The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY, JUNE 13th, 1922. SCIENTIFIC FARMING.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 June 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY, JUNE 13th, 1922. SCIENTIFIC FARMING.

Locking back to the late winter school and regarding the agricultural lectures in their ;.uo light, we must realise . that scientific farming should receive ' more attention in tW» w»»Ktty t A

country possible of such great- production ;•>, No" /•'aland should be able t i d.-witc i: gnoj deal of attention to

tie subject, cai lying n:i research work mi l imparting general huo-.vlodge to the farmers useful for application in the daily round of farm work. Science enters largely into tbe farming question in every aspect, and. is indispensiblo where more and more production are demanded.. The liost soil wears out so to speak. The old custom was to allow jc.stmai 01 c: ;,pcd land to lie fallow for a season or two to allow atmospheric conditions to work their magic on the nil. Ka:l\ ploughing is often resorted to. to allow the frosts to break up and open the under soil brought to the sur. face and so on. But there arc quicker and more time-saving ..ays if tile scientific side is gone into. The best virgin soil become exhausted through eonstant c o| ping, even with a routine of crops, and yields would lie facilitated greatly hv a course of scientific treatment. The simple methods of the past born of years of experience, good in their time, arc not wholly practicable if the soil treated by the newer conditions of today, when fertilisers will help so quickly to stimulate production. For that reason farming should he more and more on a scientific basis, and there should be the facilities for educating the farmer readily. The win ten schools ; arc a channel readily available nowadays. The patronage at llie recent school was not ns great as the importance of the matter warranted. No doubt those who attended learned something of the failure of old time theories practiced in regard to helping production. They gleaned knowledge of other and quicker means of achieving better results and tlmt is tbe crux of the question. Farm work, that is farming, is important enough to be placed in tlie forefront of all the Dominion industries. The products from the land govern tbe social and political welfare of the country. That has been experienced very pointedly of late, and is reason enough for keeping farming well to the fine. Where land is plentiful and cheap, there is not the immediate necessity for the more intensive means of production, but it is plain with closer 1 settlement atul dearer land, it should he worked to bettor advantage all tbe time. The country would prosper more under a system of smaller areas with j increased settlers. That is apparent and is'the ultimate destiny for Westlnnd. The large areas held here are not a blessing even to the owner, and certainly not to the social welfare. There has been a great rush for the freehold, but the greatest fallacy about the freehold is the large limit of holding permitted. Tf the settlement of this part of the country is to come quickly, and it is to he the Taratlaki of the South Island as it is capable of becoming a limit of freehold will have to ho enforced and the large areas will require to lie cut up. The Government should find ways and means to do that before the land they have given away for the freehold song, laconics ton dear. Then with a wider knowledge of scientific farming, greater production will become inevitable, and increased wealth will accumulate to the people on the land who will he responsible for their wealth by the measure of their production—their own handiwork.