CAMBBIDGE FARMERS CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 713, 11 January 1877, Page 2

CAMBBIDGE FARMERS CLUB.

FARM INSPECTION.

(By our special reporter. )

The first inspection of members farms commenced m accordance wish resolution passed at last meeting, on Wednesday last, the 3rd insr. The Judaea were : Messrs William.' (Matamata), and Strange (Waitoa), MrH Buttle, acting as refferee. Owing to the large number of entries, and the distance between the several farms iuapected, the Judges did not finish till Friday ni^ht, thus the inspection occupied three daya. The duties of the Judge? were by no means of an easy character, the exhibits being for the m»st part excellent and well ma^hsd. Indeed m two or three cases, notably m horse stock, the difficulty of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion musv 1 c great, of so high a class were the different lots. For it must be remembered the judges have not, as would be the case at a show, the opportunity of comparing, side by side tue -various entries. And hereiu lies the difference between the two shows and inspection. It is an open question, which is the better system, for whereas a farmer takes only the superior poiticn of his horse sto k to v sh< w|; he is compelled m the case of iuspectiuu to exhibit the whole, good and bad together, as the "most suitable lot of horses for farm purposes." But after all it i* perhaps m the caie of orops that the full benefit of the inspection will be felt. Hitherto, at shows, i£ has been, the custom to exhibit a specified number, or amount of roots or grain, and as Mr Clark pointed out at a lecent meeting of the Club, those roots were not a sample of the crop but merely the product of some particular corner of the field, or, it it may be, garden. And similarly the fiuest heads of wheat were thrashed out; for the show, when the crop perhaps would not average 10 or 15 bushels to the acre. Inspection does away wich all this, and a crop must stand or fall upon its merits as a whole. Nor is this all that accrues from th s system. It is incumbent upon the exhibitors to furnish the judges with every iuformrtiou regarding mode of treatment, &c., of the different crops, thus optming up a store of most useful knowledge to the inexperienced farmer desiring enlightenment. L'o further illustrate this poiut, let us consider, the different entries of wheat. There were fivo fields of this oereal entered for inspection, and no two had received the same amount of seed per acre. It natural ly becomes a question whether th.s field would have been a3 good as that, had it Leen as thickly sown, or vice versa. Again, with reference to the vane ies sown. It is asserted Jjy^ome^tiiajcjjpring wh<at is the kind beat fcuittd foF^m^disfctiofe^Ctfide Mr Fifch^r'd e>say) while others holiltho contrary opiuion, and advocate the growing of wiuter wheat. This is apart fr< m the different kinds of both wiuter and spring wheat, and so with the orops. In the case of " The best grasst-d farm,." inspection is c'early tbe only way io judge, as also m ihe case of the "Best mixrure of glasses."

Ie is not the oljsct of this report to give the decision of cna ju ig»;s as do the various entries as th- j-idgc's report to be read at the next ineeung of the Club will of course be incorporated with the report of that mtetii-g. All that is netdfu m this place, is to give some defoliation of the entries, an I a geutral outline of our operations from day to day. The first place on the pragramme was the Waikato Swamp Company's Station, where Mr Buttle, and 1 arrived at halfpast ten, on Wednesday morning, Messrs Wi'iiams, aiul Strange having slept there the previous night. Mr lieynoids, the manager had entered for time clae>e3 viz : Peas, Horses, and and gateways. Unfortunate'y, tt.is was the only en:ry for the first mentioned (i the above so tiiab the jadges have not the opportunity of s-eing what the diairiot could really produce m this way. Bub lam assured 'th«t t c crop ia a ready good one, and would on a larger scale j rove highly ruu v c ative. They are of the sort known a< tne "grey held pea," and a c not sown m t^e oidiua y way mmmr i c broad-cast or ia diil.a, but are Jant-d alttrnabeJy with potatoes, mangolds and cat rota, each of which promised a goid crop, and will call for a chare of attention at the autumn- inspection. The peas stand about three feet high, and are exceedingly well podded. In horße stock, Mr Keynolds, bag not an extensive variety to show, but what he did exhibit, were, fully up to the mark, and it i» not on this sco c that they will be behind. lu| the remaining class, gates and gateways, Mr Reynolds will be hard to beat, as it would be a matter of impossibility to find a neater, and at the same time a cheaper lot thm are to be seen on, this estate. With the exception of the stockyard gates, which aie conßtructei of Tasmanian rail timber, there are composite wood and wire gates made after two different paterns, the one having two wires (No 6 or No 8) passed through each hole and twisted by means of an iron bolt, inserted at two places, and turned by hand, and the other having an up. right slide at the hinge end m which the wires are fixed, /and which is tigbt&ned by means of nuts and bolts, eich kind having 5 strands of wire. The firstmentioned ia the cheapest method of the two costing only about 22s,' postB and paint iucluded, the other is twoj or three shil. lings dearer. Most of the gateways are made m a similar way with wood and wire, and m appearance they are light aud pleasitag to the eye. One great argument m favour of this kind of gate is its non-liability to be affected by the high winds, and Mr Keynolds assured us that m no instance had either oat tie or sheep succeeded m forcing through or or losening the wire. Before leaving, Mr Reynolds courteously showed us over the garden, plantations, orchards, &c, and pointed out every object likely to interest U3.

