FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 101, 21 December 1872, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

SHE.EP BREEDING ON TILLAGE FARMS. The following is a» extract from a paper read fit the Ballarat Farmers' Club, by Mr Marian. After complaining of the present rcuklcsa mode of culture, he says : — It appeals to me that we havo deprived tho soil of its shade and moisture by removing the timber, thereby exposing it to the rays of the burning sun, the- scorching winds, s,nd. the sweeping storms of winter. These errors are fast spreading sterility and poverty around us, and driving many a family from the land they have toiled hard lo clear. Under these.circumstances it is an imperative duty to imitate the workings of nature, not by destroying timber but by planting it; not by breaking up the grass and eonsumii:2 the vegetable matter, but by sowing the most valuable sorts suitable to tho tastes and preferences of the animals, anil storing up in the soil a fresh supply of that human or vegetable- matter of whic-h it has been deprived. Tho laud should be divided into fields in proportion to the size of the farm. Strips about two rods wide should bo ploughed and sown with timber on the north and west boundaries of the farm, antl securely fenced. These strips should be ploughed into lands, one which could be sown with tall-growing leafy trees, such as blue gum or poplar; the other land with" she-oak, silver wattle, h'lbert-nut, or any other low bush}- tree. The western boundary should be sown with trees which would be full and leafy in the wnter, suoh as bhvJ gum, to break tho violence of the cold winds. The notheru boundary should bo planted with trees the leaf of which falls in autumn, such as tho poplar ; by this means the life-.giving influence of sunlight wonld be admitted to tho stock and pasture in the winter, and the ibliago would grow in tho spring as the sun acquired intensity producing the equable and desirable shade suitable to the season. The fences secured, and the timber planted, we may commence upon the most unproductive portion of the farm by scarifying the land a couple of inches deep, cross it with a light harrow, and sow in April eighty pounds of rye grass seed per acre, which should be left on the surface of the soil for the rain to cover. In this, way sixty acres could be laid down at a trifling cost. It would be necessary to grow a supply of herbage as convenient to the grass as possible, that the sheep may have abundance of green feed in the summer and winter seasons. It should be cut and spread in little lots upon the grass in the summer, and in tho racks in the winter; the sheep would cat it eagerly, and keep in excellent condition. This herbage may consist of maize, lucerne, rape, and red clover for use in summer ; Cape barley, prairie grass, and rye for -winter. The secret is to have a continuous supply of green food at all seasons. Fortunately the fodder plants arc so various and so adapted to this soil and climate that the cost of cultivation would not materially interfere with their production. All that is required is to sow the land and remove tho crops, they require no toeing or weeding from start to finish. All the' old straw, dung, litter, and scraping that can bo collected about the farm should be spread upon the grass immediately alter harvest; by this means the roots of the grass would receive a mulching, evaporation would be prevented, and in a few weeks the after-growth would start up, dark, rich, and juicy. By this means we should faithfully imitate the operations of nature; the little roots of grass would permeate every particle of the loamy sod, and the soil would again break up rich and mellow. The straw and litter if applied to the grass laud every summer would soon cause the surface to have that velvety clastic tread which characterised it in the height of its fertility, especially if care bo taken to eradicate tho sorrel, which may be done bv a good dressing of lime. Lime will destroy the sorrel but not the grass ; it should bo spread in February sumeiently thick to cover the soil; it requires no digging, or ploughing, or scarifying. The land, instead of being reduced by this process, would be restored to more than its original fertility, tho farmers would be enriched, and the country beautified. As wo have provided grass and herbnge, we may now supply the stock to consume It and return a prolit. This can bo accomplished by high-bred animals only; we will commence with 300 nearly pure long-wool ewes. I say long-wool because wool should be our first object, meat the next. These could be purchased in November at 30s each, ono high quality longwool riyn would cost £20: total outlay for sheep, £500. GO acres of grass and 40 acres of herbage would feed these