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Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 3, Issue 55, 30 January 1851, Page 3

It is a natural thing for the farmer, when the harvest has been gathered into his granaries, to calculate the returns of the season in order that he may ascertain what have been the rewards of past toil, ami what the inducements to future industry : —to learn what description of produce has l:een, and is likely to continue, most in demand:—of what grain he has grown too much, of whnt too little;-mid to determine by practical experience for what particular description of crops particular portions of Hud are best adapted. These are some of the many anxious considerations that engross the English farmer's care, aiid as the native farmers must have long since discovered the golden fruits of successful agriculture, we tan have no doubt that their minds a:e directed with equal anxiety to the best means o( extending their cull i vat ions, ami, of course, of" incrensing their riches. The harvest of 1850 must, now, be drawing rnpid'y to n c'o=e, mid from what we have learnt from casual travellers, we have every reason to believe it lias proved a most productive one. It hn3 been matter of equnl thankfulness and delight to know that the native husbandmen have this year sown a much larger quantity of wheat than has ever yet been planted in New Zealand. Tliey will find that such industry will not be without its rewards, not only in the immediate profit to the individual growers, but in tho saving it will insure to their country which must otherwise have expended large sums in purchase of foreign corn, nn<ithat at n period when a partial failure of tho crops of New South Wales and Van Diemetis Land has raised the price of flour much beyond its custom-try value. IJy this rise the nalive farmer will, of course, be greatly benefitted, and although it is possible that it may not be of nny lengthened continuance, still tho intelligent native agriculturist must clearly perceive that with all the additional cultivaiion of the. few past years there is yet a very great deal more to be done, ere the furme.s of New Zealand can grow sufficient wheat to feed the people already in New Zealand. Again and again ,we haie asked, why, in this the finest agricultural country of the Southern Ocean, should its inhabitants be dependent upon any other lauds j for the bread they eat? Compare the best wheat of Van Diemen's Land with that of New Zealand, nnd it will readily stand the test. In New Zealand, thanks to the seasonable aml'bonntiful rains, n failure of the crops to nny extent hns never been known. If the farmer only sows, he is •.-erlain to reap, and that abundantly. Not so in the adjoining uolo-

nies. There, they are subject to periodical droughts, to hot winds -and to hlights; —ami the occurence of years of coinparative f'unine have been both frequent I mill painful. We ourselves have repeatedly sten vrliea; start from 3s. 0.1 to j lCs.—SMs. anil even 30s. a bmhel. Supi pose such a ruinous rise to occur at a moment like this when New Zealand ! cannot feed her own people, and when [large ships are arriving, each with ttpl wards of 200 passengers, to settle on the J lands they have purchased in the middle i-laud, and to build a city to be called Canterbury ? What misery, what suffering would be the result? It is for the farmers of the Northern island to prevent any such dreadful necessity and to profit by the increasing wants of the community which is thus so rapidly extending. So appalling have been the famines of New Suuth Wales, that the late Sir Geo. Gipps, one oftlie wisest of the Governors of that Colony, considered in what manner he might best guard the people against the reiuncuce of such fearful visitations; —and to accomplish that object, he had a number of caverns cutout in the solid rock of which Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour is formed. These cavorns are called siloes. They are in form something like an enormous bottle, tapering away with a lengthy neck. Thry me perfectly dry and air tight, and being filled with corn, a long stone cork is let into the neck to eselude wet or air. Over the cork is piled a quantity of prepared lima and sand, and over thi* again is fixed a large stone cap, so that the grain is kept in a state of perfect security. One ol these siloes, in which wheat had been deposited for some eight or ten years, was opened a few weeks since, the corn was perfectly sound and a thousand bushels were sold to Alefsrs. Barkers, the Sydney millers for si. u bu-hel. We have mentioned these siloes to show the New Zealand farmers the absolute necessity of a greatly extended and constantly increasing cultivation. Not only is our own population on the annual increase, but that ofthe iirmy neighbouring colonies becomes more and more numeiousevery year. When Sir G. Gipps formed these siloes, the agricultural capa biiities of New Zealand were almost unknown; but, now that the native farmers have discovered the means by which to elevate themselves and their families to wealth and influence amongst the intelligent and commercial people of the earth, there can bo no doubt that New Zealand will speedily deserve to be regarded as the actual granary of the Pacific Ocean, —a title with which Europeans in admiration of the beauty of her climate and the lertility of her soil have already invested her. Her fields will bo the best siloes for the supp'y of Australia in her seasons of dearth—uud when the native mi id shall bediretted to the benelits to be derived from converting whetit lauds int > meadows. When they are taught to perceive how much more profitable the feeding of sheep and cattle arc, than ol pigs. When tluy learn that in their country mctit may be salted and cured in a manner, that New South Wales can never hope to equal,— and that when they possess ample and cheap supplies of provisions, that their harbours will become the resort of the numerous winding ships that arc constantly fishing upon (heir coasts. When they become convinced of these money making facts, ami arouse themselves encrgeticaiy to realise them, then, indeed we shall ivjoiee to think that New land has been prepared to occupy (he groat p isition for which Providence has iinqur-sti'inii >ly designed her.