NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

' It is just a year since the Government dej cided to call for tenders for a ! Shipment to steam service between this 1 Western Ports colony and the ports on : of Britain. the West Ooast of the United Kingdom — namely, Glasgow and Liverpool. _ Advertisements calling for tenders were inserted in the chief newspapers of New Zealand and Australia, and the Agent-general sent out circulars • to all the London offices of shipping companies in England. Only three tenders were received — one from the New Zealand Shipping Company, one from the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, and one from the New Zealand and African Steam Ship Company, known also as the Federal Line. The tender*-of "the last-named company was accepted early this year, but as there has been a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed in connection with the manner in which the contract was let and the terms of the contract, the matter was referred to the Extension of Commerce Committee to inquire into and report. I have a copy of its report, which was brought up on the 21st of October last, and ordered to be printed. The whole question seems to have been well ventilated, and a great deal of evidence was taken, and many papers and much correspondence laid before the committee. The main objection to the contract was in reference to the condition allowing the- steamers to call at Australian and' South African ports on their way to the United Kingdom, thus endangering the condition of dairy produce, frozen meat, etc., aaid considerably lengthening the voyage. The first boat to load here under the new contract was the Surrey, which took 77 days from the last port in New Zealand to the first port of call in the West Coast of Britain. The Devon took . 72 days, the Dorset 66 days, and the Suffolk (69 days— an average- of 71 days, or three weeks longer than the direct cargo boats take from Wellington to London. It is stated in the evidence that the produce in these boats arrived in good condition, notwithstanding the long voyage and the . frequent opening of the hatches to take in or discharge cargo at the various ports of call. At all events, the final report goes to show that they were satisfied upon the chief points raised. They reported as follows : '"That a service connecting with the West Coast of Britain was desirable ; "Thlat the several companies at that time connected with our trade were not mate any adequate or systematic effort to establish such an outlet for our growing requirements ; "That although the time given for ten1 dering -was not long, the tenders received extensive advertisement, and, in addition thereto, notification by circular was sent to practically the whole of the shipping world, so that all who desired' to tender had an opportunity to do so. No application for extension of time was made by any company; ( "That the best tender was accepted ; That the contract entered into, involving, as it does, no cost to the colony, is a satisfactory one ; "That the service, although occupying a longer time en route than a direct one° is beinsy carried out satisfactorily, and to the undoubted benefit of the producers of the colony ; "That in regard to complaints about freight, in the case of that of rabbits the company, when the matter was brought under its notice, agreed to reduce the freight to the amount charged by competing companies, although their oiiginal rate was within the terms of their contract." Sheep are good scavengers. They eat a great many weeds that Sheep horses and cattle pass over. versus and few weeds that they Weeds. like escape them unless they have abundance of more palatable feed. The greater variety of weeds they eat the better they thrive, and a small flock on a farm are of great benefit to the farmer over and above the actual profits derived 1 . Seeds of all kinds will

