MR. BATEMAN'S LECTURE ON FARMERS' CO-OPERATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 16 December 1880, Page 2

MR. BATEMAN'S LECTURE ON FARMERS' CO-OPERATION.

With respect to the very important question of the cost of production, Mr. Dalrymple furnished to the members of it. Royal Commission, who visited his farm from England, the following figures :—Land valued at 12 dols., or 4Ss per acre; cost of producing one acre of wheat yielding 20 bushels, and delivering the same at railway station :—• £ s. d. Interest on 4Ss value per acre of land, at 6 per cent ... ... 0 3 2 Taxes and rates per acre 0 0 , r > Buildings, machinery, and teams valued at 10 dols., or 40s per acre, at 10 per cent 0 0 5 Ploughing, per acre ... ... 0 12 0 Seed, 1?J bushels, per acre ... 0 (5 0 Harvesting and threshing per aero 0 12 0 Total cost per acre of 20 bushels of wheat ... 1 13 0 Mr. Dalrymple therefore produces one acre of wheat for less than 8J dols., or 345. For four years his yield has averaged 20 bushels per acre ; on the basis of the above his wheat would not cost 43 cents, or Is Did per bushel. On his farm, and on similar wheat growing farms, he asserts that the crop does not in favored seasons cost mor than 35 cents per bushel, which is equal to Is s id per bushel. The wheat is readily sold at the railway station adjoining his farm at 76 cents to SO cents per bushel, so. that \vheat growing pays over cent per cent, if sold at even 70 cents, or 2s lid per bushel. Another very important quostioiii now arises,—can this land in Amorioa stilt continue cropping with suoh profitable returns ? In reply the following is in efFect the answer from impartial! judges : —No symptoms of deterioration are yet apparont. The land is clean ; neither twitoli, thistles, nor docks appear. The, ohief weeds aro wild cotton, bam grass, a sorrel with a yellow flower, and the Michaelmas daisies. The manure made from the stables lies about in heaps, which it is not yet thought worth while to apply. Excepting the small quantity of straw used for .littering tho animals, the whole produce of the 20,000 acres is burnt. Tho spots on 'which these heaps burn show no obvious; difference from the rest of the field, indicating that the unassisted soil contains phosphates arid potash sufficient to grow full crops. Ho.w long the continuous corn-grow-ing can, be profitably continued is somewhat difficult to fortell. On similarly good land in various parts of the country, fields avo pointed out from which, without any restorative treatment, 10 consecutive crops of whea have been reaped, and neither quantity nur quality as yet undergoes obvious,diminution, Mr. Dalrymple is, liowovw. too prudent a farmer to draw too long or deeply on tho resources of his land. By ploughing year after year ay inch deeper he brings up fresh plant food ; by growing, at intervals prolyibly of four years, as he proposes doing, a. crop of clover, rolling it down and ploughing it in, he intends chiefly to luaintain fertility. By these means, an,d by selection and change of seed, as well as by an occasional crop of c.at'a or- barley, Mr. Dalrymple's superior management will doubtless secure a continue a nee of good crops for many years. I'mn hiss farm he now has produced 400,00 ft bushels of wheat in one season, which ia equal to one-fifth of the total wheat export:; from the ports of Lyttelton and Timaru for lS7i), or equal to one-sixth of those for this, year ending June last! It is estimated that there are single farms in America calculated! to produce «,000,000 bushels of wheat, annuallv.

In the wheat-growing districts of California farming is carried on upon u largo scale. The cost of producing wneat is estimated by practical men at :'.9s yet - acre, or last per quarter, on an avorsvyo crop of 20 hn§hels per acre ; or, say )s lid per bushel. The cost of delivery at the ports of shipment vary accovdtng 'o distance. From Chicago ta English ports during some part of year IS7S the rate for conveying wheat was Is Sd per bushel. This includes over 900 miles of inland carriage, for which the i-ata varied. As low as 4Jd per bushel, wag oharged in 187 S. One high authority pnts down the through freight from tho. Redj ilivev Valley, which in now opened up by; railway for a distance of about 5,0il mi lea iv, connection with Chicago to Liverpool, atj only 13s per quarter, or Is 7'£d per biisliei; and, moreover, declares thai "wheat can bo landed in Liverpool at 32s 6d per quarter, at the same time giving fail" returns to the American wheat grower. Ja many parts of the United States tho agricultural land of an almost unlimited tent does not in many places exceed the dig* tanoe of ten miles from a railway ©j?. navigable, stream, and the farmer can deliver his wheat, at the port of shipment for- 2Cs per quarter,, or 3s 3d per bushel, leaving him a pro Jit oi\ the cost qf production,. The ratea of jfceigbts,, as bat ore stated, and in soi,njo instances wiled this season fyom the. west coast ports abput aa high aa those from tho. Australasian colonies to England. On the oast coast of America the rates of freights are much Jfc appears from the brief facts as some of whioh have been taken Tjhat high authority The Times, tnafc you v. com-, petitors, tlie Americans, cav\ well afford to. produce wheat to be landed in England at. 40s per imperial quarter, or 5s per bushel, and realise remunerative returns. Turning nearer home, the cost of wheat, production in South Australia will be sub-, in'tied, and as the particulars have been proemvd from evidence of the very highest, standing, the expenses are undoubted. The estimated cost will be reckoned upon an. average yield of ten bushels per acre. Tho, wheat-growing land is taken as being situated at ten miles distant from a railway station* the latter being forty miles from a good and safe shipping part,. Cost of producing 1 aero of wheat Cost yielding 10 bushels. per acre. s. d. Rest per aore 3 0 Ploughing, four horses with 3-furrow plough 3 6 Seed, one bushel ... ... 4 0 Sowing .by hand and steeping ... 0 6 Harrowing ... ... ... ..., 1 O Rolling ~ ... 10 Stripping and threshing 3 6 Winnowing and bagging fit for market at 20s per 100 bushels.., 2 I Carting from farm to railway station iat 5s per ton ... 1 G Railway charges 3 4

19 5 Say 20s for producing 10 bushels of wheat, I including delivery at shipping ports, or 2s. por bushel. The land is cropped with successive wheat crops, the straw being burnt, as it is left after the stripper. The South Australian farmer is satisfied, and considers: if he gets an average of 10 bushels of . wheat; to, the acre and can sell at 4s perbushely, that wheat growing pays him well; and„ moreover, with respect to wheat producing and with an ordinary freight to England «>/ less than Is per bushel* one may consider him about on a par with. tb.e American. One gentleman, who has taken a leading position, and who is connected with the agriculturists in South Australia, estimates that within

the distance of 100 miles from the seaboard, that that Colony i 3 fnlly capable of export--sntt annually 1,000,000 tons of wheat. (To be. continued.)