GIVING UP CROPPING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1362, 13 February 1912, Page 8

GIVING UP CROPPING.

"WORR-Y AND ANXIETY TOO ilL't'lL" A well-known Southland farmer recently informed a reporter that ho intended giving up cropping on account of the worry mid anxiety that was associated with'lhe working of teams. A fonr-lun-fO team cost .KIOO per ye.ii , lo work, Unit i.s taking into account tho necessary labour and the feed consumed. The lnbuur problem, too, waa a serious one, and it was becoming more and im're dillicult each year to obtain suitable men. lie paid his men 30*. per week, provided them with good accommodation, and did nut deduct anything for holidays which he by no mean* begrudged tli« men. He al>o allowed each of them to keep a hack, ami he never charged them a penny for feed. Despite all this he found the position becoming intolerable, and lie had to bo constantly endeavouring tu smooth over friction and difficulties c.ieated by the men themselves. Most farm implements have a seat now attached to them; but if a man is working an' implement without a seat for ;i day longer than he thinks he has a right to, there is trouble, and tho employer is blamed for favouring, oac man at the expense of the other fellow. Similar bother frequently arose over the allotting of teams. One man wijl complain that he is not being given as good a team as the others, and if steps are not immediately taken to pacify the aggrieved one, the chances are that he will at once ''take his hook" and leave his employer in the lurch. Altogether, the farmer spoken to was not enamoured of the position, and as soon as he conveniently could, he said, he would transfer his attention to sheer/.