LECTURES TO FARMERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13942, 30 June 1909, Page 3

LECTURES TO FARMERS.

ON-PRACTICAL POINTS. The special reporter of the Wellington "Evening Post" at the Palmerstoji .Dairy Show, in some general remarks on the results says:— The farmer is the last person in the world to. receive education willingly.. His days, and much of his nights—on dairy farms at any rate —are spent in a struggle for mastery with an unconscionable capricious, and unruly weather, with a soil that wants to grow other tilings besides crops, and with animals that seem to become more and more liable to strange diseases tht more they are domesticated. There is infinitely more of chance in the farmers' lot than there is in any other line of life, not excepting even that of the bookmaker. Who' can count oil steady weather, steady prices, and forecast hit. plans en that assumption;' 1 Not the fanner. Hence we have a man essentially of practice, not of theory, which presupposes fixed conditions. The farmer, therefore, guides his judgment by the experience of the past bequeathed to him in traditions that date back beyond the georgics of Virgil, the farmer's handbook of the Roman Empire. His rule is of thumb, not of brain. An ounce of practice to him is worth a ton of 'heory. That is why for many years he was such a difficult subject to the scientific ?nd experimental agriculturist. He would try nothing new-fangled. Cocksfoot lie knew, rye-grass lie knew, but what was tins paspalum dilitatum —just to feign an exampie. There had to be pioneers in hazarding the unknown land ot experimental agriculture —men who were willing to take risks. Some succeeded, some failed; and <he rest profited by the successes and failures alike. Ana thus the new era in the homely farmer's life began. The Dairy Show is evidence of the change, which is more thuu secular. Improvement is noticeable annually at every show. Take, for instance, the series of lectures delivered by various officers of the Agricultural Department during the past week, it was the dairy farmer's noliday, yet for two solid days the lecture hall at the show building was crowded with an audience of representative fanners, who followed every word that was spoken. Papers on various problems of the day—such as the manuring of pastures, the feeding of cattle, the pasteurisation of by-products, the prevention of tuberculosis in stock —were followed hour after hour by men who were supposed to be holiday-making. The language, too, of many of the addresses was technical to a degree, yet :t seemed to be well understood, if the shiewd qrestions that succeeded were any criterion. AVhen a man, who had come dov.n from far Taranaki, got-up to propose a vote of thanks to the author of an address on improving pastures, and said that what he had heard was worth the trip in itself —and the sentiment was loudly applauded—well, what more could any enthusiast desire? So it was with the other papers. They touched the spot, and drew the required response.