WILL WHEAT GROWING PAY ?

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3275, 11 August 1871, Page 3

WILL WHEAT GROWING PAY ?

The New South Wales newspapers have been condoling with the South Australian farmers on the supposition that wheat growing does not pay them, and that with every quarter of wheat exported a portion of the working capital of this colony is sent away. The ground upon which they go is that the cost of cultivating wheat in South Australia reaches from 65s to 75s per acre. This, however, is a palpable error. We have no wish to provo the wheat growers of South Australia a highly favored class. They have, as every one of them has learned by experience, many difficulties and harships to contend with, and but moderate profits to reconcile them to their lot ; but at the same timo we feel ifc undesirable that the injurious idea that our farmers are necessarily carrying on operations at a loss should remain unchallenged. We admit that our averages of wheat produce have not for many years exceeded from twelve to fourteen bushels an acre, aud are not likely to do so as a regular thing for maDy yeara to come ; but we demur to the conclusion that on this account it is a ruinous thing for the cultivation of cereals to be maintained or even largely extended. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land nofc yet alienated from the Crown upon which farmers may locate themselves with a fair prospect of remunerative returns. They may not— probably will not — make fortunes, but they can rely upon a tolerable competency. Ifc would be easy to show by calculation that the highest computation the expense of cultivating an acre of wheat does not exceed 50s, but we are not obliged to rely j solely upon estimates, for we have beon favored with figures giving the actual outlay upon certain farms in the North, and these go conclusively to prove that we should be justified in fixing a lower total than 50s. It will be understood that the whole of the work on the farms fco which the following statement applies has been done by contract. The statement is mado up for three years. Duriug the first year the payments were for ploughing 9s an acre, sowing and harrowing 3s, reaping and bagging 6s, seed 4s. During the next year the land was merely scarified, and the cost was as follows :— Seed 4s, scarifying, &c. 4s, reaping, &c, 6s. This makes for the two years a total of 365. During the third year the land is allowed to lie uncultivated, and there is therefore no outlay except by way of rent. This for the three years would, at 10 per cent, interest on £2 per acre, the total cost of the land, amount to 12s an acre, or 4s annually. Adding this to the 36s the expense is brought up to 48s, averaging 24s per annum for the two years during which the land is uuder crop. It must not be understood that the land is altogether unproductive in the third year, for it is then run over by sheep. In fact, sheep are constantly kept on the farms, but the returns from them cannot, of course, be taken into account in the present calculation. The items of expenditure given above certainly appear small, but our authority is beyond question. The seed was purchased on the ground, and about a bushel per acre was allowed. Possibly the bad seasons in the North may have had some effect upon the prices at which tho work was done ; but after making liberal allowance for this and for other contingencies, and also after making ample provision for conveying the produce to market, the cost would still be considerably be'.ow the 50s an acre.

We have received from a small farmer in the North some further information in which although it does not enable us to draw any distinct inference as to the relation between cost of tillage and returns to the producer, is yet interesting as showing that in suitable localities and in favorable seasons wheat growing in South Australia yields excellent results. In the cas-e of No. 3 referred to, if not also in the cape of Nos. 4 and 5, the amount received would probably enable the farmer to pay for his land and have a tidy balance over to pay for his labor. Taking it that the expense of working No. 3's block of 60 acres, not reckoning the guano, was even forty shillings an acre, that would oniy be £120, leaving £211 for hiss labcr— no insignificant return from what in this colony is regarded as a very limited acreage for a farm. Another important point in the letter is the proof it gives of the benefit of using guano. It is nofc stated what the character of the soil is, or how.long ifc has been under crop ; theso are matters upon which we hope " A Small Farmer" will give us further details. His communication, as it has reached us, is as follows : —

" From the perusal of your remarks as to the cost of wheat growing, I am induced te send you an account of what some of my neighbors are doing :—

"No. 1. Owner of an 80 acre section ; last year he had 50 acres in wheat, 10 in hay and 20 fallow. He reaped 600 bushels, sold at an average of ss ; deducting 50 bushels for seed, it leaves him £137 10s for his labor. His stock-in trade consists of two horses £20, plough and harness £10 ; having no reaping machine he gives a fortnight's labor and the loan of his two horses, and in return gets the use of a reaper, winnower, and his neighbor's and horses' help to reap his own crop. His crop was sold at the farm, "No 2. Owner of 80 acres; had 60 acres in crop, 20 acres in hay and grass ; was fallowed. Reaped 700 bushels, at ss, less 60 bushels seed, leaves 640 bushels or £160 for his labor. "No 3. With 80 acres, 60 of which were in wheat, with 2 cwt. guano per acre at a cost of 10s per acre. Reaped 25 bushels per acre, or 1500 bushels ; deducting 60 for seed, leaves 1440 bushels at ss, or £360 ; deducting guano £30, leaves £330 for his labor. " No 4. I cannot givo particulars as to his acreage ; but by applying 2 cwt guano per acre he reaped 35 bushels wheat per acre. "No 5. By applying 4 cwfc guano per acre reaped 50 bushels per acre barley, sold at is. " No 6. By applying 2 cwt guano per acre reaped 24 bushels wheat per acre, whilst tho unmanured portion brought only six bushels per aero."