AGRICULTURE.

Southland Times, Issue 698, 19 July 1867, Page 6

AGRICULTURE.

— In a previous article on "Agricultural Expansion," we endeavored to snow that' the time had come when the farming community 'should do something more than sow and reap, to ensure arid •ultimate prosperity.- The views we then 'advanced have been ' strengthened by, recent ladvices 'from /Britain arid the ; neighboring coloiiies: The of grain exportation to Europe is now'commanding much attention, in Victoria, and the recent news from home as to the existing' : state of its- grain markets has given an impetus to the export movement of a most healthy character. In every quarter evidence is being accumulated of the capability of the colonies opening up a most profitable produce trade with England. In fact, it is now almost beyond a doubt that the Australian colonies can calculate upon finding a profitable market for all they can 3upply for many years to come. The Age, 14th June, in an article upon this subject, alluding to the home market reports, has a leading article highly favorable to , the importation of colonial grain, and as evidence of the. probable high prices likely to be obtained for sound wheat for some time, gays '.__" An American correspondent ,of the same journal (Mark Lane Express,) writing from Kansas,- supplies further information of an interesting character • "but it is necessary to remember that his ! remarks refer only to a comparatively j limited portion of the States. ' With j flour, (says this authority) ' at 16 dollars j per barrel, and best wheat Tanging over j 3 dollars per bushel, the wheat prospects foir the ensuing season must be a matter of interest to all parties here, and it may be with your readers also. As far, however, as Kansas is concerned, the crop of fall wheat for 1867 must be very Binail. A,, raid of grasshoppers or locusts arrived here in the autumn, just as seeding time was over, and destroyed the whole of the wheat in this State, and ■went ' East twenty ■or forty miles over the line, into Missouri. The destruction was total — not a blade left in one hundred miles. However, a few patches were resown in early v? inter ; but it is impossible to conjecture, with aiiy semblance of truth, what it may' come to. $ha; whole face of the country is filledwithi.their, .larvse or eggs ; therefore if they,; duly- mature, the whole country hereabouts is - doomed. After ten years' ' experience I have cpine to the conclusion that wheat-growing in Kanaa»-, is ' an ; uncertain business, notwithstanding- new lands or cheap lands. The ; rust," freezing out, the fly, and storms df a 'Bemi-trbpical character about harvest time^ are some of the unfortunate peculisuritiea, of climate. These negatives -put the aggregate average below ten bushels per acre.' The fact "is, the whole of this, ■western" prairie region is, in one word, ttn^endly to the growth of. wheat. .The adjanantine winters are too terrible for its existence without a covering of sdow —-that is, winter wheat. i: . This important feet j^vill soon be established.' /This irir telligence, coupled with private, advices, nad the effect of .raising the , price of wheat in Victoria, Sou^h Australia; and Tasniaiiiai the demand for/ export, itl-_ though late in .the' season, ; being suffix ciently ' extensive to ggi v e; stability. to:< the market, arid remove the doubts : that had Tisen.as tothe possibility of finding an outlet for the surplus stock (hat it was ascertained had accumulated in' Australia, arid nsiany of the provinces of New Zealand. X^iis^eyidjent that the low price that is now- being I given f° r farm produce in Southland^ is calculated deaden the energies of the agriculturist's of the protincej and probably contract the sowing Operations of rthe season. It is to be lipped- that such will not be the ease — there is no legetimate cause for despondency. The ball is at our foot, but the difficulty is to keep it rolling. The average crops of the. Agricultural districts of : this province are more than double those of the Australian colonies. It' cannot be; denied that New Zealand grain to be fit for exportation, requires greater care in preparation than that of Australia^ The humidity of the climate is i highly detrimental to preservation/ and in order to place a good article on' the Hortie" Market, kiin-drying is almost indispensible" .On this subject we cannot more forcibly express our views than 1 by quoting from a writer in the "Canter-bury-Times," [(Mr Moorhouse.) -He Bays :— " If we determine to try the English market we ought to adopt every security that the export of what might eventually be a great export be not destroyed in its infancy by injudicious handling. In fact, the greatest possible care should be taken to .guard th c credit of the Province as a wheat exporting, country! This is best to be done by establishing- a company with sufficient capital and ' mercantile credit to .undertake the entire ■.responsibility of/ preparing, shipping, and stowing the wfieat." Pew will question the results to the. farmer of such an organisation. It is patent that farming in Southland will pay, <; and pay better than in any other province of New Zealand, Or the Australian" Golonies ; proyided that internal communication can be secured, arid com-

