties of. every kind to the third and fourth generation. The immense advance in common sense, and the adaptation of ways of living to the means at hand, and the general improvement of man all over the world, were never more forcibly illustrated than in the difference between the old and new styles of settlement in the colony of New Zealand.

BEST SYSTEM OF FARMING FOE SMALL FARMS.

We take the following extracts from a paper on "Mixed Husbandry," read by Mr. Lunam, land steward, at Newcastle. They are worthy of perusal by many settlers in New Zealand, as they advocate the cultivation of a variety of crops, which is but little practised here : But mixed husbandry is necessary to realise the full amount of profit which the farm, properly managed, will yield in accordance with the state of the markets. Every year the variety of farm produce is varying—some portions of it will be high, some iow ; and thus the farmer always catches good prices for some of the produce ; whereas if he is -wholly dependent upon one kind of crop or stock, he may be disappointed. A little sold of everything makes a muckle, and if one thing does°not pay, another will. Let there be as great a variety of crops as possible, but all of real marketable value ; and this in skilful hands will increase rotation of cropping, which will be good for the land. Keep down the weeds, and take out of the manure all the ingredients, so that none of them may be dormant in the earth. It will tend, we believe, on medium-sized farms and on small ones, more than any other system, to increase the purse. I

have seen the large flowing rive?, with it« broad sheet of water, emptying itself into the ocean ; and how did it become so large 1 Trace ifc to its source and you -will find that small—perhaps a spring; and tho question arises, how came it to be «o large?—namely, by the tributaries poured into it. lb is large from many sources. So we hold that tributaries from mixed .husbandry swell the whole, and make the little a muckle.. Let there be a proper system of pis; feeding, cattle feeding, dairy farming, with a sufficiency of crops grown to support all, and some for the market.

The result will be success and prosperity. Some may say all this appear* very well upon paper, but it is a difficult thing to carry it out. To such we say that every great discovery in science and art appeared fine upon paper. The steamengine appeared first in its plan upon paper ; the great discovery of the telegraph, which now tends to the concentration of the whole earth, appeared first on paper, and so must all improvements in farming appear on paper. A proper plan, a good system, is more than half success. A thing well begun is more than half finished ; so with the system of farming. But a mixed system of husbandry is necessary to make a man a good farmer. His mind should be trained well in every .department of agriculture, and when he begins to cultivate a variety of crops, he will get as much knowledge as possibla about each species of crop, and that will lead him to read, inquire, and investigate until he has succeeded, and in his success he will carry on his investigations, in order to improve, knowing that there is no end to discoveries and improvements. This training is most useful to his own mind, adds happiness to him in his industry, and comfort in his prosperity. If the mind is only fixed upon one kind of farming, the training that it would otherwise have will be neglected ; but if he cultivates a variety of farm produce, the mind will be upon the stretch to make the best of it. Mixed husbandry is necessary to suit the variety of soils on the same farm. There is frequently a great variety of soil and subsoil; one part is better adapted to one kind of crop than another, and thus, by the skilful adaptation of crop to soil and soil to crop, there is a more abundant supply. In the study of nature we find nothing but variety, and mankind is so formed that they live upon variety, and are made happy by variety. The eye is adapted to variety, and feasted with variety ; we live upon variety, and the earth is made to yield this variety. In advocating mixed husbandry, we are, only accommodating ourselves to nature, and endeavouring to produce that variety which nature has taught us to produce, and without which mankind could not live or be happy. Variety is a necessity of our nature, and thorc is a beautiful adaptation of the earth to this variety. As we study to be like nature and imitate nature, so do wo become beautiful, profitable and industrious ; for nature is not only clothed with beauty, but it is both exceedingly profitable and industrious. Mixed husbandry is nature's imitation, excites to industry, and, as we shall try to show, ia really profitable. It is a good maxim to learn well in all departments of business the arithmetic of profit and loss, Mid we agriculturists Bhould ever keep this rule before us, as it ought to be the aim of every farmor to make everything pay. Farming for amuse»ent and ornament may pay those who engage in it in a rich return of health, knowledge, and pleasure, but not in money. It ia money that most farmers want, and the question is, will mixed husbandry yield that ? On this subject there are, no doubt, a great variety of sentiments, and almost every man forms his own opinion from his experience ; but an opinion to be correct and influential must be founded on intelligent experience. In trying to show the neoessity for this system of farming, we have hinted that it pays—everything necessary pays—and if it ba admitted to be a necessity on most farms, then it must pay better thin any other system. "Will it pay to bring stock to perfection, or turn them out in good con-, dition to the fairs 1 Then such cannot be done on medium quality of land without feeding material grown on the farm. Will it pay to have a variety of produce in the market, even though that should be small 1 Then the judicious system of cropping produces that. Much of the. disappointment to farmers arises from the> necessity of being compelled to sell their stock in a poor condition ; and this is owing aa much to their injudicious method of feeding as to the want of capital. If there be a bad system of tillage on the farm, there will be a lack of feeding materials, and the stock is either starved or half fed, and the result is always small prices. It may bo objected to. the mixed system of husbandry that laborers cannot now be obtained ; but if machinery were introduced more largely, and a good pair of horses could be kept: at work during the entire year, under a skilful man, a large amount of cropping could be carried out with comparatively few laborers. The scarcity of labor necessitates the introduction of machinery, and in a very short time farmers will save as much from hand labor as would purchase the necessary machines. Thus by machinery in part, and doing as mil oh aa possible by horse work, enough of cropping could be done on most farms for ° all purposes of feeding, rearing, and some to sell. By skilful ment much labor might be saved wtach ia now on many farms expended l foenought. Seasonable work seldon> if- ever expends labor, and one reason why tillage will not pay many is in consequence of the unreasonableness of it. I have seen the ploughing commenced on a farm of considerable dimensions when it was nearly the time to sow, and thua every species of crop was shunted baok to meet the farmer's convenience ; bad orops, as might be expected, were the result, and the farmer was always saying tillage would not pay. Another reason why it does not pay, many have the system of employing laborers, instead of keeping a few constant men at work, giving them comfortable little houses and gardens, so that they may take a deeper interest in their employer's work; a number of workers are engaged to put in and take out the crops at" high wages, and then dismissed. This system is bad, and always disappoints. A writer on mixed husbandry asks the question—Will it pay to raise from 30 to GO tons of turnips to the acre 1 Why, even to sell an acre of 40 tons at lOd per cwt. would amount to the sum of L 33, and all the other crops, if properly grown, would pay in proportion ; but used for stall feeding and rearing stock, they pay much more, aa the manure is valuable for the land. The consumption of a large portion of crops upon the farm is always wise, a3 it leaves the manure behind ; the land requires to be stall-fed as well as the cattle in order to pay, and the cleaner it is kept with good feeding the better the pay. Unskilful husbandry will not pay, but we affirm without fear of contradiction, and our opinion is founded upon the experience of most competent men, that mixed husbandry, unless on very rich pasture, is the best farming in order to pay both farmer and laborer. It would be unwise to say what proportion of the farm should be tilled, as that depends very much upon the nature of the sod, drainage, markets, &c. ; but in the adoption of the system I advocate farmers must be guided by experience. i. know the popular notion in agriculture at the present time is, till little and graze all but grazing all on small or mediumsized farms would not pay. The necessities of agriculture as a branch of industry, the clear tendencies of economised science, and the growing education of many farmers will lead them to see that mixed husbandry is not only profitable,