and their lambs in the highest perfection, and, with judicious management, would feed the lambs until they were sixteen months old and weighing 70 pounds each. The sheep should be carefully folded overy night in a small yard, which should be removed every day upon the tillage land. By so doing a Sue patch of land would be highly manured at the least cost which would grow double quantities of fodder, and from which could bo removed two crops a year. For the grain crops the farmer would purchase artificial manures, which at least would have the advantage of being free from weed?. But in any case it would not be right to uso the sheep as fertilisers of the corn land. They have had the poorest part of the farm, and their province is to restore that, and , it would bo bettor for them, the grass, and the farm, to allow the work to continue until the rye-grass in one of the paddocks had become thin, and the native grasses thick. Then it should be broken up for corn, which would answer admirably, as the grass land had been highly manured; after- one crop o.f corn, the fa.nd, should be laid down again with grass. Grass should be the rule, corn the exception. The ewes could be put to, the ram in March, but to economise his power it would be necessary to employ a teaser provided with an apron well raddled. When a ewe has proved in flower, remove her to the stud to be served but once. If the ram is judiciously fed the whole of the ewes may bo served, and a large per centage of lambs secured. The rutting season over, the teaser should be cut, which would effectually prevent mischief, and turned with the killing sheep into the ram paddock until fat. The best condition for. the owes to bo in to produce largo fat lambs is very important ; they ought not to bo fat, but so that you could just feel their- ribs, the lambs would then be strong and healthy, and should be kept fat and growing until sold to the butcher, for which they would be ready in twelve or eighteen months. Tho first year's return would be merely the wool from the grown sheep, which probably would yield £150. But the second year there would be one hundred and fifty fat hogget wethers at 20.3 cach t their wool 20s each, 150 hogget cwe-sSvcol at 15a each, three hundred as»cd ewee' wool at 10s each, and 130 large framed fat ewes drafted from the breeding sheep for faulty fleecee; these amounts would reach tho very respectable total of £700. If the sheep were pure and of the most fashionable blood, a very much larger return could be made. However, £700 a year is not such a bad thing to come off a hundred acres of worn out laud, which would be improving in fertility and beauty every day; the farmer would be so delighted with his broad woolly eyea, with his dark, rich, shining grass, and his beautiful spreading trees, that he would extend his pasture by sowing lucerne for summer, prairie grass and meadow fox-tail for winter, and the continually recurring increase of wool and mutton would generate a spirit of satisfaction and contentment hitherto unknown. The demand for corn and hay is limited by local consumption, but the demand for wool, meat, and tallow is unlimited, and calls forth severe competition. Gentlemen, by such means as these the worn out farms may be surrounded, sheltered, and .shadowed by the most beautiful variety of trees, and the land made to yield in profusion every plant known, valued, or admired; fertility, richness, and "plenty would be spread around, and the exhausted farm would become a luxuriant home, where a handsome living could be made in the midst of pleasure. There is something very attractive in tho appearance of timber rn a hot climate ; tho"mas3es of dark foliage which form pendants of waving beauty, shedding their perfume in the. air, suggest the close proximity of wator and a desirable place for rest. But there is something beyond its beauty, timber has a commercial or economical value, it presents a barrier to every breath of hot wind which sweeps across the country from the sultry surface of the dry interior, and moderates in a- marked degree its withering power upon grass and corn. If tvee-planting were general upon the farm thousands of sacks of corn would be annually saved from perishing in the winter from the violence of the cold winds. Besides., timber, supplies all the conditions of shade and moisture most conducive to animal and vegetable life. If we desire to sec the most perfect specimens o? vegetation we must go to the cool, shady recesses of the mountains, not to the treeless plains. If we want to see the most perfect development of animal life (the horse for instance) we must go to where there is plenty of shade, shelter, and moisture, not to the dry, scorched paddock3of the tillage farms. Such is a law of nature fro?n which there