FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 180, 1 August 1871, Page 2

FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Auckland Herald.) We sometimes read ia our own columns, and sometimes in those of our contemporaries, letters headed "Farming Don't Pay." This assertion usually elicits the response, "Why Won't Farming Pay ?"' Both the statement and the response to it appear to us to be the expression of extreme views. There is' a despondency about the assertion which gives ground for the suspicion that either enough has not been done, or if enough has been done, then that the writer has* gone abou£ v the work in a wrong manner, or at the wrong end. The best effort must turn out badly if this be the case. On the other hand, the questioner manifests something of a flippancy which is not quite compatible with a profound knowledge of the subject. It may be stated that farming, while of all modes of living the healthiest, the most varied, and certain of result, is, at the same time, the most exposed to the penalties of lost opportunities, waste, and slovenliness. The sluggard is a proverb for the new times as well as the old, and the farmer who will not keep his knowledge abreast of his time, will be sure to find his ground slip away from him, yielding only tares instead of corn. - Letters of the kind to which jwe havo For remainder of news see fourth jpage.

referred were constantly written in England .about the time of the Repeal of the Com Laws. The newspapers teemed with them. The farmer of that day was the most despondent man in the United Kingdom. Had it not been for such men as Liebig, Faraday, Playfair, and Mr. Alderman Mechi, it is extremely probable tbat the value of land in England would have depreciated full twenty-five per cent. These eminent persons were no farmers, but they preached a doctrine, and in the last instance practised it, with singular success, that if a farmer knows what he takes out of his land with each crop, and is careful to restore these constituent and combinative elements to the soil, he may rest pretty secure of a profitable return. We are surprised very much that in all that has beeu said about education, about the conflict of science and classical learning, common and uncommon things requisite to complete a man's knowledge, no attempt has been made to foster and promote agricultural chemistry as a ' special branch of study, applicable immediately and with advantage to the whole area of the colony. There are, no doubt, many farmers and others who know that the fertility of a soil depends upon the presence of chemical elements, in graduated but minute proportions. But it is not always considered tbat the manure which may increase one crop may injure another. The land that rany yield a large crop of cereals may smother and stunt the delicate growth of the vine. One kind of treatment, good in itself, will increase subsoil vermin, while the means taken to destroy these last will also injure the crop. Many people consider that if land is rich, loamy, moist, and " warm," it ought 1o grow anything, and they put anything into ifc accordingly. Some discover the mistake, but others regard it as an inevitable misfortune, and hope for aj better result next time. They do the same thing again and again. How many farmers are troubled "tovconsider in what proportion sulphate of lime is good for clover, silica to grapes, or phosphorous to wheat ? How many give themselves much concern about alkalies or salts of metals? And then, again, how many .farmers regard the character of the soilN as judged by its bulk, its texture, its fitness for special crops and how far it may be assisted by either lime, soda, ammonia, or other chemical constituents? We do not hear that the drainage of towns or villages has been put upon lands. We are not, we think, above the mark >hen we say that there is an amount of drainage wasted iu the Auckland harbor, to the annoyance of the whole population, which, if this were au English town, contractors would purchase at some thousands a-year for agricultural purposes: We do not see why the General Government might not give some attention to this subject, when considering the manner in which the very large sums which will be shortly at their disposal shall be distributed. There might be, a Board of Agriculture, having the superintendence of°pr° vsucial affi liate<3 schools. The cost would not be much. Nearly every continental kingdom in Europe has its Minister of Agriculture. In- England, the law of primogeniture and the modes of tenure have placed the subject -entirely under the control of the; owners of the soil, and by their help the disasters tbat must have come upon the farmer in 1846 were prevented. One very important advantage would be gained — that almost immediately the local Boards in every Dart of the colony would have their attention directed to a subject in the knowledge of which they, more than any other colonists, have a direct and an immediate interest. But if the local Boards would not be stirred to activity in this manner, there w,puld be at least'witbin theJimits of each province, a means of reference and experiment. It is true that at present any farmer can have the soil of hia farm analysed free of expense by sending it to Dr. Hector, but this is not enough. It were like teaching a child the alphabet, and asking him to read one of Dr. Johnson's long sentence!*. We cannot but think there jfre many intelligent gentlemen and others, as well as landowners and landholders, who could give valuable information upon this subject if they knew where to send it, without being put to the ordeal of writing set papers or provoking a perfunctory crossexamiDation, But whatever may be the cause of the present apathy aud faint^ heartednesß upon this subject, there cannot be. the least doubt that it is producing serious results both within and outside the colony. Affiliated * schools of agriculture would be wholly experimental in their character; The cost of thorn may be objected to, aud that is always a consideration of 'great 'force. But we are afraid there will be a gdod;deal 6f money spent to much -leas and much worse purpose than the establishment of such tentative instructioii a6' ? We have advocated in the above Tobsemtionfl. ;

A Bag containing £7 in gold, mostly | half-sovereigns, disappeared rather mysteriously from a public-house at ~ Old Physic Gardens, Dundee. The bag happened to be laid down at the back of i the shop window, and -when the shop- j keeper went to remove it some time afterwards, the bag and its contents were nowhere to be seen. A diligent search was made for the. missing money, but no trace of it was obtained until, three days afterward?, a small piece of thebag.was| found in a hole in the floor. This circum-t stance led the shopkeeper to think that the! bag had been removed by the rats — a| supposition which proved to Lbe correct,.| for all the money was found among -tb^l earth underneath two of the flags. jf ; A new musical instrument of g^jeat and I varied range and exceedingly composite in its structure, called the " Ot^hestre-Mili-taire-Electro-Moteur," has just been introduced. It comprises iu itself the distinc- \ I live quality of many instruments, not alone the grand impressive strains of organ, harmonium, and piano, but the > beating of drums, the clashing of cymbals, and the shrill notes of the ear-piercing fife.,; "Now ifc is like all instruments, now like; the lonely flute." The music, the com-; position of the inventor, is at once melod-, ious and full of -martial spirit. lA* 3 descriptive of a battle, the various evolutions of the strife betng illustrated with surprising spirifand effect. . -\ ' The direst enemy of the French nation, writes a correspondent of the A < kstralasia?i, could not havo blackened it with words as a section of Abe... Parisians have done by their - brutal and meaningless atrocities. Let not the nation be judged by these. The "emasculated townsman, in whom ruthless ferocity seems to have taken the place of courage, is no fair sample of the Jpoench natioo.\ When, the Parisians said they would holdout to the bitter end, they could Dot have confceTved how bitter that end would be. Those men are not worthy of free institutions. They are most fitly ; placed when in the $to\ grip of a Bonaparte. And when tbe|^or^ is finished they will be there aga|n?^[The military^ attitude of the Prussi%s stauds 6^t in' undeniable dignity. ""^pW spared XPttris what Paris did not space herself., 'They displayed not the druosenness of victory. The pith of the European message is in the postscript. A hundred millions French loan in London to pay Prussia. If Louis haß been encamped under the lindens, London would have beeu just as ready to lend Prussia tlie money to pay France. And I don't think France would have, been quite so stiff in her demand. She would have reckoned the glory as worth something.