ON THE LAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 7, 30 March 1927, Page 7

ON THE LAND

SARCASTIC FARMERS IMMIGRANTS AND WORK Indignation was expressed by several Manawatu farmers interviewed the other day regarding the published complaints of two lads in the Auckland district who have only recently arrived in the Dominion. “Do you know that my brother and I divided £l9 between us at the end of last year's working?” said one man. •’That represented our whole excess of receipts over expenditure after 12 months’ hard graft, and yet here you have immigrants playing touch and go with farming and squealing into the bargain. Some of us farmers only wish we had a sheet to wash,” he added significantly. The concensus of opinion was that, while the conditions surrounding an odd farm or two might be questioned, the treatment meted out to boys on farms was no worse than what the farmers’ own sons had to put up with. Allowances had to be made for different standards of living, but everywhere farming work was hard and entailed long hours. “What did these boys expect” asked another dairy-farmer. “My experience so far is that they are so incompetent that they cannot earn their wages let alone their keep. In fact, some of the immigrant boys I have had are more worry than their worth, and I know cases where they have been responsible, through their ignorance, for serious losses. Give me the New Zealand lad every time for gumption,” he added. “Had those two lads up North been New Zealand-born, instead of complaining, they would have got to work on their whare themselves and in no time had everything clean and in order. These immigrants seem to want a servant or two chasing after them and a carpet on their floor. They certainly seem to lack the grit that stood their forbears so well when New Zealand was first colonised.” GREEN MANURING CROP MUST NOT MATURE With any green manuring crop, it is essential that it is buried while it is still green and. sudculent. Actual harm may be done, and has resulted from allowing green crop to become mature before dealing thus with it. This is likely to happen in a season in which the rainfall is light, when damage is almost certain to be caused by the straw of the manuring crop keeping the soil too open which facilitates the escape of moisture. It is beneficial in several ways that the green stuff is well decomposed before planting is undertaken, and time for that to take place should always be allowed.

FARMING FOR PROFIT

CULTIVATION NECESSARY

HALF-MEASURES USELESS There is no easy way out in farming. Experience has proved that it is only by the assiduous use of the plough and fertilisers that the greatest profit can be obtained from the soil. In New Zealand this fact is being stressed daily and it is only where farmers are prepared to put the work into the land that they are proving successful.

Where land is suitable for ploughing there is no excuse for weeds and noxious growths, yet there are few* districts in this Dominion which can boast of farms that are at all controlled in a manner conducive to the reaping of the greatest returns. Dirty land, or at least pastures which are not in the best condition, and supporting noxious growths, are unfortunately in the majority. To a large extent this is the result of individual management. Throughout the ages tillers of the soil have always had the problem of decreasing fertility of the soils to contend with, and it has only been those who were prepared to work the land and cater for its needs that have been successful. In other words, the old truism holds good—“lt is useless to expect anything for nothing,” and if the farmer desires profits, then he must be prepared to put time and labour into the land in proportion to the hopedfor returns. Neither will haphazard methods do. Farming is a science which teaches that the soil responds only to practical and continued effort. RESULTS OF INDIVIDUAL FARMERS In many parts of New Zealand results obtained by individual farmers give the direct lie to men in the same districts who complain bitterly that the soil is losing its fertility and that today, with high productipn costs, it is becoming a moot point whether farming pays or not. Some farms, for the healthy state of their pastures and crops, stand out among their neighbours as a glowing testimony to the enterprise of their owners.

the intensive farming methods and initiative and industry of the owner. It is, in fact, a striking testimony of what can be done to win profits from the soil. CLEANING BLACKBERRY LAND In the Hawke’s Bay district there recently came under the notice of the writer a further indication of what industry and intensive farming methods can do with land which for years been considered useless. It was only a small block of about 200 acres, and comprised half flat and half unploughable hill. Blackberry had taken possession, and there was little grass to be seen. The block was taken over less than three years ago by a hard-working farmer, who was so situated that he could afford to sit tight for a while and wait for his profits. His first move was to have all the blackberry cut and burnt. Then the plough was put into the flats, fertilisers were used, and the hills stocked up after the grass came away. Even though the blackberry at first threatened to shoot up again, it was never given a chance. Cultivation checked it on the flats, and stocking and cutting kept it down on the hills. To-day there is little to indicate to the passer-by that three years ago the block was covered with blackberry, and was considered by practically every farmer in the district to be useless. It has every appearance of a prosperous holding, and the returns from the land handsomely compensate the owner for his labours. Similar opportunities to those detailed above await the enterprising