NORTE ISLAND RURAL LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3006, 25 October 1911, Page 16

NORTE ISLAND RURAL LETTER.

By John Spess.

THE FARMING CADET OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY. Shearing may be said to have started in earnest. Unfortunately, we have had very cold, showery, and even stormy weather. The wind at times has been blowing at hurricane force. Song birds for hours together are silent. That is the strongest testimony at this season ot the year to the fury of the tempest. Urass 13 growing very rapidly. . Even where the feed has been of fair quality, and where the pasture has a plantation of bluegums bordering it, cattLe take to chewing the shed bark witn seem-

ing relish. I have seen cows do the same thing where feed was raiik and lush. Oar main, roads have suffered during the past/* two months by Sks high and dry winds, to such an extent that all sand and small gravel has been swept away and th© bare metal ©xpcscdu To counteract this and partly to'act as rebmding, one or other of our county councils have beera employing horses and carts and extra hands to place a thin layer of earth thereon. The idea seems a. good one, and might prove entirely satisfactory if the weather continued fair and fine. Unfortunately, wo have had some eight or 10 days of intermittent rain, and, to mv nund, the claying of the roads is proving disastrous. To-day I walked, or rather plodded, over a portion of a highway so treated, and I found that the wet, sticky clay-earth is virtually acting as a ■ disintegrating- factor. I am told that the better plan, is to scatter clav when putting on, new metal. In bush "districts, where they have neither gravel nor metal for the roads, a substitute has been found by burning blue clay or papa rock. Such is spread on the formation, and answers the purpose of gravel fairly- well where th©, traffic is not heavy. The cost, however, is excessive._ I am informed that th© charges for procuring firewood, with the combined labour of burning, runs into something like 7s 6d for every square yard of papa_ so treated. Carters and waggoners complain that _oertain kinds of calcareous metal—i.&V, limestone or shell rock, is very deficient in springing qualities, and such roads as aregravelled with this material are very "heavy pulling." Besides, the glare from such roads in summer is hm-tful to the eyes; Where local bodies who have control oi main roads have not been able to arrive at reciprocity over maintenance, recourse has been had to toll-gates. I have in my mind's eye two local bodies which cam© to loggerheads over the. matter >of main road liability.' I will call the one Z and the other Y. Z admitted its liability to the extent of £3OO. Y asked for £709- Facts figures, and even fiction were bandied about between the two for some time. Z let it be known that though it offered £3OO it would raise, it to £500.. Y clung to what it considered reputable figures, _ and stuck to its guns. It must have the £"00, or, if such were not forthcoming, it would clap on a toll at its boundary. The tollbar was put up, and even although Y was generous enough to let all milk-carts pass and repass free, it found at the expiry of 12 months that the takings at the toll-gate had mounted up to the respectable, sum of £I2OO. With such an overt demonstration Z appears to have com© to its senses, for I hear that a Government Commissioner is adjudicating with the view of dispensing with the toll-gate. '• '. Some years ago a Ta.ranaki member ot Parliament, who had had large experience in. county council and road board matters, in a public speech gave it as his opinion that while the toll-gate might be termed an ancient and antidiluvian institution, yet the province owed to the medium of the toll-bar the larger portion of its main road formations. . I am under the impression that farmers are going to poll heavy at the coming elections. T judge this because I notice men who have held aloof from politics coming once more to th© front. We owe the State a duty, and every farmer should record his vote, more especially as the major share of our revenue; comes, directly or indirectly, from the land. A very old 6mall farmer acquaintance of mine got quite a surprise some months ago over land and mortgage taxation. He and his wife had worked hard and reared a fine large family on a comparatively small place. The sons are all away working, and the daughters- &re all married. Th© old folks considered it time for them to retire and take it easy in the evening of life. They built a cottage on their township section. A buyer for their farm came along and paid down a deposit of £4OO. The balance was left on mortgage. They calculated on having a clear £IOO a year to live upon. Previous to selling their place their yearly land tax had been comparatively small, and the rates on their township section merely norninal. , In passing through th© township one day I was surprised to find the old man, assisted by his wife, digging awav for all they _ were worth. "What's Simon?" I anxiously asked. "Why, I thought you had retired!" "We're £5 10s short o' sir, and the ol' woman and me's a puttTn' in a honion crop. We's must make it hup some'ow." Then he went on to explain that no sooner had he built the cottage and moA r ed into it than th© township authorities went in for some improvement loan or other and put his rates up 500 per cent.. and on top of all the Commissioner of Taxes had a fresh cut-in over th© mortgage, and between the two the dear old folks were £5 10s short of their clear £IOO a year. Rather hard on an old couple who had given the country six fine strapping sons and five handsome daughters. Some of our Technical Schools are doing good work in teaching the theory and. practice of horticulture and agriculture. Th© Press Association took notice

