THE FARM.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 981, 11 June 1879, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE FARM.

A. FEW HINTS ON FARMING OPERATIONS.

In another portion of onr present issw wo give a review of a very U3efnl pnb Iteration by Mr. Abraham Lincolnc, o Melbourne, entitled " The Farm and tm Selection," a small bat very complete volatile intended as a guide and com pitnion to amateur farmers. The information which this little work contains 1: if a useful nature, ami we purpose givm; i few extracts from it thzt may provt itlv»nt»s*eon3 to many of or.r renders ■aking such items as may be seasonab.e is follow : Soon after harvest, wccd3 and crasi will cover nearly all the paddocks, and ll »ni;ht not to be forgotten that these bolt ?xbaust the paddocks almost as much r.i ;rain ; for this reason the sooner ih« icarifier or plough is set to _ work th« letter. Where the surface is foul anc ;overed with weed-seeds ready to star 1 oio existence, the scarifier or heavj narrow is best to use in the first instance it this time many fanners scatter a few iurnip seeds or buckwheat, to be eithei fed otF or plonghed in, later in tho ram nt r. There are very few farms to which i few acres o! late summer feed are no irery welcome. If the stubbles be clean ifcim-ploughing should be done aa soon as ;he crop is carted. A double-furrow plough, " set" only two inchrs deep, car i>e easily worked direcCly after harvest md ancb newly turned-tip land, if ex 3oac3 for a couple of months, become; inetlow and sweet, and receives as mticl benefit as if half * c° 3t of manure hac been pot on it. This is ihe best systen if culture which can be adopted foi ifcabbles, especially upon land which hai been cropped a few years. _ _ Ploughing early is ono of the pnncipa reforms the colonial farmer needs t< practice. Early ploughing banishes weeds »nct weeds are the greatest foes to agri snltnre ; they not only choke tho crops imt they absorb the nutriment destinet tor the production of the latter. For tin iestrwetion of root-weeds early aw'.umr sloughing is particularly effective, and sow that wc have double-furrow ploughs jasily worked, and cultivators speedy in their operation, farmers have but little ?xcnae for foul paddocks; A modern writer says of ploughing" One acre, sloughed early, deeply, and well cultiratea, will produce nearly double what iwo acres will, if the latter be almllowjlonghed and neglected." This remark tpplies particularly to semi-tropical clinates. ■ . To let the,air down deep into the sou aid the subsoil, to aerate, sweeten, and mrich them, to increase the quantity of rfanl-food, and the grazing-ground, so to [peak of the rootsto enlarge th& soil'B

capacity for the retention of moisture, and so avoid, to a great .extent, the destructive influences of hot winds. This is deep cultivation, and must be the theory for the "Victorian farmer to follow. The early, dry, and deep cultivation of the soil are most important operations towards commanding success in the growth of cereals or any other crop. What is meant by deep cultivation is moving and breaking up the undersoil without bringing it to the surface. The subaoiling may be accomplished by following in the furrow after an ordinary plough with a plough from which the mould-board has been removed, thus loosening the subsoil to a depth of six or eight inches without bringing it up. Before subsoiling, however, it is best to drain the land, for the presence of stagnant water in the soil is as injurious to crops as a drought. Stagnant water is injurious in all seasons, and most of all in dry ones. Deep cultivation will do much towards enabling land to contain a much larger quantity of moisture properly diffused throughout the soil, but it will not d:> away with the necessity for drainage. Water enters largely into the growth of plants, and is the only means of conveying nourishment from the soil info them ; the roots can absorb liquid substances only, with whatever may be dissolved therein ; hence all matter in the soil must be dissolved before it can be Appropriated ; to bring it into this s'ate, air and heat must be readily admitted, and the presence of free wator should at all i ime3 be prevented ; this can only be done by causing the water to sink perpendicularly beyond the limits of the disturbed soil. Of course, drainago is an expensive operation, but it c.in be effectively done at a much less co3t were other materials than pipes used. At this very time there are under-drains, freely running, which were sunk 20 years since and filled with tea-tree scrub, stone 3 being laid upon a layer of scrub to within eight inches of the surface. Lot stockowners bear thi3 in miud, that 10 acres of artificial grasses upon well-drained land will yield more and better food than 50 acres of undrained, uncared-for grass land.

