THE FARM. A FEW WORDS ON MIXED FARMING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1489, 29 May 1880, Page 6

THE FARM. A FEW WORDS ON MIXED FARMING.

Bt John Drew Atkin.

PROLOGUE.

In advocating the value of a mixed system of farming, if I adopt a style differing from that of Press contributors generally, it ia that by it In this Bmall essay, in giving experiences grounded upon knowledge gained in nearly half a century of Btirring Colonial life, I may draw greater attention to its value, and the necessity of those for whose benefit I write following my example, and shaking loose the trammels of time-honoured precedents, and by the adoption of a system so entirely suitable to our surroundings — outlook, present and pros. peotive, great distance from the markets of the world, etc.— to in every way draw out the resources of this fertile land, and also, by the reversion, resuscitate from the grave of unhallowed neglect (bunny) »n industry that is the foremost of the age— Wool ; and in doiDg so, with its accompaniments, create a commerce that will make the world ring with our fame. A few of it« many advantages will be to create immense continuous employment, enable us to largely increa«e our present population witbin the next decade, as when shearing is over and harvest gathered in, it is then the real work of the year will commence. The threshing of corn: the cutting of chaff; boiling and crushing of grain for the poultry yard, piggery, stalls, and byre; the dairy t kept going all tbe year round; the slaughtering of fat stock; the salting of pork and curing of bacon to sell to the great provision seaboard export warehousemen} the valuable manure of the slaughter yard kept Up the country to fertilise the )and, the health Of our seaboard cities by the system protected from a polluted atmosphere by the removal of slaughterhouses from their precincts; a more continuous stream of employment for our at present unreeuperative railways; no complaining in our streets j with many others too nume rous to mention ; and, though last, not least, be the means of creatitg such extraordinary wealth as to place ue on the moßt independent terms of social familiarity with the public ere. ditor. Our pastoral and agricultural farmera ■hould remember that we live at the antipodes ergo: the necessity of making our exports bear an antipsdean stamp (condensed and of high value), with a view to economise carriage; also that the adoption of|this system giveß a man a higher status among tradera, from the fact of hiff being able to -go to market with a more varied assortment, and all in constant demand. What applies to the man doeß equally so to the Colony whose people are wise enough to adopt such a system.

Mixed Fahjiing.— No. I.

Believing there is wisdom in the maxim of " Strike while the iron is hot," I adopt it on this occasion to still further advance the value and many advantages to be derived from the general adoption of a system of farming that makei the agricultural subservient to the pastoral. There can be no better time to place prominently before the public than the present a system that by its adoption will prove a silver lining to the cloud of despondency that looms over our agricultural and commercial interests— putting a damper on the one, while holding the other ia check. It is at such a tarn« that people can, from necessity, be got to inquire into the validity or soundness of ideas, though ia a measure familiar, still new to them from want of practical adoption— prominent amongßt whioh is that of turning the rich grain products into lines which, while thoroughly acceptable to commerce, are more fruitful of profit to those who bave sense and intelligence euffiflient to see that the track they have been ihitherfco following to draw out the resources of this fertile laud is but as the narrow end of the wedge — resources that to draw out to their fullest and most profitable extent can be done oaly by converting our extraordinary graingrowing ability into, while tbe most valuable, the most econooiically-carried-tomarket lines of commerce. The economy in carriage alone will constitute a vast annual saving. At present it appears to me we are unnecessarily paying an enormous sum annually—enriching others at our own expense— to force a position that is not tenable. Far better allow America to supply the cheap loaf (it will make her subeervient to our interests), and thus follow a policy that will admit of the hope of our receiving a higher price and more ready sale for our less bulky but more valuable condensed exports. Tha masses will have more money to pay for our wool, lusoious butter, cheese, »nd bacon (Sinclair and Cooey's was a joke to Tbe saving of carriage and enhanced value of land under the mixed syatem— important atema— should be weighty considerations in favour of its adoption. When man was told 4© till his field, there was no cast-iron rule laid down for him as to what he should do with tko fruits of his labours. The sentence passed on him was not in reality severe. He was not compelled to make bricks without straw. It was, in fact, while compelling him to be more self-reliant, forcing upon him the use of the intelligence (exactly what is happening to us just now) given to him by his Creator, who still did mot deprive him of the hope of much earthly ihncpiness ; for after delivering his tale of Ibnoks— supplying his own immediate wants— at is reasonable to suppose that in using that intelligence he would convert the surplus into whatever would add to his comfort and happiness in the most advantageous way that his reason dictated, and in its enjoyment to give glory to his Creator. In what better way could a people show a high order of intelligence than by creatiag from and by the use of Ihe -caw material-grain~li?iDg images of the very animals? He consigned this pureuit would ooaduce most to matte happiness. "Would «iofc the people who did so he raising themselves, if I may use the expression, from the around floor to the upper storey of intelligence t Would not fchetr surplus be of a higher order for exchange, barter, etc., with other natbnß? Would it not be, while less bulky for ■carriage, more acceptable to commerce as the higher and more valuable class of merchan<dto? I wish particularly to draw attention to thoie facts, as illustrating at this dietance from •the gieat markets of the world, and taking in 911 our present surroundings, the necessity of

leaving the old time-beaten track, and usin? the intelligence given to us to draw out to their fullest extent the extraordinary reaources of this rich land— a land that for ability to pro. duco internal wealth, and through it create an immense export, for its extent is without comparison : the only similitude I can find for it is that of a general provision warehouse of enormous extent.

(To be continued.)