the partial MUw of the «op, «u! by *e cTistnrbanc* of price* cause * by «* Rnsso-Tttricishwar. On thfc «f°"^°| lost about tnisfortun* wa* too «m»* *«» «™»** nerve and fortune. f» dßft 'L W plete what ft RWta» ft * TC «f the grain maifce* °* * n * ** tr ! m * W< £ to. score d competing place** it»a«ttty«itar» control by on*

StEAM CULTIVATION. In hi* report on the trials of steam colkivSimc mSiery at Wolverhampton, Mr. John Algernon CTarke ■**• :— T n visiting the veritable Blactt «„ ' w » with it* scenery of chimney its innumerable engine*, buge m» nm ? machinery, and canal* and railways, the welt ha«r consideredJiow largely the mdustry and riches of *»*g™* J£J£ of steam i*e may h**« reflected ttiatm Fess th£ Eft year* since the opening of less in*.., 50 7™ rolwJ we have now J* 0 u rst P^?"»* e * IT* 10,OGO locomotives of iron way, sunning "f^X^OOO a team engines are while probably mil i Sf worktop *e shop*, mmes, these motive of the great »W«1 JL, coastpower* afioat, 2S 6w* *• 'T "T? a toT?4 WO Meshing or estimate that about n r vw F b farm ™V™T*£r %£ «™ the SJ» engtnes, and of engine, fordraught upon ordfnary roads. Afready the sete of steam cttltivating apparattw »•»« W land number m^y>«f dr ? d %* n mlSr the Steam Plough Works, !*£/"*"£ Fowler and Co,'*), and other works besides, are continuing to open up »g»* trade with occupiers who are D K steam husbandry, such an impetus ha* been given to the mining system by the success of the double engine machinery by Messrs F«w!«), selftransporting from place to place that several contract men have now their halfdozen set* apiece; many have their two, three, and four set* ; and one company, with a- capital of 143,000, working in Korthumberland and in parts of the Counties adjacent, find* employment for no less than 20 double engine sets, with which it accomplishes in one year the heavy and light tillage of about 60,000 acre* of land! When it ia known also that in some districts of the Kingdom farmers now give th* preference to contract threshing men, who bring and take away both engine and machine «*t&eat demand upon farm teams, just « they formerly patronised those of the contract men who provided the labor-saving straw elevator*; and when it «•*»"«» «» hauling work, in conveying timber, building material*, coal, agricultural produce, and heavy load* of all kinds, isbeing done on a, considerable scale by engine* traversing field, road*, and highway.. It fa clear that the Royal Agricultural Society was fully justified in devoting the main business of one of it* annual trials to a competition of farm locomotive* and steam cultivating machinery. Messrs. Fowler ami Co, carried off all the first prize* at thi* grand Show, including Lord Vernon'* gold cap, for the best combination of machinery for the cultivation of *he soil by steam power.

