WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2823, 22 April 1908, Page 20

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

The weather has been splendid — glorious sunshine -nterspcrsod j The with warm showers — makI iVeath.r. ing glad the heart of the ' farmer. To add to this beneficent state of affairs one of Nature's cultivators lias been at work, there having . been several earth tremors felt during the week. Some may scoff at the idea that any good can be effected by earthquakes. But when you come to consider the matter, a gocd shake must disintegrate the soil — on the same principle as by putting a shovelful of soil m a riddle and giving it a shaking every particle ia shifted to seme extent. It has been noted by intelligent farmers m the Manawatu district that the year of a good shake has always been a good one for grass. ; When reading "Agricola's" notes on farm- j ing matters, it has often Farmyard occurred to me that there -lac ure. is a vast difference m the , metkods aAlaptex) to Gfrapro j and the Manawatu, -and more particularly: when reading his note on "Autumn _ Manure for Root Cropa" m last week's issue, j When he ' speaks of the land being hard- j ened by frost to carry a load ot manure, j it reminds ohe of the Homeland condi- : tions. Such a thing as frost that hardfens j even for a day is seldom— l may say never ' — experienced up here. In some respect's this is detrimental to cropping. Another thing is that a farm "midden" is a rarity, if it exists at all. This is ea«ily accounted ! for by the climate being so equable that . neither horses nor cattle are ever stabled during lhe night, so that the quantity of ■ manure produced is small, and what is as yet not thought worth the trouble of Utilising except by a few careful men. But a change is slowly taking place, and m the near future more care will have to be taken m these matters. Even although ! stock are not continuously housed, there is I a iarge amount of hand-feeding done, and ; round cowsheds and stables there must be ■ an enormous loss entailed to the -fertility j of the soil by the way dung is allowed to i go to waste. Those who do clean up their yards occasionally cart this valuable manure and tip it up m heaps m depressions or hollows, seldom taking the trouble to spread it. On a well-managed farm of any ; description utilising the droppings from ] the animals should be one of the chief j points, so as to return to the soil some of j the constituents extracted by the animals j grazing thereon. By adopting a system of j a periodical cleaning out -of stables and j yards, the steading will be kept m a com- j fortable condition, which is one great | point gained, and if such cleanings or . scrapings are carted out and spread over ; the hard nobs (not the hollows), the effect would be seen m -the improvement of the | pastures. But the manure must be spread j evenly, not left m lumps the 6ize of your head." These destroy the vegetation under thenr, and what grows around suoh lumps is rank and unpalatable. Much good can ; be done to cow pasture by regularly going { toundt breaking up and spreading the manure-plate 3. Another place where a lot of manure is allowed to go to waste is about shelters (if such there are), where cattle camp froiii the rough weather or heat of the sum This manure, if gathered arid broken lip and spread on the poorest parts of the paddock, will well repay the labour entailed.

The writer has often pointed out how like farmers as a class are to Exodas far sheep. If some make for Queensland, fresh fields, lots more will follow, even if it should prove to their undoing. The same old thing is happening again. A year or two ago one or two farmers from the Manawatu district sold out and went to try their fortune m Queensland, and having by luck — I say luck advisedly— done well, and having come back, and given reports of ■ the land flowing with "milk and honey," there is now >consid.rable excite-' ment. and already others are preparing to follow their lead. Besides the natural ■bent of farmers to follow such a lead, there are several other reasons ' why men of means should shift their quarters. Strange to say of a new country like New Zealand, with less than a million inhabitants, it is the want of room for the ambitious. That is the chief reason. The trend towards Socialism that has been going on during the past 20 years m the Dominion, making for the restricting of men's independence, and the optimistic feeling engendered as to the future, will have much to answer for m depriving* this fair land of the best of her sons. History tells us it has ever beer thus. Whenever any State has enacted laws lbhorrent to men's inherent love of liberty, the best have gone i$ search of fresh fields. As to how they have succeeded it is only necesary to point to what the vast States of America, Africa, Australia, and even these islands _ have become t°-daj. In this case what will be New Zealand's loss will be Queensland's gain. Just a word of warning to those who are thinking of joining the emigrant band, especially to natives of New Zealand. Australia is a vast continent, of

