NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 5

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Sensational reports of unprecedented Hods of gold iv British Columbia have Tho IJest Kitid disturbed the equilibrium of of many of our co'onial youths, ivGold Mine, eluding the sors of well-to-do famier*. Fur-off fields in this case look yellow, and visions of piles'of g >Jd are alluring many from theymths of honest industry into th« maelstrom of Ihe gold fever. But the vreH-tiUed fi-j!c?s that lie before us, green with waving corn, conttitu'.e a uever-failing mine of we-Ulh, such as Klondike or any obber goldfi«ld of fair rr-noftn never has produced, and never will. Visions of fortunes made in a short time afford a great femptatiou to young men — aye, and to o!d men, too, who onjjhfc to know better ; bub on the goldfivld fortune comes to tho few, while tho many reap bat a hai vest cf disappointment, ill-health, and p-erniture old age, if not a pramiture grava A Manitoba writer who knows the new goldfl»ld, over which the world ia going mad, a3 well as anyono who has been there, exprefs^s the opinion that the man who stays at home and plods on the farm is in the va9t mij .rity of_ ca^es far better off than the placer gold"miner. Following this up, a Manitoba paper says a. bandful of farmers stayed at home anrt plodded on io a quiet easy way, with the result that in clearing up th.-y^ill have for the year's oi.erfctions about 15 millions in gold for wheat a!onp. "This beats Klor.dyke out of sight in actual output, white there ia co comparison as to comfort." There is indeed no comparison. The ' farmer's life may be uneventful, but then it is conducive to long HFa and happiness. He perhajs knows no such whirls of excitement; as the lucky digger experiences, bat his disappoint mant is less if a bad season reduces his earnings. A careful farmer cau recover bottom on a " doff er " ; the worst he is likely to strike is the loss of some of his crops. But tskehis life year in and year out : It is, or ought to be, one of moderate toil and comparative comfort. Of course there are farmers and farmers. On land of equal quality oue w'.ll thrive in comfoit, while another will toil in ceastla«s poverty. Too maDy tiliera of the soil — farmers I cannot term them — seem to consider their farms mines incapable of exhaustion, consequently they take from them the very dregs of fertility, and drain them to exhausiioa. Then they rairvel why they are poor and why their farms have erased lobe productive! The miner exhausts his claim/ then abandons it and sreka for another. Not so the farmer : he fhould never exhaust his claim, but should the rather make it richer every~year? Farming require 3 brains quite ss much as banking or other commercial pursuits, and the farmer who thinks differently is likely to be left out in the cold when Che yearly wash-up is made. By careful manuring the f«rm can bs made always to yield a rich harvest, and the difference between the cost of manure and the value of the increase of product oughb to leave a good margin — sufficient;, in fact, to enrich the farmer.

In a country like ours, with a sparse population and rolling acres »l-nost Small wholly devoted to pistoral uses, Farms Well .the need for small farms has not Tilled. /yet arisen ; but as the area of agricultural land of the first quality is limited, there, would be a great gain to the community at large if the be?t land were cat up into small farms. I know the Government have, in their varied settlement scheme?, placed families en areas of land from 20 to SO acres in extant, and that in a great number of cases where the land is not even third-rate in quality. Theie people have a hopeless struggle before them : but many a family could live

iv comforb upon 50 acres, of iifcl-clafs land within easy diatacc3 of a market; wl ile frcm 100 ac.ei they could quietly T obtain au inilopeadeat competence Bab on these iru*!l fftim? the methods of cuHiv-»tion uiusb be v&ried. It would rio'< do to &row wheat and osts to &ny grt at extent, and very cfbsn milking cows are found to be blie be~.fc investment. If agriculture is to be Ihe chief business of the small farmer, thea he mush introduce variety into his husbandry. High culture »nd variety must be his lejnoto. If he grows a small fitld of whea!", then he warils tliat field to yield him 50 bushels to the aero ; or if oats he thou'd aspire to not less than 70 bushels to tho acre. If he has a firld of polfttofs, ho wants to dig nob less than frora 15 to 20 tons to the acre, anil so on .all aioug tho line. The email farmer cau fift'ird to do this if he will farm according to well-known principles, and base Lh jield upon the amount and quality of Ihrt manure he u&es. The small farmer can better s>ffo;d dtep cultivation than the ruaM with broad aerei, wlio has to depend upon thrt aggregate rafher than the yield oi' each separate field Proper drainage, deep tillage, aud ample manuring aro the tbreo main considerations that should occupy the atteatioa of the small farmer. There should be no w.\bte Jaud on a small farm — every comer should bo utilised for some purpose, and nob on« square yard allcwciJ to lie unrrproduclivo. Vacinly of produib is another valuable consideration, especially where a market is obtainable. To the siuhll farmer, if to any ms-n, the advice "uf-viir put all your eggs iv one hafekeb" ought to be given. Never depend upon oue haivfst, for wind ssivl weather are treacherous, &nd a single storm may brggar yoa. It is wiser, tlertsfoie, to combine mixed agriculture and gr; z ; r-g. Grow fcufluier.t ctreols to meob the riquii-cui-iuts of the home— the stable, the dairy, aud the fowl ran. He*o ft nmall fiukl or vvheafe, fchere a»otlier of oa's, yonder ft field of potatoes, round th^ hom?atead a well-kept kitcheu garden and orchard, and here and (bore rich fieldd of grass. All thin taftyseem d ffi:ult of attainment ; bab it is posbibls and, what i» more, profitable if gone about in the right »ivy. A thousand farms of 100 acres each cultivated up to the veiy highest stage of productiveness would be worth a great deal more thau 100 farms of 1000 acres each uob utilised up to half their capacity.

