NOTES ON PASTORAL AGRICULTURE. (Concluded)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 171, 20 March 1847, Page 3

NOTES ON PASTORAL AGRICULTURE. (Concluded)

( Liunciuaeaj To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Sir, — The improvement of our breeds of cattle, the qualities of each, and the nature of our pastures, are points of such interest to the welfare of the colony, that we should hail with thankfii'ness, and record with honor, every one who instructs us upon such questions, who dissipates tLe mists of error which have hitherto involved them, and brings to his task practical knowledge to support closet speculations. Such a writer seems now to have risen up from among us. His real name, with the characteristic modesty of genius, he conceals under the initial Z., although he writes with that confidence which is only assumed by the veteran in science, long practised in inductive reasoning, and therefore sure of carrying conviction to the minds of his readers. In the 167 number of your paper this profound and well informed writer lays before the settlers so many new and startling "facts" (all resting, however, upon his own asseveration), that it is difficult to select which is the most remarkable, and quite impossible to do justice to all. I shall select, therefore, one or two only for particular notice, from which your readers will have a good idea of the value of the others. In the first place, then, it seems we have a most extraordinary breed of cattle in the colony (belonging I suspect exclusively to Z.) endowed with the delicate discriminating quality of selecting the leaves of grass and leaving untouched their flowers. These cattle moreover, although so dainty in paddocks, are voracious feeders in swamps, where they " thrive remarkably well," grow fat and sleek for the butcher — upon fern and flax ! The lirst question that has arisen among us simple settlers of the Hutt is, where can this most valuable breed be procured ? Is it one of Dr. Imlay's recent importations ? or is it a cross between the Iceland breed (which is often fed upon fish and kelp)* and the "lean kine" disconsolately roaming on the Te Aro flat, munching flax roots, and cropping the stumps of rushes? Whenever I see the latter anatomies of cows acting the part of scavengers, I fancy they enjoy their food, and thrive about as well as the Arctic voyagers did when reduced to " thrive" upon their old shoes. Leaving you to enlighten us upon this interesting point, I beg to remark that the striking peculiarity of our ordinary cattle here, when compared with Z.s new breed, is chiefly shewn in two respects : Ist. — ours will persist in eating grass flowers as well as leaves, and in not eating fern or flax. 1. Our cattle having this unnatural (?) propensity, obliges us, as in England, to fence in all our seed grasses. One of my patches this

* See Henderson's Iceland.

