Agricultural Education.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 April 1914, Page 2

Agricultural Education.

JL\ VICTORIA, LEYLN' A.\T> IiLSJiWHKUE. (Written ior TJllh Chronicle.) Mow and again in the great monotony ol printed praise alien t the tip-to-da; ■ -:■.•,- -■! the farming and grazing iu- ■;«'.■:.> <>i ll.is < o-iii-try, its uiiiiviiiled JjUHUj... .-.picndid butter and clme .•>•■', gmud herds, and progrcssiveness of tho farming community, one comes across a lone cry'of dissatisfaction from someone who opines that agricultural education is still the greatest need of the Aew Zealand farmer. With the majority the cry goes unheeded, though here and there one more thoughtful than the rest wonders why, in comparison with the mechanical side, the purely agricultural side has'made such slow progress. The sharpened stick has been followed by the modern plough, the sickle by the reaper and binder, ami the flail by the threshing machine-, but the average fanner's knowledge of the composition of soils, of the best combinations of the \arious ingredients of the soils to grow the different ' crops, of the HTeci of heat and moisture in making available for assimilation by the plant of"the plant food in (lie soil, the elVed of heat and light on the assimilative power of the plant, of the composition of the plant itself, and the value of such composition in producing milk, butter, cheese and meat, is not much greater than that of the Egyptian peasants who grew the corn - with which Joseph loaded the ten ■dip asses for the use of his father on his journey into Egypt.

This siate of affairs obtains largely because the mechanical advance is due to men whose wits are sharpened by the daily contact with hundreds of fellow men in factory and workshop- as a diamond is polished with diamond dust. . The farmer has simply the moneylender and nature for comnany. The long hours of physical toil necessary to satisfy the demands of Shylock prevent him from giving much thought to agricultural problems, or as has been the case lately in this country the rapid rise in the price of products on overseas markets has "uabled him to meet all demands without .much study of soils, au<l crops. The great advance in mechanical appliances for reducing labour has also contributed in this direction. The day when man will have to study these problems as the price of his existence is yet far off. In the meantime experimental farms have been established in all civilized countries and in these stations the- attempts to unravel nature's mysteries are increasing. The dry •q>ells in Australia led the uiilwM-H it's -th«ro io go into agricultural problems more deeply and more systematically than they are approaches! in countries favoured with plenty of moisture. In the Victorian Journal of Agriculture for March, an article on the llutherglen station shows with whatthoroughness and attention to all points the experiments.are. carried out An exhaustive qualitative and quantitative analysis of the. soil is carried out, the seasonfare carefully studied, the amount of evaporation as determining the effectiveness of the rainfall is recorded, and the variation in tho temperature of the soil throughout • the year at depths of lin,"* (iin, 12in and 24iu is given in a table, Hie c'-ondansed summary of over 4000 observations. In the Weraron State Experimental Farm, Ilorowhenua settlers have a fine institution that ' is not appreciated ns it should be. One hears its utility questioned occasionally, but if the critic b« judged by his criticism then it is small wonder that some are always up against it. Very few know the amount of work done at the farm. Because a huge cash surplus is not shown at the end of the year it is put down as a failure. It is not realised that the public willingly risks its money in experiments at the farm in order that the individual farmer may not have to risk his own, and it fanners do not benefit it is their cwn fault. At (he annual visit of the Ilorowhenua x , ruitrowers' Association to the farm orchards, five experts were in attendance to give instruction and advice, and only five fruitgrowers put in an appearance. Does this give much hope , that the fruit industry in Levin will ever get into the front rank? At present twenty-five varieties of oats and four varieties of grasses have been sown in order to test their suitability as winter feed for dairy stock. The tests are being i carried out on exactly the same I lines as the silver beet tests. Yet it is safe to prophesy that the only district farmers to visit the farm and watch and note the result, will be those who have hern blown on! of their course, and will leave ayain as quickly as a sideiracked ship left the pirate-infest-ed Akerine waters in olden days. ll' in' -ju.lffimr Ihe site for he Xorth Wand Dairy School or Ajr-i-ieulfura lfollego. the amount oi local interest <h«>wi. is to be laken into considemt ion- "-:"'"•■ -* (uiion will l.crstaWhe.l at er- -. .„,,., K N penmentalj^™.