1 There was a large quantity of both fruit and vegetables, and abundant promise of more everywhere, and I oan hardly bestow greater praise ou the taste exhibited by Mr Keyuolds and M 3 garde er, Mr Forrest than by saying that nothing I have seen m the district reminded me so strongly of England, as the v>-getab'e garden, en passant, I may say that the appearance of the swamp is very encouraging, Thre must be close upon 100 acies m grass already and a large ar>a will ha ready for burning iv the couisd of th.s summer, rroperly

Bp-akuig the sr.vss(wlno'.i is lo.king very h well inde«..) i» ohi-tiy oonftued to the *" hills or lalamifl, at p'wen** as »t is only now that tut. »otion of ti.e dramage is T>eroei>taMo m a«»y g r « ttt degiee. Thti oatils and anecp look id exce'lenfc oondition, and last, though n..t by ai.y means of thelta timpovtaneu the road over the swamp to the Station la (at prcent) one of the best iv the district. Wo left Eureka at haU-yaat 2 o'olock, p. us., and Hading thai we should -not be abe to 41 do" more than two places, decided upon Messrs John Martyn's and James 'Bunciraan's as the near sb. The first mentioned gentleman had entered oats and potatoes. The oats whioh were a mixed crop of tartarian and potato pat, hud bean partly out, aud had suffered severely from the attacks of the caterpillars, being m some place* oompletely shattered. Without this drawback the crop, would no doubtf have exceeded ' forty bushels per acre. No maoure was used. The potatoes, also without manure, were a good average crop, well advanced, and the roots of good quality ilr M*rtyn also has a large quantity of other rov>t crops, which will hold their ground at the next inspec ion. Al hough little of the evening was now left, we passed on to Mr James Runciman's f *rm and succeeded m examining all but his horse stock, whioh we left for the follow iuit day. The following are the class. s m which Mr Runoiman had entered: *' Bjat crta ed farm," .* Best mix ure of grasses,'' Best Hsld of wh«at," Beat do. *f potatoes", aud best lot of horses auitable for farm purpos- : The two first were almost indenticai as m each <c.03 the w^teJarm wo s entered. Ihe whole of Mr mnoiman's laid at this place (Fe?ftandoy> about 250 aores is l . era s, and m J?rass <> £ a Vtit y magnificeut kind the cattle literally revelling m the clover. Cumparitively speaking the - land is pretty heavily sfockeJ carrying about one bullock to the two acres, bellies horses and pi^s, of which there are a large number, For the mo ,t part the land has been ploughed once, after burning off the fern, and sown with the following mixture of seed : 2=ba cow grass or red clover, lib -alsyke, lib white clover, 13lbs rye grass. Iv one paddock there Iwas sown, 31bs clover 10 rye qms ► aud 2?bs cocksfoot. The grass has been Jaid down at different times, some has ' beea sowed as loog.afl four years, part only eighteen months, but everywh n there is an excellent sole, The wheaf, which is about three acres m extent is a •winter variety, and is the same as that , * .grown by Mr Wallia, and which that , •gentleman originally imported from ! Sndand. Mr Runcinaan obtained the see l from Mr S S Gr*bara, Taraahere. :atid the amount sown on the three acres * was just one bag. There was no manure of any kind used. The clover grown on •the land previ .usly, was ploughed down about six week's btfore sowing- Although it appears to be a som* what thin cro p it will undoubtedly yield well, probably .30 or 35 buahells to the acre; ihe Btraw is ratlier loug, aud the tara well filled with nice plump grain. Witb potatoes Mr Rnnciman ia making several . expen- " mn». he has appli« I manure to the <whuie of his crop, buo-half a dozen rows .a* dee side he has reserved to try tLe effects of different mixture* of manure, and testing their relative merits. Mr Kuuoimm intends when the crop is ripe ■to oarefuliy dig these rows, and toit boh q mtuity aud quality, and publish what will then bo known to him, for tho good - of cha diatr.cb generally. I may meat : on •here, that the mmtire applied to the buU of the omp, id a mixture sold by JVU' iß.virl, of 'Auoklftiid, aud the «o*t pv-r .wee is £2.