NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1893, 2 March 1888, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The harvest season has, so far, been the most changeable and troublesome The Recent that we have had for some Gales. live or six years. The high winds have been especially destructive in the earlier districts, where the crops were ripe enough to be severely threshed by the wind, and even the later crops have been considerably knocked about —in some places where the heads were very heavy they were banged against each other with such force as 10 knock out the green corn. Of all the many ways by which corn can be damaged and Jost that of having it shaken to the ground is, I think, the most unsatisfactory, for it is such a complete loss to the farmer, the only use that can be made of it being that of ploughing or harrowing the ground, and thus causing the grain to grow into green food for sheep. It is vexatious enough to have the grain spoiled by wet weather, but in that case the farmer has the whole of the crop at his disposal even though it be of an inferior quality, while the wind leaves oftentimes little but the straw. I have frequently known cases in which the loss by wind has been caused entirely by the farmers' own fault in leaving the grain to stand until it became dead ripe through not putting on sufficient strength in machines and horses to cut it down as fast as the grain becomes fit for operating on. It is false economy to try to cut a crop with one machine when it would require at least two to cut it within a reasonable time.

I notice that a correspondent signing himself " Stuck in the Mud " has The Bag been writing to the Witness Question, complaining of the unjust practice prevailing in Diraedin of weighing in the sacks with the grain and paying farmers a mere trifle for them, instead of something near the cost prico, as is customary in other parts of New Zealand. The custom is very unfair on the face of it, and the producer is, of course, the sufferer. A merchant buys the grain from the farmer and the sacks are weighed in ; he sells again to a Canterbury buyer, who is probably expected to pay for the sacks separately, and, therefore, the farmer is thu=> made to put from l^d to 2d into the pocket of the Dunedin merchant. I believe the contention on the buyer's part is that he buys to ship Home, and when sold there the sacks have been so torn and damaged by constant mauling and lugging about that they are then worthless, and the shipper consequently gets little or nothing for them, so that if the farmer himself ships his grain he does not ultimately get more for the sacks than he would from a local purchaser. Unfortunately, the farmers are generally in the position of the " under dog" in the struggle with the merchants, and must coLsent to take what they can get. If they were in such an independent position as would enable them to combine to hold their grain until such time as they could dictate their own terms in selling with regard to the bags, the objectionable practice now in vogue might be done away with.

! As a matter of fact the farmers of Southland and Otago ba\e only them Co-operation selves to blame for the prcfor Farmers- sent unsatisfactory state of affair-. By banding together and forming themselves into co-opera-tive associations they would be enabled to enjoy many advantages that are now beyond their reach. If all the grain were sold through an association the farmers as v body could then speak as one man iv the person of their representative, the manager of the concern. Then not; a single bag of grain need go out of the store without the producer getting the market value of tlie sacks, or perhaps a penny less than co-st price. Ido not mean to say that all the grain would require to be stored, for the

manager would have the sdttitag of a parcel placed in his hands and he ccwld apply the principle to lots that have not }'eft left the farm. And not only in selling grato are the advantages of co-operation felt, but sflso an a thousand other ways in dealing With an kinds of farm produce and also in connection with the goods and other requisites t^at farmers could procure from their own stort? instead of going here and there and everywhere. As a producer I feel and think very strongly about this matter, and cannot help wondering how it is that the farmers of Southland and North Canterbury have succeeded in establishing co-operative associations in their midst, and are maintaining them in a flourishing condition and upon a sound financial basis, The Canterbury farmer need neither buy nor sell anywhere but at his own store, where he can deposit his butter, bacon, and eggs, and take out his groceries, and by means of a post card he may order whatever he requires, from a tsruck of coals to a saltspoon. Instead of having a number of small accounts all over the towtt ho has only his debtor and creditor accounts with the association. The only thingS ( he must go elsewhere for are his boots, clothing, and jewellery.

Owing to the dryness of the season in particular localities since the beCatoh Crops, ginning of the year the late sown turnips and other root crops have almost failed in many districts, and it will be necessary in those cases to endeavour to provide a substitute for the turnips, or the sheep will fare badly during the winter and early spring. The grain has been ripened unusually early this year, and the stubble should be cleared in good time if the weather holds fair for a week or two. If the stubble is cleared by tho beginning of the prcseno month and the ploughs pub in afe once, there should be sullicient growth after that to bring on a fair amount of green food by the end of the whiter. For the higher districts I think rye and oats, or Cape barley the most suitable, being not only hardy plants but also possessed of fairly good nutritive qualities ; the latter I prefer, as it grows more rapidly than rye and gives a greater bulk of food. Near the coast, where the climate is milder and growth more rapid Juring the autumn, rape, stubble, turnip, or mustard may be tried, but. not unless the soil be rich and warm, for even along the sea board the frosts come pretty severely during April and check the growth very much. In fact, all the last-mentioned crops require a good dose of artificial manure of some kind to give them a start, and in my opinion it is money well laid out, for it is wonderful what great benefit is derived from having a good field of green stuff to put the ewes into as they lamb, especially to those who go in for early lambs for the butchers. Agricola.