FARM CHAT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 907, 6 January 1917, Page 11

FARM CHAT.

The cocksfoot harvest is now in full swing on Hanks Peninsula, but farmers are experiencing great difficulty in procuring sufficient In hour for their requirements, and good money is being ; offered as an inducement. The area to :be cut is a long way below the usual • acreage closed for cocksfoot on the ; Peninsula, and the quality is not as ; good as might be. owing to forced ripeu- • ing. In addition to the seed being mostly immature, there is said to be J more rubbish in the samples, chiefly j goose-grass. Cocksfoot harvesters are i not the only workers who are scarce. | for men to harvest oats are by no ! means plentiful, and in fact in some j districts they are unprocurable. Stooking of oats is being done by farmers' wives and daughters in some instances, and the all-rouud lightness of the crops is making this possible, but the. difficulty is likely to become more acute as I the heavier crops of wheat ripen. Jn the paper on rural education read by Sir James G. Wilson before the ConI g'ress of the Xew Zealand Educational j Institute at Wellington yesterday, it is ; remarked that chemistry is a necessary j study for men who have to go on the | land in any capacity. No farmer, ! young or old, should be without some j knowledge of it. It is essential that he should have this knowledge in con. j nection with the purchase of manures, jand to be able to take an intelligent i interest in various experiments eonj gtautly being made for his benefit, and Ito recognise their importance. Every I lad. whatever his vocation is to be, i>the better for this knowledge, but he I who is to go on the land should specialise in it, and have the opportunity of j doing so at the High Schools.

The paper further says that, con- ! neeted with every High School, tliere; should be a few acres of land for ex i perimental purposes and the expori- j i merits could well be worked by the I ; Agricultural T>epartment. At Ashbur-I Item this is being done. Sir James i | Wilson says: "I ani not acquainted [with the details of the work undertaken hy the High Schools, District ; High Schools, and Technical Schools.; though 1 fear there may be some over-1 lapping. But 1 understand that High ' ; Schools arc under a Board of Governors, | who, I presume, are residents of the I 'district. This, in my opinion, is a dip-i tinet advantage, tor it ensures local in-j ! terest, which is too often absent. The Board of Governors at A-ddiurton had j a reserve in the neighbourhood of the j town, and the Board of Agriculture was i j able to make suggestions which brought ' the Department of Agriculture to the ■ assistance of a scheme of experimental 'plots for the High School pupils, and 1 the balance of the land is devoted to ■ 'demonstration work. 1 notice that a; I science master has been appointee! to, the High School, and he has also been offered the position of director of this! small experimental station. Working [in such a way, I have great hopes that. we shall have excellent results." The dried up appearance of the conn j trv around Christchurch hardly reflects, the conditions ruling throughout the [province. for in the districts adjacent to j i the hills there have been more frequent j falls of rain. The crops in districts ' such as Oxford, Waikari. and Methven, j 1 and others promise to be fairly good,] more especially the early sown wheat. j while some of the autumn sown oats and , {practically all of the spring sown are likely to be lighter than usual. One | effect of the lack of rain has been to! .considerably reduct the damage from [caterpillars which in a wet season are so i 'numerous in Canterbury. However.' some districts aie suffering from this-, pent, notwithstanding, and reports state I 11= :jt many farmers- are cutting their; ! crops earlier than fhov otherwi-e would ■ In. in the hope of sax ing tl.ein. and ; Uc epilsg the yield up.