It ia tha belief of a great many of our southern farn.ers that tbeir Wheat lands are unsuitable for wheat Growing. gtowing. No doubt many of

them naturally aro unsuitable ; but -fey southern fatrm have tiot sonic land which by the help of craitiage aud proper manuring will grow wh^-at, and grow ib wtll. The moifrter seasons may militate ag\inet the production cf wheat of the highest quality, bub the harvest season in the Eouth is not always moist. The greate-t mistake made is in selecting lite varieties of wheat for spiing cowing. No gieatet mistake couli be made. Sow wiufc'rr wheat in its proper seasju and ppriug wheat in spring time if good crops fib for harvesLing- early are sought for. Wheat Jaud cau be made, and what is more it cau be made to grow firal-clas'j crops of vrbeit indefinitely if only treated right. The valuable experiments c mod out &t R -fchamsfced by Sir John Lawes have proved that wheat can be grown continuously on the same l<nd for many years, provided the l^ud is properly manured and kept clean. As a matter of fact wheat has been grown on the sama land at; Rolham»ted for upwards of 45 yearf , and tho yield hss been kept np to an average of 35 bushels per acre. The introduction of artificial matiuras cnab!e3 farmers to foiego the old rotation system ; aud if it sails better to grow 6ne crop for a number of years on the sana'e Und they may do so, provided they acquaint themselves with the requirements of the crops grown, and manure accordingly. It is well knewd that a good crop of wheat gsnerally follows clover, notwithstanding the large amount of nitrogen, potash, lime, and phosphate removed from the land by clover ; bub there has been an accumulation of nitrogen aud mineral matter left behind in the roots, which as they decay supply the best possible food for the young wheat plant Acesrding to the late Dr Vo?l< ker tte nitrogen sa left in the clover roots often amounted to 1001b per acre, or rather more than twice as much as would hi required for the full growth and a good crop ot wheat. If therefore a sjcoad crop of wheat were taken off the same land there wou'.d be no exhaustion if tha other necessary constituents were supplied by artificial manure. Without doubt vre'l-rotted farmyard manure is tha btsb natural manure for wheat. Used at the rate of 10 tons to the acre it oughb to supply about 134-.b nitrogen, 1231b potasb, and 89. b phosphoric acid. Iv compounding artificial manure to be used iuttead of the dung, it is well to bear these points iv mind, especially to oeo that the greater proportion of the nitrogen is in the form of slowly decomposing organic matter. Bub ib must not be supposed that simply nitrogenous manures aro required for wheat ; the proper manuring for wheat and barley is the application of mineral manures along with moderate amounts of nitrogenous manure?. For aalumn-sown wheat the phosphates should ba sown at seed time, and the greater portion of the nitrogen at the same time. About scwt ' of artificial manure to the acre should be used, containing 14- to 16 per cent, of total phosphates, of which about three-fourths should be in a soluble form, with 3£ to 4 per cent, of nitrogen, of which three-fourths should be organic nitrogen and the remainder in a soluble form. In some soils it will be found advantageous to combine

with this from 1 to 2 pur coiit. of ps.t'isib. Gr;:oil dissolved bones come very near to filling the requirements in every respect-, there Icing an excess of potash; whicb will do no harm.

