THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, September 25, 1851.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 3, Issue 72, 25 September 1851, Page 2

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, September 25, 1851.

Every fresh arrival from Sydney tends but to confirm the previous accounts of the extraordinary riches of the gold fields of New South Wales. Not only does the precious metal continue to be drawn in lar<*e quantities, from the first discovered diggings, but new anil prolific mines ace being constantly opened, until, a'roady, the searches of the gold hunters have been extended over many hundred miles of territory. We tell you this not. to inflame your heads with unwise and inordinate cupi'litv, but to encourage you to persevere in the far more honourable and not less remunerative occupation of cultivating your soil. In the hunt after gold, success is most uncertain ; in the culture "f wheat, and all other produce requisite for the sustenance of man, the reward is unfailing: —and, now that the gold ot New South Wales will inla'libly draw thousands upon thousands of men from every qimrter of the world, —when the Australian labourer is quitting the plough,—when the husbandmen of Van Diemen's Land are abandoning their pursuits,—when the production of food in the neighbouring colonies is thus seriously threatened to be diminished, and its eonsumption in all of them, most certain to be enormously increased, what source of wealth can be more assured or more inexhaustible than that which an ample cultivation will inevitably command ? It is a matter of much congratulation to the agricultulists of New Zealand that a large and annually increasing market has so happily been created. It is no less a subject of rejoicing to know that the native land holders are straining every nerve to take Advantage of the opportunities growing up so suddenly around tliem. Their ir.dustryjof the past year has been nobly rewarded ! and they are, « are proud to learn, using every exertion to profit by the prospects of the present. New ground is being broken up and sown, and a breadth of land will this season be under crop such as never before a New Zealand sun lias shone upon, fj l '. 3 ' indeed, is the golden wny to wealth. This the true means to render New Zealand great and honourable—audit is toaid the development of those natural riches of the soil, and to facilitate the operations of native industry that we hasten to redeem our previous promise, by offering a few simple observations on the preeminent I superiority of the European practico of I ploughing as contrast, d with the native I custom of hoeing up the soil.

The plough is an instrument of very groat antiquity, being made imnti"n of not only in the oldest writings, but being represented 011 the coins and monuments of the Egyptians and others. The plough lias been shaped in in infinite variety ol forms, nnd has been directed to the turning of the soil by e> cry description of physical appliance from the yokes of oxen and horses down to the breast plough pushed forwards by the muscular force of man. To cn'srge upon the origin and improvement of tin* plough would be a needless waste of time nnd space; nor would it profit the unpractised and inexperienced native reader to pen a treatise 011 the theory of this elementary branch of agriculture. A knowledgeof ploughin" can only be ncquiied by watching the operation in the field, and by taking instruction in the art from those who have been trained to the business, The task is by no means a difficult one, and as the natives ha»e already shown how cleverly tliev can acquire European arts and pra'ctic os. we know of 110 means by which they can so quickly become able and intelligent ploughmen as by hiring European ploughmen to train them to the occupation. If they follow these men at their plough as eagerly as they have watched millers at their mills, or with as indefatigable zeal as they have studied the trades of the mason, the carpenter, the sawyer, and other mechanics, tl.eyjcannot fail, and that very rapidly, to become large intelligent and prosperous farmers! for thev will quickly find how much more work can be accomplished by one plough than by a dozen of men with mattocks, and that, too, by means which will after wards be available for the gathering ill of their harvests, and for the carting oftlnir produce to the mil l , to the market, or to the vessel for shipment. The plough is thus described by Mr. James Jackson, a writer of considerable authority in Agricultural Aflairs " It isn species of wedge, or rather combination of wedges, calculated by the inclination of the various parts to move smoothly . through the soil. The < oulter in front is a sloping knife to cut a passage for the mould-board, so< k, and share, which, with its feathered or flattened edge, passes under and lifts the surfaie. Tiie niotildboaul. is the curved iron side which pushes the upturned surfiu e aside and lays it over • in the form of 11 furrow The beam or fore arm, with its notched and muzzled point, i.llords the menus of draught, and the handles or stilts behind are of use to guide the motion of the mnt bine. The horses are yoked to it by rope or chain traces, with intermediate swingle trees." The great object of the plough is to accomplish as much work as possible with the least expenditure of animal power. To effect this, many adaptations of the form of the plough have been tried. Some are guided with wheels, —others on the contrary by the mere skill of the ploughman. Perhaps the greatest improvement in this important implement was that nvde bv a Scotch plough-wiight named Small. This plough is in gen> ral use in Scotland, where it is worked by two horses which are yoked abreast nnd guided by the ploughman who attaches the horses reins to each handle of his plough. This is n'so the plough in general use not only in Australia and Tasmania, l-ut likewise in New Zealand—where it is drawn both by a pair of horses, as well as by a team of bullocks. In ploughing, two horses and one mnn will probably dons much work in one day ns six or eight bullocks with two men ■will accomplish in two days. This we assert from a tolerably extensive practical experience of both means in Van Diemen's Land —where an acre a day was considered a good days ploughing for n p.>ir pf horses, whilst halfan acre was esteemed <*io be equally lair work for a team of *' bullocks. If expedition Dlone were to be considered there could be no question of the superiority of horses—but there are other reasons be taken into account. For instance, suppose apiece of land is to be ploughed which has just been cleared of heavy timber—Heuiove the roots as carefully as you may, many of them will escape observation until the sudden contact of the ploughshare gives notice of the hidden obstruction. If, upon such occasions, the plough be drawn by bullocks, these patient and, too frequently, ill used animals will at once stand until the

