SCIENCE ON THE FARM.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1776, 14 June 1913, Page 18

SCIENCE ON THE FARM.

SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT. ■; WHEN THE STATE HELPS.' The last ten or fifteen years have marked a wonderful, and It might bo said an ■extraordinary advance. In the application of soientifio methods to farming. : ' Agriculturists hare now realised that it paye to give 6eriou3 and constant attention to details, of management and production that were formerly neglected. It & but a short time sine© the "book fnrr mer" and his methods were held up. to 'ridicule by his neighbours,. who, in their eatlsfied ignorance, looked upon any now .Droposalor movement to moke the land 'more productive with contempt.. The man . .Tv-ho departed fTom the, customs laid down '■"by their fathers was set down as a "orank," who had' more money than sense. Time.and the exigencies of modern re-'oiiirements-.haye, however, shown that ; the' farmer who has been unwilling to • '"get out of the old-rut formed ;by prejudice ana long-standing custom as now he man that is .derided. -lWay it: is the '• (reading farmer, who exercises his intern■gonoe and applies* Ms knowledge, who i» • making the most out of Jus business and --opening np possibilities of rura husband-- • "'■'** that' were never; contemplated years 'ow. That farmers are becoming readers v ■ tto increasing numbers is:proved by the . wonderful increase in the output of agricultural literature,'riot in the shape ol . .books: merely, but in.; the ■ prom nence : K iven to farming matters m the daily and 'weekly press. Sto line- of work has been ■-■- imore abused by-lack thaa pen- ..- -Sbl. farming. .The great natural fertility : of the soil of this country has mado large ' crops possible with a minimum of cultivation/' !v , ' . ~ ■ „ 'In the past farmers have, m the ma- :■ - jority' Of instances, taken up the worK ,' with little appreciation of the value that ' ' good' management. was, to thorn. I hey '■■' Save looked upon the systematic keeping of accounts, foTr instance, as. «ome- ".' Mng not-in keeping with the require- . fments'of the farm. The past .two decades have seen the beginning of many changes ■that have (yet to be more fully developed. Taking;dairying as a case in point: perhaps nothing more important will ever bo 'done to stimulate the development of tMa dhdustry than the following up of tflo campaign instituted,:for tho systematic testing and .feeding of dairy cows.. .As •Boon as a man begins to apply business methods to one branch or farming ho finds out' how much more valuable the work, becomes, and he naturally applies ."' Bimilnr attention to oil his operations.- ; His lead then forms an object-lesson tor liis neighbour to copy, and eo the work ; goes on. -It is good management and system that will restore worn-out arable lands that have been depleted of their ■natural fertility by the ignorance or '■ neglect of former occupiers, that wiu make what are now practically barren and ' n-aste lands productive and pront-bearing. . .-■■ and increase the earning power of farm land, everywhere. , , • .j „* Business farming is the only kind ot ■■■■' farming that makes it possible for a man to know just where ho stands at any 'time with any crop or any line of work. ■"• It makes it possible for the man on the . "land what each crop is costing him, to •know what each- animal in the dairy herd '. .'is. co'sting and returning him; and under ! normal conditions to know what promts he may expect from any department on the farm. -Greater pro- ' ■.■fits' s : must lie in reduced cost of '■'■ rather than the hope of increased selling prices. The latter will i . vary ■" from time to time, • but :.;.:the' safe'-system of increasing the .' 'income is by system otisinj; the work of "production, and by ■ making a careful ; >' study to ascertain where any. item may be 'reduced without lessening the . ; -System and' good management raise the ■'.farmer to the plane of tho sudcefsfiil : " -business man. It will .put bettor soock on •the farm,-■ provide better pastures and ■buildings, increase the yield of crops, and -put more money, in the banking account.. There is probably neither branch of ; A 'industry ■.that ■ offers the. 'same prospects ■}■ , for expansion through applied system and . 'intelligence than that which may bo practised by : every m.ih who owns or occu- ■ piesa piece of knd. In experimental work '-'. there must necessarily be a proportion of ,;'. whole or partial failures; but it is the ; 'man who tries and tries again who •:'. ■ eventually leads the way, and the faddist" of to-day becomes the benefactor ■;,;in the years that follow,. ... .-.■ ,;: ' • ' State Farms. ."'A great deal of desultory-criticism has ' been levelled at the outlay of expendiV'.'ture that is entailed by the maintenance .' : of State experiment areas in different. parts of "the. Dominion; Time was when a very largo proportion of, taxpayers ', raised objection to public revenue being devoted for this purpose. Farmers them- : selves were heard to complain, and it ..was frequentlv urged by them that the • State-managed farms had nothing to teach the everyday farmer. '■ There are still many who allege that the country does : not receive full value, because the balancesheets of experiment farms do not always show a credit over working cx- ■' penses. Properly speaking, these farms are educational institutions, and much of their value cannot be directly calculated by cash returns. It is impossible to fix o cash value to an enterprise that has for its object tho promotion of what is -and what will always continue to bo the main source of revenue to which the country owes its commercial existence.

