The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 21. A SOIL SURVEY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 122, 21 June 1909, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 21. A SOIL SURVEY.

the suggestion mink' lit a meeting of the Tanners' Inioii in liic South the other day iliat the (ioverninent should lie requested to make a complete survey of tlie soils of tile Dominion, whilst lit is hardly likely to be carried into ellect in these days of retrenchment, was nevertheless one of tile most practical and valuable proposals' that has emanated from that organisation. Then is no doubt, says an exchange, that the productive capacity of the Dogninion would be vastly added to if our farmers cou.d be got to work upon truly seientitic laws, paying due regard to Lhe character of the soil in each locality and seeking to secure the fullest benefits which nature is ever ready to bestow, and "to enable this to be done it would be of immense assistance to the farming community if the Agricultural Department were to prepare charts of the various districts, setting out in detail the character of the soils in tin respective localities, with some guide as- to their suitability for various forms Of pasture or of agriculture. The matter is one that has received great attention in America, where the excellent (lovcnimeut Bureau uf Agriculture renders invaluable aid to the agriculturalist in the respect mentioned, and farming is .pursued with a system and a thoroughness unknown in this pnrt of the world. The British fanner has recently had his attention directed to tile great amount of wealth that is extracted from the soil in France by means of what is known as intense cultivation, and an entire revolution in British methods of tilling the noil is expected to presently set in. A special article ill the London Times of a few -weeks back stated that farmers generally have talked of ploughing up their grass', and the hope of a return to agricultural prosperity has never been so widespread since the price of wheat fell below the paying level. Even if this hope had little more trustworthy foundation than market manipulations, it would, the Times points out, do service in drawing attention to the miserable fact that in all the country fewer than 2,1)00,000 acres are under wheat, and that the grass' and pasture acres are nearly 2ti times as great.' The area of all cultivated crops is to the area under grass as 12 to 34. Attention is being focussed on a sin of omission in our agricultural system so s'erious as to form n real national peril. What, asks the Times, would be the price of food if a corner in wheat coincided with the operations of a hostile fleet? The more rapid encroachment of grass land on plough land began 14 yeaTs ago, and not till this year hare farmers' associations fully realised that the grass land is a wretched substitute; and the fact has been brought home more hv the disastrous losses of the year, 'due to the . price of sheep, than anv abstract views j on the futility of the least intensive of all forms of agriculture. But symptoms' of the more intrinsic principle of this I real transition of farming are multiplying throughout England. A remarkiiilje instance is the interest that the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society is taking in the closer or "smaller""forms of cultivation. The society is concerning itself eve-a with that most extravagant form of intensive work known as French gardening. This example is one out of many of the int'enser belief in the capabilities of the soil. The county councils are themselves making experiments of all sorts and publishing the results. Within the last year or two the cottage gardener has become acquainted, to <nve one example, with the value of sprouting potatoes before they are planted, and with the eflicacy of specific manUles. lhe simfll farmer has come to realise that spraviug N the potato crop increases not only the worth of his crop but his profit by many shillings an acre. Such model allotments as are worked in Oxfordshire have made the cottager's allotment a new sourre both of interest and of gain. The practice is to test crops, chiefly vegetables, in characteristic neighborhoods; anil when the best sorts have been discovered to sell the seed at cost price, and so far as possible to spread abroad the method of their /cultivation. In Hampshire, n skilled gardener is engaged the better part of his tune m peripatetic philosophy of an inspiring quality. He goes from garden to garden, occasionally lecturing in some of the bigger gardens, showin" just how this and that thing is done how ft gooseberry mutting is taken or how sweet peas are best trained or apples pruned. Children leave the Essex and Suffolk and Oxfordshire schools adepts' m grafting and budding; the .est of them are recognised as quite the equals of those who have passed a regular apprenticeship n, horticulture, lhe reconstruction of English cbimtrv lite is a favorite phrase: and the base from which it will spring is just this general acquaintance with the possibilities of growth that the county counc Is and agricultural societies begin to enf?U r " g | P *> n" 1 ?": • Viel ' l " f a I , ' Pl ' l> Of gionnd, the Times writer goes on in say. "is largely i 3 the hands of tho operator \„ doubt good soil is good . il a .id bad bad. A north slop cannot >j e the Virtues of a south slope nor blui elaj turn out early crops. But such experiments as those of Jlr. Fels on the heavy Essex clays, some of the stubboniest lands in England. to. prove that no land is so'*bad'that V lauiiot produce heavily. The difficulty of making a sufficient! ■ good sm [ f l ion ''i'"', !' ll 1,10 ordinary rotaf it 1 !" ay |irovi ' "'lminuble for "it- aad with sufficient mixture of ingradients, for i„|,, llsivi , cultivation of tomatoes and melons. The fact is' that in In gland t here has been a tendency f :", m "" land ill the same way; a spec", l rota.lion has been stereotyped; and the d,Here,ices of rrat represent lhe peculiar ,f each piece of s „i] Other"' 1 V' 1 ' 1 j' lnS( ' Cro|,S a " d othus. Die seedgrowers on the drv and sunny quarter of Essex „re rceo»nised the world over. The buiSw of • palding, the straw-berries of Cornwall, the hops Of Kent, are everywhere fam"ut What we have to realise is th.it the uorst so lit? hav* their special t],an tlle exceptional • ' s - With thp help of en-operation and unproved transit the ,emot» elavs lMUiti£<Juns|)iiv would coiiipcji» with Anv country in >upplviu<, Enlish markets with fruit ami dairy pro'luee Barren heath laud j ;1 U„ r „ ( , t ' vi || yield incomparable lavender; and such "'■hemes as Lord Shaftesbury's for deve,oping the healher land by svientilie 'realm.'iit aad the energv „f |J.e small I U'i arc sfi( istitctory I'viiJencp of thp new di'tmtilmHiou m ,( only to recover In<- waste lands, hut to extract hpa\v returns bv analysis of the good that is in any sol]."