mercial enterprise enlisted,: to -facilitate I the shipment to 'a distant market of farm ; produced . The above writer, in advocating, the formation iof a. company: to this end,; ■urges strongly the necessity of a;fieasori-| ingpf all wheat intendedfor exportation. The. article is d ably ". written^ ■ arid wej understand rthat Mr. rMooxhouse ;has = i lelt ■ •no.r stones unturned to obtain the fullest j information- possible, on, the.: question.; "We. again quote :— 'yiFifty or more plans '| are in existence for drying and cooling ■ wheat in a very short time; and I am well assured that: the expense of putting, the wheat through the process would not he more than 3d. per bushel. Further, that one establishment, costing, I am told, about £10,000, would easily, and with very little : labor, prepare 500,000 bushels ia the season of four months.. Taking the, very low average of twenty bushels the acre, this would' dispose of 25,000 acres of crop. The export of 500,000 bushels or 62,500 quarters, would not be felt as a very serious material increase to the supply of the London market ; but it would be a very ■• great fact for the- Canterbury farmer." Taking this as a fair estimate; by the establishment,, of a Grain Exporting Company with half the specified capital, the Southland farmer could calculate with almost a certainty upon obtaining for j his ; wheat at least twenty-five per cent, more than he can now get. Taking a low average, sound grain will command a sale in London that. will leave the grower at least five and .sixpence per bushel, deducting all costs of freight, commissions, and. the three-pence, estimated as the cost of drying,; while at the present | time four shillings a bushel is about the highest price obtainable. It is as much on commercial enterprise as agricultural industry that the future of the Province depends. Let the two classes co-operate to make united industry an institution; and thousands of immigrants from the home country would at once find profitable employment; the expenses of living would be largely diminished, while the producer would reap a deserved reward for his persevering labors. Is -there not sufficient capital or enterprise in this Province to form an association ■ of the class to which we have alluded ? I Is it not possible to form a .grain exporting company," with say ,£5,000 . capital in £5 shares ? „We think if- us. .If the project was taken up with the spirit that is being evinced in Canterbury, 1 :by both -.the producing' and , trading; com-, munity, success must follows The >coj operative organisation, should r not be confined to grain. We cannot more strongly advocate the "course we believe j should be pursued in Southlandtharibyen- ; . dorsingtheremarks of theabdve-mferitibned^ writer, believing them^ to be applicable: •to the province.' He says :-— " We are now j i growing, and are for many year 3 likely to j ■ grow, more than we can' consume ; that j vve are, in fact, henceforth mainly de- I |pendent on exportation, and that if the i whole ; Province, merchants, bankers, squatters, farmers, shopkeepers, artizaris, land laborers do not help to organise a ;plan for the safe launching of; young lexports, the growth of these exports will if ail,' arid = stagnation x-and poverty follow L ;as a matterof course. ■ 'Can we not see in ieveryT- Bhip^s manifest- of- cargo from pErigland, cheese, bacon, hams, _ and oc-. casiorially." even butter, to say nothing | ■of ; malt liquors, arid a dozen commodities we ought? to be producing for ourselves ?'- r Surely it is impossible not to deduce' from such facts the conclusion that it is high time we bestirred ourselves. If we all contribute a little towards some scheme similar in its scope and purposes to "the one I have hurriedly i sketched/each one will be consulting his own benefit." . .