THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 75, 25 March 1912, Page 3

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

SOME FUTURE PROBLEMS. Luring the last ten years a re markable rise in the value of land, suitable' for dairy-farming, has taken place; a rise considerably more in proportion than even the increased remuneration obtained from the industry will warrant if it is to be carried on upon the lines of the past, a feature of increased wages and increased cost of living is a factor that is often lost sight of. With the growing years, and natural increase in population that will take place, there will grow with il a change if the Dominion is to prosper as it should'. The remedy will be that the farms will ho subdivided into smaller areas and be more intensely farmed, and J venture to say made much more productive, and this • must be so, if the land value's are to warrant the growing increase in price. There will always be a large urea in New Zealand that cannot profitably be employed in dairy-farming, but there is also a considerable arc: that, with intense farming, can b. made to provide a good living anc comparative comfort, if cut up in say, 50-acro blocks, and this woulc ensure the future prosperity of tin Dominion, and much increased out put of product. To an observer who has watched t-’h effect of dairying on the lands in ou districts, it is plainly evident tha the drain made upon these lands dm ing the last ten years lias boon ver heavy indeed, and that it will be im perativo to restore the fertility b the use of artificial manures and soi: ing crops. This will especially appl; to higher lands which are devoted I •cheese making, which is known to h an industry requiring heavy toll fro; the soil—more so than that of buttci making, which also is heavy. Th farmers of the future will have to us basic slag, and other suitable man ures, in considerable quantities, an v ill then find that a- smaller are.? intensely farmed, will give them be! ter results for their labour and cap : tal, than the larger areas badly 7 farm ed. Those who have experimented i this direction have been amply r paid, but it is surprising how fo have as yet realised the important ol this reasoning, One of the greater evils of tj-ng country has been ti dc.siie. of the farmers to acquire 'are; -M' lit excess of their adequate fir.a; tial means,to work'them successful!, This Ims no xlonbt largely in the pa; 'been , influenced by „fact that eat y r ear lias s-liowp people ready to p? higher prices for land that has in j ' sense increase*] ,I*l real, valuin'Wcu l this be so if more of the princip; had to be found by the pur elms si’ I venture to say it would not. Tbi; however, does not say the land i not worth the money 7 paid' per aer if required in a smaller area and mo intensely farmed. Many farmers wi

families could well consider the cu ding up of areas held by them, r ..their sons reached manhood, ratio than that those sons should cry oi that they wore landless. To my idea, therefore, the frcehol tenure, in limited area, is the cryin need of the dairy-farmer, and tl. land usually leased to dairy-farme is merely being drained to death I; ' those who are rack-renting it, and i a slightly lesser degree the same mr theds are employed by those holdin larger areas heavily encumbered wit mortgage. We find a few exceptions and wo trust to live to see the ex ception become the rule. I venture the opinion that the hut er portion of'the areas now devote to dairy-farming could in a few yeai be made to .produce double what the are now doing by reasonable subdivi sion, and that if our dairy-farmei had smaller areas and smaller “mo keys” to carry, both they and tl Dominion generally would enter ini a wave of genuine prosperity such a never yet experienced. That the ger oral ■ heavy rise of the price of lan during the past few years, and sti continuing of the old methods <; working it, is a sign of genuine pros parity leaves grave reasons for doubt It has been more a ease' of that ex coptional prices for produce bavin prevented a serious slump, ’which it comes will give, the .Dominion ; shock that will take years to recovej The general rule has liccn tha where men have been successful o a reasonable area, they have in man. cases purchased adjoining areas whereas by spending a much losse sum in the judicious working an< manuring of the land they alread. held, they could have obtained a equal income at a far greater econom ic advantage, and/ by- so doing bay left accumulated areas to lie similar] developed by those seeking land, am which it not likely to eventuate who land is aggregated. This will bo a live problem in th years to come., and is not the fade]ir idea of a visionary. • That small areas intensely farmed is no itlT thought is amply shown in tlio exam pie of Denmark, whose production o dairy produce is an object lesson to day. , ■ ■ . The robbing of the natural pro duetivoness of our soils has been al ready carried on to an alarming ex tent, and nature cries for some rr i turn of the drain made on it. 1 When will the majority of our farm ors waive up to-this? Probably not til’ the lesson is brought forcibly home t them, and then it will take man’ ) years to repair the neglect, that i! checked now, would lessen the evil. Lot our dairy farmers try the experiment of sowing 1 or 5 owt. of basic slag per acre to some of their i;n- - poverished pastures, and in order to convince themselves, leave a few acres of similar pasture alongside undressed, and I venture to say, before 3 long, our dairy products would ad--1 vance by leaps and bounds. Much of our land is also deficient in potash., and a small application, say 2Slbs to

-101 hs to the acre, would bo very beneficial. Whilst labour is dearer in this country than many other countries, our mild winters give the dairymen a very great compensation. Nature has been kind to New Zealand, but wo are not, many of ns, inclined to take too great a slice of Nature’s benefits without doing our duty to assist in the process and to some extent, at any rate, are we not failing in our duty to posterity? I V J.B.V.