will have a population nearly twice as large as ours*, with a vast trade and wealth, ami with the power of raizing when she pleased—unless we alter our military arrangements—the low countries, thus 'enlarging her coastline, area, resources of all kinds, and securing a~i unrivalled naval base. The intereM of the colonies in s'ea-power is. if possible, greater 1:1 proportion than our interest in it. and tliey, begin to feel that they must bear their share or .perish. If they are willing to stand with us, if they are prepared to risk all for the Imperial idea, if they 'dare to put it to the ■ touch to win or lose it all I ,' if they are I ready for the utmost sacrifices before I England's flag goes down, then we shall keep the sen, and Germany will destroy herself by the. effort to secure a doubie supremacy which the world will never tolerate These are grave issues, yet magnificent whatever the ultimate event. The attempt of Germany to seize the sea may well ho, and will be, if we are strong, .not the breaking, l>nt the making of the British Empire."

AS OTHEKS REE U.S. New Zealand prosperity lias bee?i for years a shining disc of such radiant light that even a momentary shadow appearing to fall upon it has a startling effect, writes this month's "Life."

"There is 110 genuine shrinkage in -Sew Zealand wealth, or in the volume of Xew Zealand products. During the quarter, for example, ended March 31st, the exports were £7,031,134, as against tfi,U31.927 for the corresponding period of 1908. But it is plain that there is some disturbing force at work. Xew Zealand has been the subject of many political experiments, most of them of a courageous sort, not all of them very wise. Aj»d social relations are so closely <tml vitally interrelated that a change* effected by Act of Parliament "in one of them sometimes produces strange ami disastrous results in others. There is rea; force in the suggestion tiiat the policy adopted by the Government of making advances to settlers at A\'.> per cent., no matter what the market rate of money might be, has driven much capital out ,of New Zealand, whilv the strain on the public treasury itself has been great. For a new country, with new industries springing up everywhere, the extension of railways, again, is a wise and necessary policy, and, incidentally, brings much popularity to the Ministry which represents inch a policy. But, as Sir Joseph Ward told a deputation 1 recently, the Otago Central Bail way, on which .Cl, 1 280,000 has been spent, returns only 0s per cent, on the cost ot construction., representing an annual loss of interest of something like £35,000."

.Sir Joseph Ward, in a word, continues "Life," litis to deal with that inevitable and uncomfortable stage in public policy where not expenditure but retrenchment, not th<? adventure of new experiments, but the frank recognition of experiments that have failed, has to be undertaken; and he is facing t"hc task with both courage and wisdom. "There are to be no more railways built, he announces, which will not yield a fair return on the cost of construction. The public service is being primed; departments are being amalgamated, and New Zealand is learning lite wholesome, but not too delightful, process of living within its means. As an example of now political ideals, and as-a wholesome lesson in self-help, a National Annuities Hill fiinU a place in Me programme for thv new session. Under this Hill a provident fund is to be established, -to | which workers are to contribute, and; by which help will be given during sick- j ness, annuities paid when the contributors are past sixty years of age, and pensions for widows and children be (provided. Hut while' the State will assist in the business, the workers are to contribute; and the National Annuities Bill is really an appeal to all citizens 'to provide, liy the exercise of thrift and self-denial, for their own support in sickness and in old age. This is a new thing in Australasian politics."