THE SIZE OF FARMS. The subjoined interesting paper was read by Mr. John M'lntyre at a meeting of the Western District Farmers' Olub :

Few agricultural subjects occasion more controversy than that of the proper size of farms. There can be no doubt but that largo farms admit of the most economical and scientific management, and atford the largest scope for improvements. It is also a noticeable fact that many of the early settlera of this colony are of opinion that unless their holdings measure By miles or their acres by the thousand that farming cannot be a profitable occupation. Th-.-fallacy of this in the eye of the practical farmer is very great. Any attempt, however, to limit the siz-j of farms would not only be vain but injurious. The interests of society demand that the fullest scope should be afforded to the industry of every man, bo his means what they may. Whether equal to the cultivation of one hundred acres or of a thousand, room should be left for his exertions. It is, however, generally found that from three hundred to five hundred acres of tillage, with a fair proportion of meadow, and of a medium soil, are sufficient to occupy the most experienced husbandman, and besides that the quantity of lmd, which in large holdings must necessarily lie at p.n inconvenient distance; from the homestead. occasions a proportionate waste of labor. Much no doubt depends upon the nature of the land and on the ability and attention of the man ; but in any case, if he takes m«re land than he can himself superintend, he is rather io be considered as an agricultural speculator than a 8 a farmer, and it miu'ht be often advantageously borne in nifnd ihat if "fifty acres malce many a pauper " a farm of a thousand makes many a bankrupt. One of the drawbacks we staffer.from ;« {.he'want of capital. farm-.-rs arc anxious for hivjo atu l many are thus betrayed into the error of buying or renting a greater quantity of land than they have the means of managing to advantage ; some in the delusive lmpo of acquiiing those means by/mure savings, and others from the vanity of holding more laml than their neighbors. Hence arises deficiency of stock, imperfect tillage, and scanty crops, with all the consequent train or expenses and unsatisfied debts. Whereas hj? who is prudently content to commence with only such a number of acres as he iias the power of cultivating with proper effect is certain of obtaining the full returu from the soil—hi% engagements are within hi 3 means—and thus while enjoying | present ease of mind he lays tiie suresi foundation for future prosperity. There is no mistake so common or injurious as that of supposing the more land a man holds the greater must bo his gains, for the profit does not arise from the land itself but from the manner of using it. The best soil may be made unproductive by bad management, while the worst may be rendered profitable by the opposite course, but without sufficient capital no land can be properly cultivated. There is nothing to which money can be applied with greater certainty of a fair return for its liberal expenditure when correctly employed than land, but on the other hand thera is nothing more ruinous when the oapital is either insufficient or injudiciously l«id out. In fact, assuming I always that the expenditure is directed with judgment, it will be found that the profit upon the outlay increases in more than a proportionate degree toTts amount. Thus, supposing that five pounds be the i lowest, and ten the highest that cm be employed in the cultivation of the same acre of ground, it is more than- probable that if the five pounds return at the rate of ten per cent., the ten will yield twenty and so on in proportion. Now admitting this to be truo, and it is presumed that no experienced agriculturist will doubt it, it follows that £IOOO expended in the cultivation of 200 acrfes will only yield a profit of £IOO, while if applied to no more than 100 acres it will give a profit of £2OO. Therefore, although a farmer of limited capital may not be driven to the extremity already supposed, and although he may be able to carry on his business with a certain degree of advantage, it is yet evident that his profit would be increased by diminishing the quantity , of his land. 1 Many a one has been ruined by a large ! farm who might have acquired a comI itetency with one of half the size, therefore behoves a man to weigh well the charges with his means, and not allow himself to' bo seduced by any ideal prospect into the imprudence bf enteripg on a larger farm than his means will enable him to manage with the spirit necessary to insure success. It is quite manifest that the more cattle and sheep that are well maintained upon any given space of ground the better it will be manured/ Therefore if two farmers each possess the same quantity of land and devote the same portion of it to grain, he who can support the most live stock will not only realise the customary profit on that stock but will also grow the most grain. It is only by the union of feeding with tillage that land can be retained in a high degree of fertility. Were the system more generally adopted (especially on all pqor soils) of laying down a considerable part in gras3 there can be no doubt that if again broken up its productive powers would be found increased through the ameliorating effects of pasturage and rest. While the gross produce would be thereby increased, it would so far diminish the expenses of labor, as in many cases to counterbalance the cost of the stock. The farmer who has the discernment to make some of the various branches of grazing an'essential 1 part of 'his business;' and thua'nurses: a > t portion n>f -hia land, preserves-' the-tillage

in constant heart without the additional manure ; and although the gross amount of corn may be less than if more'ground I were under the plough, yet the produce per acre will certainly be larger, and the deficiency will be more than made up by the number of fat stock. He also divides his risk, so that in the event of a bad harvest the loss on his crops will probably be reimbursed by the profit on his cattle. It is a common observation that graziers and dairymen are the best off in this country, to which it may be added that the bane of all necessitous farmers and the ruin of land are understocking and over-cropping.

