Farm Notes.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43386, 14 November 1908, Page 4

Farm Notes.

AprRIG UI /rUEE IN SPAIN,

.'tiiK B itisli vice - consul ior Villafeuia au-i Caini, .in Spain, remarks \u the course of a report :—“ Upon

whole k consider Uiat 'This twtmtry con be surpassed in the .%orld for pleasant and profitable ■ farming. The lands are so rich and .respond so liberally to little cultivation that is has naturally engendered a chronic indisposition to labour;in the working classes who, contented with just a, sufficiency to support them, make no effort to do more. One able-bodied man culti- ’ vates only three or four acres, and be does /this with implements of the simplest and most antique pattern; the* people generally manifest no desire to arouse from their legarthy \g!nd change the old manner for a /better.''- I have visited many farms found that they still plough with 4, the forked Imb of a tree, the foot of which has an iron point about lOin long. This natural plough 'boasts of but one handle, and is, drawn by a yoke of oxen. It makes a furrow 4in deep and sin* wide. In addition to this primitive plough a short-handled hoe is used in the cultivation of these various crops As comparatively little small grain is giown here, such machinery 4 as mowers threshers, separators, etc., is never seen. On inquiry I am told that there exists an almost unconquerable prejudice against the use of modern machinery and implements, but I am convinced that before many years come and go these prejudices will give way, and that new ideas and a more vigorous life will be instituted. An ordinary labouring man is paid fifor farm work about 2s per day. He ’is required to work from sunrise to sunset, with two hours at noon for r ;creation. It requires kind but rigid firmness to control the laboureis satisfactorily.”