GERALDINE FARMERS' CLUB.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2876, 3 October 1895, Page 2

GERALDINE FARMERS' CLUB.

The Geraldine Farmers' Club met on Monday evening, when there was a fair attendance, and Major Moore was voted to the chair. CORRESPONDENCE. The president sent an apology for nonattendance, which was due to his being away from the district. PASTORAL TENANTS. The Pastoral Tenants' Relief Bill was received from Mr W. S. Maslin. At the request of the meeting the chairman read through the various clauses of the Bill. Mr D. McLeod pointed out that the date on which it was intended that applications for relief should be Bent in was too early. The farmers could not ascertain their losses till after shearing, and in the back country shearing was always as late as February. Mr McLeod proposed : —" That Mr Maslin's attention be drawn to the fact that the time when applications should be in, viz., November 14, should be altered to February Ist, 1896." The motion was seconded and carried unanimously. REPORTS. Mr N. Duniop, as secretary of the Ploughing Match Committee, reported that the ploughing match and the club' dinner in the evening after the match* passed off successfully and without any financial loss, the receipts and expenditure balancing pretty evenly. Major Moore, as secretary of the horse parade, reported that there was a falling oil in entries this year as compared with last year, although the horses shown were of fairly good quality. ANTHRAX. A leaflet was received from the Department of Agriculture with reference to anthrax. This was laid on the table. PLOUGHING. The subject of the evening was a paper by Mr R. Skinner on "Ploughing," which heread, but before doing so ho made a few remarks relative to the judges of the late ploughing match. He had been accused of being antagonistic to the judges, but this he denied. All that he did was to criticise them a little, but he had known some of these gentlemen for over 27 years, and he knew them to be thoroughly qualified for the position they held as judges, for they were good praotical farmers and first-prize ploughmen. Mr Skinner then read his paper as under:— " Mr President aud Gentlemen—"My object in writing this paper is not so much for the purpose of pressing my own opinion on this meeting, but simply to open a discussion, and get the feeling of the farmers and ploughman as to the best class of ploughing this club ought to encourage. We know there was a great amount of dissatisfaction in the district with the last ploughing match, and I think we ought to try to be in touch with the farmers and ploughmen aud to encourage nothing by plain ploughing. The question is often asked, What is false cut '( I measured some of the ploughing done at the last ploughing match. It was Gin. on the coulter side, and only 3fin. to 4in. under the wing of the share. I think this must be false out, or deceptive cut. There is a ridge for the furrow to rest on when turned over, and this makes the ploughing Arm to walk on. This is one of the particular poiuts the judges take into consideration when judging ploughing. Coulter cut, or high cut as it is called by some, 1 cau see no objection to, as much as the plough will work with. But false cut is not popular in this district, nor would any farmer allow it on his farm for every-day work. The judges to be consistent "go" for that claßß of ploughing throughout, allowing other mistakes to escape their eye, and no man with a plain plough haß much chance however wall he may plough his rigg. I think this class of ploughing is a thing of the past.; it is expensive. We have only to look to the last ploughiug match, and see how many ploughs were specially made, as to the every-day make of the different firms' ploughs will not twill and pack it. They require a particular twist. This class of ploughing may have been right 25 years ago, when there were no double furrow ploughs, and the grain was all sown by hand. It used to be said " the more seams the more corn." There has been little or no improvement in ploughs for the last 15 years. The whole study of implement makers has been to invent implements to tear furrows to pieces before sowing with the drill. I think the best ploughing for every day is a furrow from 0 to 7 inches deep, and from ten to 11 inches wide. This class of ploughing would not be suitable for a ploughing match. I think, Mr President, this club ought to encourage ploughing to nearly a uniform depth. More attention should be paid to strikiug out and finishing. To strike out and come to a finish properly, is where the skill is required. If the farmers and ploughman knew they could come to the match with their everyday ploughs with some chance of success it would bo the means of increasing the entries two-fold. I could quote different writers on ploughing for every-day work. They all recommend deep furrows, well turned over, which would not be suitable for a ploughiug match." After reading his brief paper Mr Skinner produced a bag of plough shares and coulters of different kinds to give a practical illustration of the fancy cuts put on at a ploughiug match compared with the ordinary plain share used in every-day work.

Mr N. Duulop was opposed to Mr Skinner's views. Mr H. B. Webster thought it was time the fancy ploughiug wa« dona away with .'ind ouly every-day ploughing allowed at ploughing matches. Mr J. Allan said in that case we should not need a ploughing match at all. Tho judges could go over the farms and judge tho ploughing there. Mr D. McLood did not blame the judges, for they were evidently guided by the Olub as to the kiud of cut the Club encouraged. Mr Squires did not think for a moment the judges themselves would use the false cut in every-day ploughing. In fact, he had contracted for one of the judges and • that gentleman allowed no false cut on hie ploughs, Mr Shiers thought the Club should .•ugiiify what kind of ploughing they wanted. Ho had seen ploughing matches where no false cut was allowed. Ho thought it should bo a rule that the prize should be given to the ploughing that would grow the host, crop. Mr (i. Ward also producad a bag of shares and coulter,s and gave an extremely interesting explanation of the plain cut and tho false cut. In using the false cut they certainly would leave less work for the harrows to do, because there would be only the earth to knock about instead of the square sod.

Mr Allan was entirely opposed to Mr Skinner's views. Ho contended that at a ploughing „ w tch it was the intentionthat young inon should do tho beat work thoy could oven, if tboy did bad work ttt

home. He fully believed that with the false cut they would get a better seed bed thau with the plaiu share, and would therefore, get a better crop. They aiuat have a bit of cut on to keep the ground clear, otherwise they would have grass growing up through the crop. Mr Dalton was strougly opposed to the false cut. No doubt the share with the cut would give a better bed for hand sowing, but now-a-days there tvas plenty of machinery for working the earth up as required. In his opinion a better crop would be obtained where the plaiu share was used in preference to the share with the cut. If the ploughing match at Geraldine was confined to ploughs with plain shares he believed there would be a much larger number of young men to enter. Mr It. Y. Ferguson considered that the judges at Geraldine did their duty in a most impartial manner, and if anyone knew anything about ploughing they did. (Hear hear). After further discussion, on the motion of Mr Skinner, seconded by Mr Squires, it was resolved—" That it is the feeling of this meeting that at the next ploughing match held under the auspices of this club the ploughing should be plain, and of nearly uniform depth." The chairman suggested that next 5 ear it would be a good plan to issue instructions for the judges, stating what objects are to be attained by the ploughmen. Mr G. Ward proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Skinner for his paper, and Mr N. Dunlop seconded the same. The meeting then terminated.