EXPERIENCE WITH SEED POTATOES. (From the New York Tribune.) As potatoes have same years been riuite scarce and dear. I have planted small ones, and the result convinced me that all the widely varied experience in the matter reported by different farmers was owing more to other circumstances than to the size of the seed. And when a farmer tells me that his crop from small potatoes grew and yielded the best I almost invariably find that when he planted it was a very hot, dry time, generally rather late in the season ;_a!so that his large potatoes, cut a few days before planting, had dried up more or less, and were put into dry ground, and if dry weather continued there would not be vitality enough left in the cut seed to overcome all these adverse conditions, but the gpowth would be materially checked for the season ; while the small seed, not being, cut, retained its moistnre, and the warm soil favored speedy germination and growth, so that the cv >p. from small seed proved better than thao liom the cut.. But my observation has been

tliat when all the conditions for both are equally favorable the cut seed from large potatoes yields 8 to '3O : pter cent, hetter tl»m small ones planted'whole. Again, one will plant small potatoes too thick and too many in' a' Kill, thinking, they are so small and cheap that he will use enougli of them ; while' his neighbor, judging more correctly of the. growth they, will make, will plant them as far apart as he usually does better seed of" - the same variety, and put only one small potato in a hill. The result will be the latter will have n fair field of fair-siged potatoes, with perhaps twioe as many little ones as from large seed, whilst the first only gets a lighter yield of nearly.all small potatoes. So the product in either case would seem to be largely dependent "on management. I believe it will answer occasionally to plant small potatoes for a crop ; but when Idoit lam particular to get such'as were well ripened, and only use the largest of those too small to cut j mark the part of the field they are planted in, an'd be sure at digging time that their product is all sent to market, and that the seed for next year is saved from where the best seed n-as planted, and of those matured the best.

SMALL FARMS. The impression widely current that money cannot be made on a small farm that in farming the great fish eat up the little ones—is, said Horace Greely in the New York Tribune, deduced from very imperfect data. I have admitted that grain and beef can usually be produced at less cost on great than on small farms, though the rule is not without exception. I only insist that there are room and hope for the small farmer also, and that largefarming c.in never absorb nor enable us (o dispense wilh small farms. 1. And first with regard to fruit. Some tree-fruits, as well as grapes, are grown on a large scale in California—it is said with profit. T?ut nearly all our pears, apples, cherries, plums, i&c., are grown by suian farmers or gardeners, and are not likely to be crown otherwise. All of them need at. particular seasons a personal attention and a vigilance which can seldom or never be accorded by the owners or renters of laree farms. Should small farms be generally absorbed into large, our fruitculture would thenceforth steadily decline. 2. The same is even more true of the production of eggs and the rearing of fowls. I have had knowledge of several attempts at producing egg 3 and fowls on a large scale in this country, but I have no trustworthy account of a single decided success in such an enterprise. On the contrary, many attempts to multiply fowls by thousands have broken down just when i success seemed secure. Some contagious

disease, some unforseen disaster, blasted : the sanguine expectations of the experimenter, and transmuted his gold into dross. Yet, I judge there is no industry more capable of indefinite extension, under judicious management, with fair returns, than fowl-breeding on a moderate scale. E' f i:3 and chicken are in universal demand. They are luxuries appreciated alike by rich and poor ; and they might be doubled in quantity without materially depressing the market. Our thronged and fashionable watering-places are never, adequately supplied with them ; our cities habitually take all they can get, and look around for more. I believe that Wice the largest number of chickens ever yet produced in one year might be reared in the next, with profit to the breeders. Even if others should fail, the home market found in each family would prove signally elastic of reception. This industry should especially commend itself to poor widows struggling to retain and rear their.children in frugal independence. A widow who, in the neighborhood of a city or of a manufacturing village, can rent a- cottage with half an acre of southward r sloping, sunny land, which she may fence so tightly as to confine her hens within, whenever their | roaming abroad would injure or annoy her neighbors, and who can- I ;incur-the expense of constiucting thereon a warm, commodious hen-house, may almost certainly make the production, of eggs and fowls a source of continuous profit. If she can obtain cheaply the refuse of a slaughterhouse for feed, giving with it meal or grain in moderate quantities, and according that Constant personal intelligent supervision, without which fowl-breeding rarely prospers, she may reasonably expect it to. pay, while affording her ap employment. not subj.ect to the caprice of an employer, and not requiring her to spend heir days away from home.