Tha Year Book of 'the colony for ihe year ended 31sb Maicb, 1897, is now The Ofllelal published, and, »n usual, conYear Book, tains an imuienseljtof iuforma-

lion interesting to coloivsU of all classes. The poitiou devoted tv agiiculliire ii again prepared by Mr Murphy, the secretary of t l ie Canterbury AgricuHui'dl and Pastoral As*ociatioD. This portion is compiled with a viuvy to giving information to intending immigrants regarding the abate of agriculture in the colony and the methods of fanning adopteJ in vaiiuug districls. Tne statistics, both agricultural and pifetotal, are very full aud coiiplete, and much useful reading ia yft'jrded thereby, Thfi expoits of all kind of produce are tabulated a&d arranged in su«h a manner as to show at a g!;uic« how one year compares with another. There U a blairtinenb made in connection with the agi'icultural bt,atiatic< which Cost is rather initileadiug. It is a of Growing? gratuM ons piece of information, Koots. an'l quite outs-ide of sha'istics, aud must- barG *m»nated from the Government office. The cost; of growing turnips broadcast ia pub down at Us per i'cro withouj; manure, which is not far from being correct uudsr pome circumstance I',1 ', bat tha costivder the drill sjs^tm is fctahsd as follows : Ploughing 5a 6J, grabbing is, h^r»:owiog 3^, rolling Is, drilling 3* 65, h«uid hoeing 10s, horfe-hoeio? s', need '-ail sowing 2s 6 3, manure 10s ; total, £2 5i 61. Jdo nob think lh-ro are many acres of turnips in the colony that cost the grower «o much as blmfc, oxclu-»ive of. rc-iib or ' U3e of the land for tbe year. The amoun*i of ' grubbing and harrowing necessary depends, • of course, upon the condition of tho Itind, and if very dirty with couch or sorrel ( it may cost 6i in grubbing and harrowing, bub in any cs.se it is absurd Io set; down 3i 6-1 for drilling «.nd also ?■* 6d for seed and sov/iijg. | The latter amount should be ample for carting ov>t the manure, drilling, aud cost; of seed. Then to allow 5a for hoisi-hoeiug in addition to full eo!»t of hand-hoeiog seems rather expensive, ai^d I do nob think' ib is a fair and reasonable expense unless in exception »1 cases. Omitting these two items brings total cost, to £1 15 » per acre, which is still abrtve the n.ver.*g.\ I have j'ist finished d'il'ing a puldoek of turnips which cunt 5? 61 for ploughing (o'd J snags land), Is per acre for disc haf rowing, Is [ 6a for two strokes tine harrows, In for rollirg, , 616 1 for manure (Icr.t per ace of super- I phosphate and bone meal mixed), drilling and seed 2s ; total, 17s per acre. If j the season prpvos fairly favourable I exoeci; i to get as good a crop as if I had pt- ! pended double the amount. Of course the land [ was clean and nob very stiff, aud the sowing . was done soon after the ploughing, so that axiy j roots of sorrel iv the land should" not get a ; start before the turnip?. There i* no doubt that ■ it pays to expend mora pe.r Rcre if by fco doing a better crop can be obtained ; but; in my ex- t perience lewt of manure per acre is tufficiesit iv | land that ia in good hearb and dots aob require ' lime, and the experiments afc Liucola College | goto prove ihit J-jnb is qaifce a3 good as double ' or treble that quantity ot manure. So much <tep?nds upon circumstances, however, that it , is impossible to generalise upon this matter, bub | I know that many 3plendid crops of. turnips are i grown in this is-l-»nd aba cost below £1 per acre, i though ib may hi good policy to spend much : more when eircurasbancen demand it. -

I see that the Canterbury A. and P. Association has become alarmed about Barley the prevalence of barley grafts ia Grass. that district", and is raking steps to have it included in the schedules of the Noxious Weeds Bill. It is said that tbeseed of the barley grs>B3 (Hordeum mariuum) g sts iuto the wool of sheep and reduces the value thereof, aud also that ib works into the skin aud perforates the same, to tho detriment of the sheep and its pelt. If this is the case barley grass is a very dangerous weed indeed — in fact, much more so than many that are termed such in the bill of that ilk. I have heard butchers and fellmongers say that the Beed of this grass doea penetrate the skin of sheep, bnb I have not actnally seen any skins perforated in tlul way. I know that this grass is very common ia waste places about country townships, also by the roadside in many parts of tbe country, and ib is frequently seen around sheepyards. Ib can be eradicated if not allowed to go to seed, Ib ha 3no running rcote, but is pretty tenacious of life. I had a patch in my garden, but a good hoeing in dry weather seamed sufficient to destroy it. Agricola,