which Queensland is one of the largest Statea, embracing country so varied as to climate and fertility that it becomes a matter for serious consideration what locality is the best to exploit. Most eyes are turned at present to the upland country known as the Darling Downs, with a fairly consistent rainfall. As an old Australian, I would advise anyone intending to make a home there to spend a couple of years m the country before investing. To those investing as a speculation _ it should be pointed 1 out that some districts m Queensland have been having a boom time of late, and there is the danger that it may | bm*st shortly. From land agents' reports one would be led to believe chat there s Land still good business being Talces. done m. farms and . at enhanced prices. This is hardly understandable when we come to consider the slump m wool and store sheep. This more particularly refers to breeding country, 3he mutton and lamb producers not being co badly off. To show how much the slump affects the breeder, let us take a farm that will keep 1000 ewes and their progeny. It matters little whether svseh progeny is sold as store lambs or kept until two-tooth ; the balance would be about the same, if the routine has been kept over a series of years. Thue, wool £333. sheep £600 — equal to a gross return of £933 for 1907. For ibis eyar of 1908 the cheques will be, say, wool £200, cheep £*00 ; gross, £600 — a deficiency of £333, or close on 33 per cent. Crossbred wool is fully 33 p6T cent, ,'heaper, and cast ewes and rtore sheep are 5s a nead cheaper to-day ban at the same date last year. In fact, the cast ewes from several of the most prominent flocks have not reached within 7s or 8s of what they did last year. This may appear to some as an extreme and pessimistic statement. But it is to be feared that when balancing day comes (few seem to have any), farmers will ' find tbat they are somewhere about .hat I proportion short, if they have been spendj ing at the same rate as last, year — namely, 33 per oent. With farming the cost of production is equally js much when prices are low as m boom times. Now, supposing the land under review is sheep to the acre land, and (taking the «me ' figures, it will be found'that instead of a, j pound an acre returned last year, this year lit will only be 13s 4d — a difference of 6s 8d jan acre. Tho :apital value should be ] to-day £13 6s Bd, instead of £20 last year. ; It is hard to understand, therefore, why land is still selling at boom prices, and those m want of land should seriously con- * «i-der how tiie matter stands. In looking j over ;he reports of some meetings of creditors, one begins to wonder what, actual sale 3 ■of land do take place. In many instances j it is only an exchange, without any money J passing, not even enough to pay the land ! agent's commission. A meeting of or'edii tors held this week provided a good object ' lesson of what is taking place, and will give southern readere some idea of how North Islanders are exploiting the land,< ; not for its intrinsic value, but as a gamble. Apparently the bankrupt m 1901, had an ; interest m two good farms near Palmerston North, and £200 m cash. He then ] started gambling m land, and as far as ; can be seen from his statement, he has had 15 different "properties through his hands, and now owns none. His liabilities amount to £421 18s, there being no assets. The peculiar part is that fche largest I crditora are land agents, who were not [ paid jheir commission for the sale and i exchange of the properties. Ac usual no j books were kept, only a bank book, and t I is to be feared that this is not a* solitary case, and that there will be more washing up done m public before we get to legitimate settlement. But the foregoing is only a peg on which to hang ike statement tha* much of the land on the West. Coast, j extending from Wellington to raranaki, is j too highly valued by Government valuers, thereby intensifying the risk to the bona- ; fire farmer who wishes to make a home j for his family. Sellers and agents who i turn up the recprd of increased unimproved values within the last year or two and newspaper scribes are m some measure responsible also. Another matter that folj lows is that local taxation is also increased, j few local bodies having the courage to reduoe the rate. In fact, ratepayers take [ things quietly so long as the general rate i 3 not increased. But there are exceptions, and this year the Oroua County Council have decided to reduce the general rate by a sixteenth of a penny, they having a balance to credit, the firs, for many ! years, which may be ascribed to increased , land values. The old system of each local body appointing its own valuer was far Gsrernment from „ being conducive to System mt uniformity. But the preVitlalng Laid, cent system of Government valuation is m some ways even worse. The purpose for which the roll values may be used are manifold, as stated in** the Tear Book; clause 6 says: "For the guidance of all who may desire to ascertain the selling value of any piece of land for investment, mortgage, or other purpose." The instructions to valuers aro definite enough, and if carried out as stated the valuations should be of great value to investors. But there is one elei ment that destroys the whole value, and that is thai values are to be based on what are the selling prices m a time of boom such as we have had. Valuers go round after the sale of a> property m any particular district, and raise the values of tho surrounding land. A farmer buying a i piece of land whereon to make a home does not want to know what last year's return from it was, but over a lengthened period — 10 years at least, — and then strike an average. As has already been pointed out, the returns from sheep country m the Wellington Province will be 33 per cent. I less this year than last. .Now, which is I the more correct system of showing the j true worth? Neither of them, as a matter j of fact, does so,, but this year's is some- ! where near being right. Let any farmer who has kept any record of the past 10 years or more calculate what his average returns have been, and I think he will find that this year's returns are even too high on which' to base a value. The Government system wants amending, and the valuations should be based on an average of,- say, at least five years — 10 years preferable. Of course, there is this to be said — that m a young country land | values increase at times owing to causes j outside the producing capabilities of the | land. Means of access being provided, : sue. aa roads and railways, .ofttimes add*

pounds per acre m a ' year or two. Thi" selling price of. produce should be estimated for a period extending over a decade at least. ANTIQUA OVIS.