is no deviation, and which can be well attested by those who saw the Fitzroy Gardens twenty years ago ; it was one of the most unsightly and dreary spots the eye could rest upon ; the colourless aspect of the scanty herbage which grew upon, it, and the dried twisted bark, of tho stunted old gums, showed unmistakably the withering power of the hot winds, whioh, when added to the direct rays of the sun in the height of summer, communicated to the soil a quality absolutely scorching, often heated to 150 and to the atmosphere a red fiery glow, which at times was at 120 degrees. Now, thanks to the timber, it is most deligbfuUy cooi and shady, and ia ja... caditioii extremely favourable to the highest development of vegetation. If there is any subject upon which the English farmers agree it is this—that the grand secret of their success is solely attributable to the high bred stock which they rear upon their farms and to the high feeding they receive. If such, is the case in a country possessing the best markets, where labour is good, and manure abundant, how suitable must it be to the conditions, of this country, where markets are distant, labour fs dear, and manure unattainable. However great the diversity of soil and climate, the requirements of every district would be met by planting timber and domesticating sheep upon the tillage farm. It would suit the hot climate of the Hurray, which will yet bccccie the Lome of the date palm, the

coeoamit, the tamarind, and banana, ns well m those di& j m tricis in, which the vine, the hop, and Ox> llax grow to perfeotion, Such, goutlcmcn, ia :v very brwf outlino ot anr i \ important system of farming which lectures. M\d papers can, I never sufucieutly exemplify; nothing bu,t practical demon- , stration upon the l,and can prove the valuoJ>£ timber, and tno benefits which would flow , to the country from the union of those two great branches of production—sheep rcarinS aud, corn growing.— Sydney. Mail, TJIE. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STRIPPING Among tho articles which were brought to Napier in the 9.5. Rangatira on her last trip wore two South Australian, ! Stripping MaoliiiiM, consigned, to, Mr John Chambers, of To | ' Mata Thev are. similar in principle to one which was imported last 'war bv Mr Kinross, and was found to work successfully.' The machine is drawn by three horses. As it along tho sides of tho furrows the gram is drawn in and ahelled, and the cars are left growing on the stake in«t as they were before, except that now they o?o emptj. In South Australia the stripper is generally worked along with a winnowing marine. \Vhon tho iirst is lull its contents are removed to the latter, anu while they are being subjected to the winnowing process there, it is iillnig itucn n-ain from the cornfield. In this way (on the average), about seven acres caw be stripped, winnowed, and baggcia, in a day, at a'oosb of from 7s to 10s. per acre,, or from 4d to Gd per bushel. As threshing alone costs, in general, rather ; more than that sum, tho whole cost of reaping tic\ng, up, stai'kiiv &e., may be set down as the amount saved by tho use of the stripper. Under these conditions, wo can see no I; reason why wheat growing should not become ft highly .remunerative industry in. this province, The stopper, however, # can be used not only for wheat and oats, but also by the. insertion, of n smaller comb, for grae* seed, and we shall i )O t be surprised if the result of this use of it should be to make ora<s seed in year or two, so abundant, and consequently so cheap, as immensely to increase tho area of haul now sown, with it, and consequently tho amount of stock earned by the district. A dilljculty, we bolievc that is experienced m eonneetion with the vise of the machine in Canterbury, lies in the fact that if the grain is allowed to become too ripe I there it is liable to be destroyed by the severe north-west f winds to which that province is subject; and it is the ease that tho machine cannot be used satisfactorily unless tho grain is dead ripe. The climato of llawkc's Bay is very much better adapted for the use of it than Hint of Canterbury. One of its collateral advantages is that it forms a guarantee, for the production of good flour. Under the ordinary process wheat may be cut unripe, may bo not suihciently thatched to keep out rain, or may be spoilt in a variety of wavi but, as observed above, to be stripped by tho machine it must be dead ripe, and once stripped it is liable to no more casualties, but can be sent at once to the mill. * mnlly, tho cost of tho machine is small enough to bring it within tjho means of man v of those even who do not farm on a very extensive sale* and of all, by a little combination. It is, wo. believe, about £0-I.— lLawices Bay Herald.