THE DIGNITY OF THE FARMER'S urn Theraia* higher dignity than that of poetry or painting that attache* to the farmer's profession; a dignity which should; make him walk as erect and look the blue heavena aa proudly in the faceas any man who treads the earth. JSo industry to which hitman hands were ever ant since the first pair were made la deserving of higher estimation than hia. For. the toilera of the earth, Ive atamts- in the cloaeat co-partnership with Divine .Providence in it» realm of nature. Sep now. the condition* of this co-part-nership, the capital which each invests to one summer's crop. Here, for example,» a cultivntwl farm of one hundred acres of land The Creator might have made that iand bear stout crops of wheat and corn aiitt of itself, without mans help ; bat He diid not, and would not. He condescended to admit man into partnership with Him, in variegating the vef <!»*« of those acres, in covering: them with waving gram and yellow harvests. He would not let 'nature produce any crops for hnman stistenance without the co-working of Human sinews. The wheel of the seasons might turn on for ever, scattering •rain, dew, light, and heat, and every germinating influence; but unless it was letted on to man's industry, it wotxld not turn out a sheaf or a loaf of bread. «ot see what becomes of the connection when » pair or two of hands and hoping hearts wm their activities to the revolutions of that wheel. How generously nature divides with man tha honor and toy;o£ the crop. How she works with all the flofctime and minute economies of the aeamm in this partnership of to*l I The v«ry shape of the earth'* orbit, and att itsswJlion-miled many stages round,the sua, *w welt as the fine dew-diatiljery of .the waning'a sky, are brought to bear twpon (the production of the held*. See how*he%htand heat are graduated to the growtfti of these acres of Indian corn. See the temperature that nurses it into ithe Made, ;tben into the stalk, then into ifthe sittken setting of the ear. See what purple curtain* are hung around the horiaonv What .drying, jocund, fall winds tbtow; what « aruddy faced hue glows upon the .ripening ears, reddening them to Indian summer tints, as they peer front the wftitelace drapery that enfolded ithem. liodfc at that eight, and never morwfot a murmur of discontent stiryour lips when yon "talk of merchants, manu-joint-stock companies, or any **, -«s<arapationor profession whatever, "'"nt- -„fc ftofßipaßies, wdeed I Vi hat Joint-stv.- " tfea* sort ever formed on company ©t -* %isk the joint-stock earth can «*» itfw* smallest company that carries -*%p partners farm* What a firm of a... have we here!: What a dtv*- -i«a, capital is invested in the cnterp. What sympathy and co-working. Where. falls one drop from the moistened brow of the farmer, there falls * thotisand germinating, dews from heaven; and the combination touches the life rf every plant and blade with a new vitality and verdure.— ECifM BwnritL

A GRAIN SPECULATION.

• The death is announced tn the American paper* of » man who, until his failure in the sprinsr of 1876 was called the " grain tang- * ot California- Mr. Isaacs Friedlander waa the first to see the possibilities of the grain trade of the Heine coast, and he early gained such control over it that nine-tenths of the <«ai» shipped to Europe from Cafifontw between 1870 and 1876 passed through his hands. He also- controlled the fleet of 300 or 400 sailing vessels necessary for til o transportation of such a vast quantity of wheat. If these engagements had been strictly personal, it has-been Estimated *^'^**S£gsS?£ capital in hdfc-jjsu* of £8,000,000 to *airy on his Jmfeff. In »°at however, Mr, *n* "broker on an <mflOTsMjj.-stag. x*»* failure waa disastrom. In' ftffiNtfsjft ot the season of 1876 he had efosCsrod nearly 200 vessels, and jn* °U»«* *° fulfil hia contracts »t * lo«» tf fromH* to- LI per too, involving a taMfaenJsce of over 1*200,06©.. Bis. »!>«*«■*"' the wheat ouwfcet w«w» «bo ApsptsxlDy

but required. Instead of driving away the people from the country, we want to establish branches of industry to entice them to stay; and instead of having merely one resource oat of which to draw the revenue, the farmer, we consider, wfll be richer and more independent to have many resources. Whatever tends to industry tends to wealth and comfort, and | this system, if properly carried out, will have that effect.