of the fact, and! ""■you* Wellington Agricultural Notes last week contained an admirable description of what the Wanganui Education Board is doing Jin its southern district for the prospective young farmer. Besides this there are. course, the usual primary schools agricultural teaching in dairy work, grasses, fruit trees, sowing, and planting. The northern jurisdiction of the Wanganui Education Board embraces a portion of the Taranaki province. I understand! that the authorities are about to organise a similar technical camp in this northern area for the study of the distinctive agricultural features of the district, and such will embrace practical instruction in improved dairying methods, "high-class dairy cows, pasture, root and fodder crops, silage, as well as the best breeds of pigs, bee-keeping, fruitgrowing, poultry-farming, and other industries subsidiary to dairying." _ I have a young nephew who is a pupil in the agricultural and horticultural section of one of ouir Technical Schools, and! his father is satisfied that his son is deriving great benefit. I am in hopus that such branches of our seoondary education may be the avenue by which many of our- town lads may pass into the ranks of land workers. Doubtless the idea will be developed, extended, and systematised, so as to, fall in line with the distinctive features of local conditions. It is a movement which deserves the earnest attention and support of every farmer in the Dominion. In the past the professional classes have had every attention paid to them in the matter of providing educational facilities, , and it's high time we bestirred ourselves to equip our sons 'and our daughters for the. battle in the primary and domestic industries. There was ,a time in the history of those very peoples who have most deeply left their mark on the ages of the world, whenthe shearing of sheep, the turning of a plough furrow, the reaping: of grain, and) the cooking of food, etc., was a .labour not only dignified, but divine, and entered upon by gods and godesses,, kings, and priests. . Some day I may ...return to this subject. Meantime I should, like to give my southern readers some idea of . the northern farming cadet—shall I say. of the past? I think tlie gentleman farming cadet is getting few in numbers and, beautifully lees. So much the better for himself.

The farming cadet was the son, usually of English parents, who stipulated to pay £IOO a year for two or more years for his being initiated into the mysteries of farming. lam assured by a thoroughly practical man that quite a number of farmers ran their farm on the strength of two or three cadets. They go into the secret of how to get 'em, and they kept the game going. One big swell of a farmer ran his "show" on from six to a dozen cadets. Even that easy-found £IOOO a year did not tide him over, the bar- of financial trouble, for I believe he had to seek the shelter of a Government billet.. How did the swell farming cadet turn out? I would like to answer your question by telling you a story rather than feeing too specific. This, however, I will ad.mit, that a few turned out successful men, several became wasters; but my firm • belief is that the majority wished they had saved their money and worked for wages. ..St. Bevis Tompkins was not at all a bad sort of a' chap. Some 15 or more years ago I met him at an inland sheep and cattle station. He was supposed to be learning sheep and with a view to taking up a run when his ship arrived. The station belonged to a city business man, and was managed by a competent, though somewhat easy-going overseer, who was allowed to take in a cadet every three years. The owner's daughters always spent a portion of the sum.mer end at the station. Those were the days when St. Bevis considered life worth living. I am not going to tell you how it all came about that St. Bevis ran .away with and married the prettiest of the stationowner's daughters, and settled down in a nice villa on the outskirts of an Up-country township. ■ The ship of St. Bevis comes quarterly in the shape of a substantial remittance, and so he does not greatly worry his head over the still unobtained sheeprun. Others had judged it expedient that St. Bevis might act the gentleman, but that he never should b© given the opportunity to play the fool.

The family circle in the villa somehow or other grows larger and larger, and the quarterly remittance, although actually always of the same denomination, appears to lose somewhat of its substantiality. "Something would have to be done," so St. Bevis confided more than once to his charming wife. That something to be done never took the shape of reality other than in the form of letters to a maiden aunt

Aunty finally wrote something definite. In looking over a copy of the title deeds of her wedding present to Alice she ffcund that there were 54 acres of first-class land attached to the cottage, and such was certified to carry a herd'of 20 cows. "I.hear," she continued, ''that the dairy industry is a very profitable one in New Zealand.. I don't mind sending you out a few hundreds to put up sheds and purchase a dairy herd, provided you show yourself to be something more of a man than heretofore, and that within 6ix months, you acquire sufficient practical knowledge to enable you to run the concern. A letter sio-ned bv. a local farmer, attested by a J.P.; will be a sufficient ernarantee to secure you the necessary draft." On the strength of this Tompkins sent in his resignation of membership of the Hunt and Polo Clubs, a.nd advertised his hunter and polo pony as being for ?ale. Then he remembered that it was the local fortnightly stock sale day, so he dressed himself out farmer fashion.. ».iV| trotted down to the yards, and made friends with dairy far.n-ifrs and shook hands with drovers. That night he insisted on taking his dinner in tweeds, refused remove his evil-smelling boots, and in«tead of the usual <Mgar he smoked an. old . pipe into which he had crammed tobacco of a vile brand. Tntead of the sporting news* he read up farming: items, and before bedtime intimated that he thought of taking a job on a dairy farm for three months to aret broken m. as well as theoretically. Alice shed bitter tears, and refnsAd to kiss him. . . . . Next morning at brea.kfa.st an idea, on hearing a dog beiiw foJlecL struck his wife. "Why, Bevy dear," h°fran his wife. "I am sure our Mr Fljahtv (a. runholder, who had his '"n the fanvnshir») -would be t"> allow h>« man io Jbeaoh you miflkin-sr." nicht Tomnkins arranged the preliminaries with Flighty.