SHORTHORNS AND HEREFORDS.

A Hereford critic thus discourses in the Hereford Tirnc3 on the merit of' the two: breeds, as exhibited and estimated at Liverpool:—3 Tar' be it from me to disparage the usefulness of the Royal -Agricultural Society. : Its existence, no doubt, is not only of immense benefit, but of vital consequence to* the agricultural interest; but I must beg to be excused from feeling any. admiration of its fliinkeyisna in devoting such.au overwhelming share of its patronage to a breed of cattle which is not in the strict sense of the term "English," but "Dutch," Surely the the Royal Agricultural Society of England, formed, in so far as the'breed of cattle is involved, to improve and foster the breeds of English cattle, should look a little more to.home, and not award their,chief patronI age to an alien .blood. : There is,an old saying that we cannot account for tastey and' by the same rule I opine we i cannot Account, for fancy.'ThefHereford3 are for the most part of a uniform: color—a rich dark red> with white faces. ? The shorthorns aire of variegated hues, like Chinese lanterns ; but, with all their rainbow tints, I will presently attempt to show that they ■ are not only .less, ornamental; but less usefularid lessYeait-pa£ing> If the short'hom and ; Hereford winniers ; at" the late Bh6^ : out ind placed side

by side, no judge could have doubted for a moment which breed exceeded the other in trueness of shape, symmetrical beauty, scale, and quality of flesh.

SHEEP IN" CONNECTION WITH WHEAT RAISING. The value of sheep in connection with wheat raising, says the Williamette Farmer, is too well established to need argument, but we hear of instances so directly in point that we cannot do our farmer readers a greater service than to mention them. John Pugli had a piece of fall wheat that promised largely and yet he was advised to put his sheep on it, which he concluded not to do. The wheat grew remarkably, there was heavy straw and the yield was twenty bushels per aqro. It is evident that the sheep would have cropped down the heavy growth, added richness to the soil, and insured less straw and double the amount of wheat, or aleast a much heavier yield. So he thinks, and no doubt correctl}'. W. J. Herren tells us of a case over in Polk county, near Bethel, where two neighbors had fields of wheat on similar soil, and in all respects, but one, wjfch cultivation. One— Mr. Keyte—last spring put sheep on his wheat and let them crop it quite close. Some of his neighbors predicted that it was ruined, but he realised 61 busluls to the acre, while his neighbor who let the first rank growth mature got only half the yield. Dau Clark, near Salem, lias a small field that was in potatoes, find as the growth was rank last spring lie let hogs and stock run on it unlii the wheat seemed almost exterminated. It was his intention to resow it, but as other work claimed his attention be deferred it until it appeared that there would be wheat enough come up. The result is that it is the best wheat he has. It is evidently Unve that good wheat farming eannqfc be done without sheep, for their utility on summer-fallow is beyond question.

DISSOLVING BONES FOR MANURE. The following hints quoted from the Turf, Field, and Farm, may prove useful to many of our readers: — While experimenting at the farm we have h;t up-ln a oheap plan of manufacturing super-phosphate of lime, which not only saves a large outlay each year, but converts a lot of heretofore useless and unsightly trash—such as dead animals, bones, offal, &c.—into one of the best fertilisers known. The plan we adopted is as follows : f, large cask, put 2001b. of water in it, then add, slowly and cautiously, onehalf this amount of pure sulphuric acid, and great care and diligence must be used in handling this acid, not to let it touch the skin or clothing, as it will instantly blacken the skin and destroy the clothing, wherever it comes in contact, and when the two elements (water and sulphuric acid) meet there is what is called a chemical affinity, and a very intense heat is thereby engendered. When you have this mixture, throw in the same number of pounds of bones as you have of water, or twice the number that you have of the acid. Keep those proportions in mind, for they are just about the proper ones, and if much deviation is made poor success may aiid doubtless will follow.

The acid, as soon as it comes in contact with the bones, attacks ar.d enters into combination with them, reducing them to a pasty consistence, and completely absorbing every particle of the whole batch. Keep the " me3s : ' under cover, and turn it over occasionally while the process of assimilation is going on, and, wheu completed, dump the whole business on the barn floor or on a platform of boards, and work into the mass, thoroughly, four times Its UWlv. aij/ vug - dust; mix and pulverise completely with a wooden shovel. This dry earth acts as an absorbent or drier, retaining the fertilising properties of the compound, and rendering it easy of uniform distribution. If whole bones are used it will take six or eight weeks to dissolve them, but they will succumb after this if the acid is pure. If the bones are broken up into small pieces they will dissolve in two or three weeks, depending upon the size of the pieces ; while if they are ground up fiue two or three days will accomplish the