year, of about eight rods, not being so protected the cows got in, and soon eat off" all the flowering stems so clean, as not to leave one out of thousands, or, as a man would say, "as clean as a whistle." The discovery, therefore, which Z. has made of his cattle "selecting the leaves, and leaving the flowers untouched," a fact, which he says, "he has repeatedly noticed," is altogether marvellous. True it is that this cautious observer and profound reasoner, as if anticipating the surprise of his country readers, modestly rejects the merit of their discovery.' Oh no, it is not his own, for he assures us " it has frequently been remarked by eminent naturalists 1" Having, during the last forty years, written about a score and a half of volumes on such sort of things, I am rather a bit of a naturalist myself, and therefore may be supposed to know something of what others^ have written. I must add therefore that I am ignorant of any writer who can compete for the discovery of this fact with Z. Let not his modesty be offended— all the originality is his own. But, secondly — Z.s new breed of cattle he says " eat freely" both fern and flax", upon which they thrive remarkably well, and because I denied this " I could hardly have made a statement more utterly at variance with fact." Very possibly ; but Z. must remember that in my ignorance I spoke only of our own perverse breeds • 7iis are quite another and a superior race ; which, like the Iceland cattle above alluded to, bids fair to thrive " remarkably well" upon sea weed and sawdust. Let me not, however, anticipate the future discoveries of our instructor, but rather give one or two facts, names and dates, illustrating the perverse nature of the cattle we at present possess. 1. Every one knows that the Lowry Bay swamp, as it is called, is about 600 acres or more in extent ; four-fifths of which is covered with fern and flax, with occasional tufts of grass and low shrubs. Well, when this land was given out to the settlers, certain agents in Wellington immediately discovered it would make "capital runs" for cattle. Believing all this, a friend of mine (Mr. White) in an ,evil hour rented a section : he took with him four or five head of fat cattle which soon became lean, and eventually, to save their lives, they were sent to Wairarapa last year, and the farm is abandoned. 2. James Smith, influenced in the same manner, carried over last year six head of cattle which had the run of the whole swamp (or 100 acres per head) but instead of thriving "remarkably well," as they should have done on such a fair allowance, they became such miserable objects that poor Smith soon discovered his mistake, abandoned the place, and is now feeding them in the Hutt. 3. Another of our settleis, Robert Fair weather, has b,een deceived precisely in the same ■way. Upon being driven from the Taita^e carried eleven head of cattle to Wai Nui o mate, and they were turned upon the swamp. What followed ? Before three months, Having little but '"flax and fern" to eat, the cows became dry, and the whole number so poor and scraggy that he was compelled to drive them once more to their old quarters, excepting two calves born there, which his wife described to me as " thin, nasty, stumpy, little things!" half the size only of those of the same age reared on the Hutt ! So much for facts. As for all the rest of Z.s annotations, I must leave them, after this exposition, to be appreciated as they deserve by Wellington agents and beach gossips. They may believe, for aught I care, that Taranaki and Wanganui are valleys like the Hutt, although people say they are plains. They may believe I am very inaccurate and misstate facts, that I presume largely on the ignorance of your readeis (good), that I have not been accustomed to "base my conclusions on facts'' (this is really too rich!) and that, finally, your correspondents R. & Z. know infinitely more about what I have written upon than I do myself. Into their hands therefore, I humbly resign the continuation of Pastoral Agriculture. Let me do justice, however, to the discoveries of these eminently amusing if not instructive writers and profound reasoners ; they are as follows : 1. That as land, requiring £2 an acre to crop, will pay very well, therefore land wanting £8 for the same purpose should also do the same. 2. That the gentlemen settlers in the Hutt are quite mistaken in thinking they are not making fortunes by arable farming. ,3. That as cattle thrive "remarkably well" on fern and flax, all statements which deny this are "utterly at variance with fact" — in other words, are most abominable falsehoods. 4. That natural pastures always improve, hecause cattle " select the leaves of grasses, leaving the flowers untouched." 5. That the common fern can be eradicated without ploughing. These "facts" I shall never more presume to question, at least in the columns of the Spectator. Your paper, indeed, will share in the honor of their promulgation, and will be referred to hereafter as shewing the high state ofknowledge we possessed on pastoral farming. But why does your correspondent veil his talents under a simple letter? Is he a "late" member of the defunct Agiicultural Society ? or a philosophic agent? — an erudite official? or is he a worshipful dealer in flax, the commodity he so much extols? For whom, among our nobt will Z. stand for ? Lost in conjecture, I recollected the old nursery alphabet, which concludes with the following couplet : -" Y. Was a youth, who hated a school, Z. Was a Zany, and looked like a fool." The two characters combined seem to suit the nature of Z.s letter particularly well. And now to be serious. If I have administered the lash somewhat sharply, I think every honest man will say it has been well applied. But I have not yet done with this audacious falsifier of facts. There are a set of rogues in England who live upon the public, and take in the uuwary, by putting off unsound horses, and worthless goods. Hence they have got the name of chanters. Some of this fraternity have found their way to New Zealand. But, as they exercise their vocation by puffing land, instead of horses, w-e may call them land chanters. These are the ye» racious guides, who, as in the cases I have now brought forwaid, persuade the ignorant to rent fern and flax land for " capital runs." Who

have the effrontery to deny the very statements of the settlers themselves, that arable farming on forest land is a ruinous game — who chant the "fertile soil" on the clay hills of Karori anfl the Porirua road, land that would not he worth, in fee simple, five shillings an acre, hut for its timher. These are the men, in short, who either from culpable ignorance or detestable selfishness lead the newly arrived settler to vuin, by inducing him to spend his money in worthless undertakings. Their object is to let or sell their own or their employers' lands, and if this object is gained, they care not what follows. Many are the settlers I know of, who already have been led into ruin by these land chanters. But this is only a part of the system of deception hitherto pursued in this unfortunate colony. * Happily, a death-blow has been strftck at the moving power at home, and with a giant's force. The minor ramifications, of which land chanting is but one, will soon follow. A few exposures, such as this, will put the pußlic on their guard. Falsehood may skulk under anonymous signatures, but an honest man who comes forward under his own name will always be respected, because that name would be consigned to contempt, if it was affixed to a tissue of deliberate distortions of truth. I remain, your's, &c, Wm. Swainson. P. S. I must apologize for the length of this long letter; but as I shall neither read, much less answer, any reply it may occasion, you need not fear the infliction will be repeated.