Experiment _ farms, like primary schcols and universities, are educational institutions, and while the farms may be .used to some extent to show a direct revenue-earning power that materially lessens the cost of upkeep, they must nesessarily be subsidised by tho State, to a large extent if they are to accomplish nny_ material and lasting benefits. The basis of a nation's progress is founded imon knowledge rightly used. That is why we are spending about one_ million pounds sterling annually in giving free instruction to tho youth of the Dominion through Out educational system. That outlay is warranted and unquestioned, but the fruits are indirect. Throughout the laboratories of the world millions of pounds are being devoted to research work in order that devastating disease's may bo successfully treated. The discovery of one single genu may mean tho saving of thousands of. human lives. In tho industrial world there is no slackening of effort in the search for agencies that will reduce the cost of production and broaden the field of manufacture. In the great domain of agriculture, tho botanist, chemist, geologist; -in fact, every branch of science, is called into requisition to discover the secrets of nature; to enable man, to make tho earth yield up more of its treasure, nnd to overcome the hordes of pests and diseases among plant and animal life that: issail him in every direction. All tlioso .problems provide- work for specialists. "Every year tho experiment farms in Now 'Zealand arc rJtting more Into lino with tho best of similar institutions in the older countries of the world. . What State Farms are Doing. < While it is impossiblo in tho course of a short notice such as this to enter into "a de-tailed description of the various activities of tho State in the promotion of sound and economic farming prin ciplcs, a brief outline of the principal feature will serve to show that the work done at the various farms has already exerted a beneficial influence on Iho general farming methods throughout the land. First of all they have demonstrated that thorough and systematic cultivation of the soil is the basis of successful agriculture It has been shown that the practice of a well-balanced crop rotation preserves and adds to tho life and vigour of ih'e land, at the- 'same time fortifying it against many harmful influences that fiio engendered by indifferent tillage a.»d indiscriminate cropping- Jinny beneficial object-lessons have been given shewing where the ravages of insect pests nnd fungoid diseases of plants may 1)0 successfully treated, and avoided. The State his been instrumental in introducing largo quantities of now varieties of grain and fodder seeds that will produce crops to maintain tho vield and' ilefv destructive agencies that have fouled and weakened home-grown stocks of seed. It has.successfully demonstrated how root and fodder crop-; may bo 'grown with a minimum of risk nf failure. Special areas have been devoted to fruitgrowing aud vineyards. Tlio ■great work of plant-breeding and selection bus been undertaken with success. Already a rustresistant variety of oat has been discovered which may 'in the course of years save farmers many thousands, of pounds annually Largo numbers of other grain,

gTasj, and fodder plants are iutt under the observation and caro of spedallytrair.ed officers. There is no doubt but what the researches and knowledge that is being gained in this direction will bo of incalculable benefit to the wholo forming community. , If the Department of Agriculture had been brought into existenco for no other purpose than to demonstrate that that wonderful and prolifio fodder _ plant, lucerne, oan ba successfully frown in New Zealand, the results would have justified tlio outlay. Kecent State-conducted experiments bear testimony to the fact that luccrne of different varieties will flourish in a far greater variety <,f soils than was formerly believed. Whatfuturo results following the extended cultivation of this plant liavo to reveal is still a matter for conjecture, but it may be said with safety that sufficient Iras alieady boon proved to warrant the prediction that before many years the grazing capacity of' a great deal of .country will be more than doubled. Another direction in which the Stato is rendering fanners invaluable aid is to be found in Iho great number of co-oporntive (-xperimeats that are being conducted in both islands. This practice enables individuals ■ to' conduct experiments on their cwn farms with grain or other craps that have particular interest to their own district. They are conducted in soil conditions and other environments peculiar to Iho locality in which the main crop will afterwv/ds bo subjected to. A large :i timber of these experiments must of necessity ba failures, in tho sense that they do not produce good crops, but they .-till have their lesson'.' On the other han.l, a tiucccssful experiment plot has often revolutionised, long-standing custom and conferred a distinct benefit to farmers in tho neighbourhood. , .' ; ' In the breeding of live-stock, especially dairy cattle, the. Stato is performing a most useful service, and giving splendid demonstrations of the results of wbat niav bfl accomplished with animals af different kinds under conditions that are within the attainment of private owners. Instances where the State is helping the primary producer through the medium of farms of instruction might be quoted at greater length, but sufficient has neeu said to show that recognition is given to the supromo importance httaching to' Agriculture in its relation to the commercial lire and prosperity of the Dominion. Ihe great neod for promoting Kuccessfnl farming to-day is the infusion of knowledge, both by precept and example, that will equip the man on the land with the means of. successfully combating tho elements that bar the path of progress, and endue him with the importance and necessity of applying scientific and business principles m the conduct of lus undertakings. Let those who cavil at, the comparatively small outlay that :s drawn from the public treasury for tho purpose l of promoting the intorests of ag:icmture remembsr that wherever the ind-vidual gains the well-being of tho country benefits in a greater proportion as a natural consequence. .