This manure is the most powerful fertiliser in existence, and when made according to directions it is the cheapest, one ton being equal, by nctur.l experiment, to 32 tons of farmyard manure. For topdressing grass-lands, use 300ib. per acre ; for corn, potatoes, beims, turnips, &c.. apply 4501b. per acre in the drill, mixing with the soil ; for wheat, rye, oats, or barley, 4001b. per acre, and harrow in with the seed ; for buckwheat, 2001b. per acre. A good time to make this phosphate is wlien°sufficient material can be obtained to make up a batch ; then barrel and keep ready for use when wanted. It would not be a bad plan to have Bome in process of manufacture all the while. It will clear the place of old bones, carcases, &c., and a lot of the best manure known will be on hand, ready for use every time. Try this plan. '

AUSTRALIA AND CALIFORNIA.

(California Fanner.) The rapidly increasing intercourse between Australia and. this country, especially between Australia and the Pacific Qoast, is constantly revealing the new and valuable products of. both countries to each other, and by a kindly .exchange of seeds, plants, birds, fish, , and other valuable products, both countries will be largely the trainer. It should be • not only the duty but the pleasure of. all our business men and citizens generally to do all in their power to promote this intercourse arid exchange of products, we are glad to note that we have so many persons _ah*e«dy enlisted in this goodly work, . Major It. jB. Redding, president of the Fish.: Commission, has done ft very great work in introducing salmon, and. other classes of fish, with quail and other birds into Austrulia. Hugh Craig. Esq., of the; New Zealand Insurance Company,, has done most excellent service also, and both these gentlemen have received due notice on the other side for the good they have done. In return for this, we on this iidc tne waters have also received fish, bird«, plants and seeds, all of- greaV yftlue, *ud many new and rare kinds. Major, Heading has received eggsoffi.sh,rand birds for acclimatizing' here., Mr. Craig h*s received the new " English pheasant'!-with its bright plumage,, and birds of rare kind. We are indebted personally to Mr. Craig for the seed .of the " kowhai," ; a fine forest tree bearing bright yellow blossoms, a new variety here, also, : plants of other kinds, we shall duly test by growth and report. Our citizens all should be mora interested in the products and the trade of Australia—for it is : indeed a wonderfuily rich country for agriculture; and mineral wealth, and destined to greatly enrich this coast .by her .trade.. Baron Ferd, \on Mueller, the truly distinguished botanist, of Melbourne, has given a quarter of a century of earnest and devoted labor to the development of the. extraordinary rich botany of Australia ; his, publications have been of great value to that country, and his Government: owe him. a; rich reward for his invaluable .researches and 'labbrs ; for, the. best-part of his life. The trade, is now rapidly growing, up for this coast, our. steamships inake quick and easy, trips, from 24 to 27 days to Sydney, passage and freight now reasonable, the very ; able. agent, H, B. Williams,, Esq.* is working nobly for the cause of a more widely extended intercourse, and. does aU ia .lus power-to advance the interest of , our merchants and; the business community, at large. \

A NOVELTY IN CATTLE SHOWYARD JUDGING. (North British Agriculturist.) For pouio't-ime back there lias been a glowing feeling in certain quarters in favor of a, change'in tho system of judging live stock ill tho show-yard. Pevernl pe-pl-.' who have given the subject o.;refni cn--5 sideraiion maintain that, the of one good man would in many cases be. better than those of three—the number usually appointed, it is true that with only one man in of!ice the awards would not be the result of that happy blending of ideas and opinions, to secure which is doubtless the aim and object of society's who nominate three men for the work. While theoretically this is the case, it is well known that practically the decisions of a tiio are often after all traci-able to <>ne member of the adjudicating body. At present, therefore, though the work is some; iiues pmc ic-illy tho outcome. of one individual, the responsibility is shared by

Wo consider thai (.h©2>o in force in the arguments of those who advocate undivided responsibility in the matter of making awards and so wo approve of giving a fair and full trial to the system of appointing only one good man. We here therefore with pleasure that the now arrangement is io be put to a practical test by au energeiic Dumfriesshire Society April. At the annual meeting of the Sanquhar Farmers' Society, held on Friday last, it was moved that only one gentleman should be invi.'cA to net ns. judge in each class or section of stock, instead of three as formerly. The "previous question" having been also moved, a'good deal of digaussion tuok place, with the result that the motion for the single judge was carried by a considerable majority. The new system is to be applied to the judging of cattle, horses, and sheep; and its operation will doubtless be watched with much interest.