"Morning, Jerr —ah, Mr O'Jerry." "Mornin', sir. Want to see the bossj eirl .Ho ain't here. Gone to the run, sir."

"Did-nah, Mr Flighty—ah, inform yon that I was coming to learn milking?" "He did not, sir." " Forgot, I suppose." "Too much whisky last night, I guess, sir, when you were with 'im, sir. 'Ad a 'ead this mornin' big as two 'eadis, sir. There's nothin' in a big 'ead, sir, as you know, sir, eh'j" "I thought you were Irish. Jerr m Ah IMr O'Jerry " " Never seed the colour, sir." "Why, Mr Flighty said your name was Jerry O'Jerry." "That's 'es whisky play, sir. My C'risit'n name is Jeremiah Hokver Jerriman. Good name too, sir, eh?" " I see. Play on letters. Mr Flighty's fun "

" Hat my expense, sir. You're Irish, ain't you, sir? The boss calls you saint, and as hall saints conies from Hirelahd, I s'posed you must be a Paddy. First saint who hever wanted to learn 'ow to milk. Too much bad language and smells among cows for saints, sir. I 'vise you to keep away from cowbails, sir. Co we haa kicks has well as 'orns. Dangerous hat both hends, sir. 'Vise you to stick to 'osses and water and boats, like a saint, sir."

"My name is St. Bevis, not Saint Bevis:" " I see, sir. You're Henglish, ear, and, like myself, sir, you take religion short, sir., T hadmire you, sir. I never did take to saints, sir. I oan halways manage with sinners tiptop, sir." "It's singular," mused Tompkins, "that we Ixvth should have been led into the same error of mistaking each other's nationality."' - " lit was the boss who> did it, sir. We be both hinnooent, sir. That's the boss's little way, sir—halways mixing hup things with tother things, sir. Don't you ; worry your 'ead hover hit, sir. I might o' knowed he meant you was a sinner, sir." "Changing the subject, Jeremiah?" " Beggin' your pardon, sir, I ■ 'avo changed you, sir, from a saint--hinto a sinner. Now, sir, please do the same convertin' for me, sir, hand change Jeremiah himto plain Jerry. I never could live hup to Jerehhah, sir. "Interrupting you, Jerry. Let lis change the subject into cows." '• " "A werry 'ard change, sir; not hint'ruptin' you in the hefford, sir. Cows is halways cows from ■ calves hupwards, s sir.. They're bad forom start to finish, sir." "Mr Flighty tells me," pursued Tompkins, ignoring Jerry's fluency, "that his cows return him a handsome profit. T understand him, however, to say they are a mixed lot; but he enumerated certain animals as giving good results—one in particular. Let me see now. Ah! He particularly mentioned a JerseyJJoldstreant cross and a grade shorthorn-Derrick, also a Hereford-flayshire, all as being exeeed•ingly profitable; but the one cow head and shoulders above all others in the matter of milk and test he specified as belonging to the ah—breedI—the 1 —the ah —Suffolk-Punch cross. Yes,'.' said Mr Flighty, "the SuffolkPunch is the gold medal animal of the lot."

"Beg pardon, sir. Did '© say she was a cow, sir?" , "Ah! probably he called her a heifer. It's my mistake. He told me to be sure and ask you to point her out, and that I could not do better than purchase a herd of her breed. Is she in the yard amongst those?"

"• No, sir, she ain't wet; she's dry just now, sir." "In the paddock, I suppose?" "Yes. But teU me, sir, what did the boss say 'bout her, sir? Can you'give hie >exact words, sir?" "Certainly, Jerry. He said: 'Mr Tompkins, the Suffolk-Punch cross is our. most profitable animal. She delivers the mos* ; milk of any of our animals. She never fails to draw the biggest milk cheque.' " "Anythi' more, sir? 'E did not 'pecify 'er as poly, sir. Plenty 'air and no ''orns, sir." "Certainly he did not. He strongly recommended m.e to get a herd like her. And she's only a heifer, you say?" "I did not eo say, sir. Come hand see 'er for yourself, sir. That's 'er there, air." "Jerry, you . Dont you fool me. That's your milk cart horse, d— — you!" "She's a. mare, sir. I's glad to 'ear you swear, sir, for I know's you's a sinner hand not a saint, sir. I's werry 'appy now, sir."