ploughman can use liis hatchet anil sever tlii; opposing root- -Should, however, horses encounter a similar impediment, instead of stopping tliey are apt to put out their strength to overcome the resistant c, by which means plough or harness or both arc in danger of being broken, and considerable expense, is thereby incurred. Besides, horses at plough must be well lioused, well fed, and well groomed or they will be quite unequal to tlm. performance of eight or ten hours labour. Before, therefore, liorses can be employed stables must be prepared for their reception oats, corn, and liny provided for their food—together with straw or other litter for their bedding. On the other hand bullocks may be turned loose to find th"ir own food, without requiring either housing or grooming, and as they can be worku'i but lia!f tlio time that weM fed horses are, the driver and! ploughman will have the other half of the day at their disposal f"r other farm labour Again bullock to the very last are of value, bee use when past the power of labour they can bo put up into the stall to fatten, so that the price given by the butcher for their beef will always more tlmn suffice to furnish the farmer with a young and active bullock to supply the place of ail old and worn out servant. If again bullocks are harnessed in the same manner that horses are, that is to say with smiled collars, backhands, traces, and head stalls, taking caro at the same time to have them housed and fed, two will perform uearly as much work as a couple of horses, and more than six or eight oxen, turned out to seek their own food, and galled with those far less efficient means of draught—bows, yoke?, and ehains. By such a method the labour of one man and four or six beasts will be saved, and in bousing oxen, it may be remarked that their food will be much less expensive than that of horses, a modelate quantity of chopped straw sufficing to keep them in good working condition, liven from these few particulars it must be obvious,to our native readers that until tliey cultivate their lands by mems of the plough they cannot hope to reap a tithe of the advantages which an enlightened svst-m of husbandry is sure to conf r. The co3t of ploughs, harrows, carts, horses, and bullocks iiro n mere nothing compared with the returns they will derive. For whenever the plough shall supersede the mattock, and the native cultivator shall begin to appreciate the benefits, —nay the necessities of grass lands.—then will the fern and the tea tree quickly disappear, and the rearing of sheep and oxen become an object of as much anxiety as tliat which the brecdiug ol pigs has hitherto been. There is no country where cntt'e may be more easily or more profitably reared—nor is there one of the colonics which can produce a superior lleece to that of New Zealand. The use of the plough, by the rapidity with which it will bring native lands into extended cultivation, will speedily prove these facts—and we are well aware that ilie natives need but to bo taught the use of the plough to convince the world that there exis's not n hind of superior, if of tqual pastoral (ind agricultural fertility, to New Zealand.