grow out of the dung of horses, cattle, and pigs, but 1 have never seen any germinate in sheep droppings. It is true that sheepyary scrapings will fill the garden with weeds of fat-hen, daisies, sorrel, horehound, etc.. but that is because the weed seeds are carried into the yards in the sheep's fleeces and in the dirt between the hoofs, and there shaken out among the dung. The stomach of a sheep is the final end and tomb of all vegetable life, and ivhen sheep are busily and happily engaged in picking weeds in the stubble lands and odd corners and ditches on the farm, they do not look at the sun like a lazy boy set to weeding does to see how the time goes. They pick and eat and rest and pick and eat again the livelong day. A Clinton farmer, writing over the norn de plume of '"Lime, " puts Spreading the following query, "How Lime. many tons of lime should a good workman spread per day of eight hours, provided it is laid down in the usual wayf at the rate of two tons per acre, and, also, is in favourable condition for spreading?" He says there is a great diversity of opinion upon this matter in his district, and some say seven tons is a fair amount, while others say that ,it is not enough, and one man main- ' tains that 24- tons have been spread in a day by one man in eight hours. I have not kept any tally of the quantity spread in a day, but I take this view of the matter : I know when a man is doing an honest, day's work, and if I put a competent man on to spread lime, and he keeps the shovel moving all day, I consider the amount he spreads is that which a good workman should spread, whether it be> seyen tons or 24 tons, or midway between those two quantities. Of course, a good man, desirous of putting up a record for one day, would exert himself to the utmost, and considerably exceed the amount ho would average per day for. say, a week. It is quite possible to handle 24 tons in one day, but I question if the same man could do it the next day. If the lime were laid o\it on a sidling he could cast it all downhill, and that would lighten his labour very much. Twenty-four tons is equal to 53,7601b. Allowing that a fair shovelful weighs 91b, then he would have to make about 6000 casts per day, or some 12 oasts pei minute. That does not seem too much for one minute, but if the ma-n stops for a few minutes' spell now. he will have to increase his speed a good deal to average 12 per miirute throughout the 480 minutts that are in a day of eight hours. It would be interesting to work out this question on the basis of a horsepower, but that is more in Mr Davey's line. A standard horse-power is reckoned to be that which lifts 33,0001b one foot per min-ate, but Ihe power of a draught horse of average strength, working eight hours per day, is reckoned to be about fourfifths of a standard' horse-power ; therefore, he should lift 26,4001b one foot per minute for eight hours per day. Now I believe eight average able-bodied men are supposed to be equal to an average horse ; therefore, one man should lift 33001b per minute; but a man has to lift the lime at least lift in order to cast it. and the power required to cast it is quit© equal to that exercised in lifting it, so that we can take half of 33001b, which is 16501b per minute. We can now reduce that by one-third, because the lime has to be lifted lJ>ft. That gives 5501b per minute as the amount of one-man power in spreading lime. But 24 tons in eight hours is 1121b per minute. Therefore, if my calculation is right (I am open to correction), a man Bpreading 24 tons per day is only doing one-fortieth of the work an average draught horse is supposed to do. j think I cannot do better than conclude with the advice I began with : Put a good, reliable man to spread, and accept what he does as being a fair amount for a. fair day's work, whether it be much or little. > The same querist asks how madh lima increases in weight during the procsss of slacking. Every hundredweight of quicklime is sair] to take up 361b of water in becoming fully slacked, therefore, a ton takes un 7201b. or one-third more, and three tons of quick-lime put out on the land would make four tons of slacked lime to spread. I am referring only to lime ! just fully slacked and in a gocd condition ' for spreading. If a great deal of rain falls after lime is put out in heaps it gets overslacked with water and becomes pasty, hoavy, and unfit foi proper spreading. He aho asks what is a fair rate per ton to pay for spreading lime. That depends upon how many tons lie reckons should be spread in a day. I should say sixpence per ton, and if hp can spread 16 tons in a day, I say he has well earned his eight shilling's. Ooorf men s;et that wage for loading shingle into drays from a pit. and spreading lime is more unpleasant work. I have hoard of a man in Canterbury who, in oi^ht hours, shovelled 21 cubi,, yards of shingle into drays, and that h equal to 21 tons. The hoiq-ht' of a clrav is about 3ft without rhe tailboard, and tho .-ides fully 4ft 6in. Thnt is a big clay's work, and I shoiikl think it comes pretty near a record for a manpower. [At "Agrieola's" request this note has been submitted to Mr Davey, who kindly writes: — "It would indeed seem as if pom© had the intention to make slaves of others, for it would appear but little else to wield the shovel at the rate hinted at, leaving no minutes for such a thing as a spell. As is remarked 1 , the horse-power is beyond the

average powers of a horse to continue at all day long, I believe. In an engineering book the average spade work is set down at 470 units per minute, which mean footpounds, so that if 91b were in a spade, and energy to lift equal to, say. sft, as it probably would be (if not more) to spread lime, it would mean nearly 11 throws per minute — practically the answer given. Then there is the shovel, for I imagine that if any man merely went through the actions all clay with an empty shovel, without l'fting anthying — well, he would feel that he had done something. However, probably no two fields are exactly alike, and the conditions must be better in some and worse in others.] AGRICOLA.