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Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1910, Page 4

t island of high-class stock, especially cattle and pigs. It can wit!....: exaggeration be described as a model farm and an object-lesson for the farmers of the province. Mr. Sellers i ; a man who does things thoroughly. H:s maxim is "thorouglme.vs." and you see it shown in every branch of his operations. He has got out of the beaten rut, and.is doing thing; in \ way that others can profit bv.

The cowshed, which is a good distance from his residence, is comparatively small in size, but replete wit.i every convenience. He has in use one of the many successful milking-maehi.ics on the market, a "Simplex." nr.il pa her is got from a Hutchinson water-power machine, a contrivance which is simplicity itself, being best described ,is like an ordinary ram inverted. Water from p. small creek supplies the '•fuel. The machine, which is the-invention ot Mr. George Hutchinson, of Ivipuni. is very successful., the initial cost being the only co-'i. tb" mo: >r -forwards running on, ljke Tennyson's brock, for ever, if need be. There is another great labor-saver. Instead of the milk going into the can? attached to the tubes of the mechanical milker, the i:n!k is taken by suction through rubber tubes to an overhead pipe which carries it to two buckets at the end, which automatically empty themselves, first one and then the ottier, to preserve the vacuum, into a trough-like arrangement which runs out of the shed to a neighboring eoveredin stand whereon are the milk cans', which are automatically filled, the milk first-of all being automatically strained. 'A dozen cans may be filled simultaneously, and the only labor required is the transference of the filled cans to the

i\lr. to the ,oiore mentioned, he i:* a

breeder of pedigree pigs, which in itself is a big undertaking. The pigs are managed in Use same way i as t.'ie dairy herd, TV,- going in tor labor-saving devices he lias reduced the labor connected with the running of this important branch of his farm to a minimum. He does -not run the animals all together. He ha 3 them in different paddocks, and where there is not shelter lie has' gone to the trouble of' erecting canvas shelters. They are fed on scientific lines, and got every attciH lion, and as a consequence they do well. As Paddy put it, they are the "gintlc«\ mm that pay the rint." iney do a good deal more than that in Mr. Sellers' instance. Mr. boilers lias spared no money or pains in building up his breeds of pigs, and deserves the success he has achieved. He also goes in for breeding polled Durham cattle, a line in which he is very successful.

"You must manage a farm as you would a business," declared Mr. Sellers; "you know we farmers are far too conservative. We do not. take kindly to new notions; we don't interchange ideas enough; and we don't give each other the benefit of our experiments and ex- *> rience. With the high prices obtaining for land and with the keenness of the competition We are facing and will have to continue to lace, only in a greater degree, on the Home markets, we will need to get the greatest possible results from the land, and the only way we can do this is to conduct operations in a scienti'lic manner, not only as regards the selecting and testing of the milch cows, but in the growing of grasses and other fodder. .So far as I can see, the mechanical dimcuity m regard to milking has been solved. We have now to look for improvements in the other directions mentioned, mis done, we need have no fear of the future." And who will dispute the wisdom of these words?

I mention that t the aesthetic ;ilitarian. He md surround?ldom Keen in itter of wet, in New Plyiranaki," that learanee than fill three-arm loice (lowers, paths strewn hou»e painted vitn the siivutive left the idii'.l an interlesson for the f not further h-icl succeeded tint in most drudgery into ! v.i a prolit;try. s tnrmigtiout rested in tne n' »acou pigs' upaiiics doing naving re<?ars, the drop •d with a cer--1 considerable I no brief for )i;ig. business, : there is still in pig : raiswg. ■ are brought a reasons ioc rofit to many gaged in til' 1 it no! enmii* 1 .!, . lero is ; abunditable for feeding pigs, mere ane not nearly enougli pigs in the country. This means tlint the prices of young and store pigs are inflated beyond payable values. Last September and October the prices pa'a for pigs at public auction was much too big to leave a decent,, margin of profit for the farmer who had to fatten the hogs. Tho food was going to waste, however, and pigs' had to be secured at. almost any price. Now, if every dairy farmer kept three or four good brood sows, to farrow at the right time of the year, he could make very decent profit on his fat pigs at even 3d per lb. The brood pigs would not. be expensive to keep during tho winter, as it is a poor farm that could not spare a few loads of turnips, carrots, mangolds, etc., to keep the animals. One dairy <J rmer in Taranaki who turns out a considerable number of hogs each year recently informed a representative of the News' that he would be well satisfied to grow, fatten, and even top-off pigs, and do nothing else, providing he could get a guarantee of 3d per lb over a term of, say, three or four seasons, to pay for initial outlay of capital, etc. But if a farmer has to pay 13s or 14s for pigs six weeks old—and these prices were obtained under the hammer at the beginning of the present dairying seas'on—then the buyer will surely have cause fot complaint if the price of bacon pigs takes a drop below 3d per lb. Every dairy farmer should see to it that he hasiyoung pigs at the beginning of each dairying season, and if he goes in for the iright breeds and has just ordinary luckjj he should not have to regret that he iaj growing bacon pigs at a los's.

DOES MIXED FARMING PAY?

Yeky attractive figures have been sliowA to a New Zealand Farmer reporter by Mr. W. Adams, of Pukekohe, as a result of last year's operations in mixed farming. The period taken is from August to August. The gross income \fcas as follows:

' £. s. d. Chan .. .." 800 12 0 Onions .. ..'■■ 255 15 7 Potatoes .. .. j 1»2 10 11 Poultry and eggs..! 90 10 0 Pigs and calves .. / 4o 10 0 Milk .. ../ 250 4 7 ]£ll3o 3 10 These figures are confirmed h >' J;; 1 " a<rent who marketed ti)e produce, liu' operations last vear co|"P"sed 40 acres of oats (chaffed), 6 ot potatoes, 3 acres of onions, 12 fjieres of hay (ot which a good balance B p remains' and 22 dairy cows, which earned ill is each, besides providing ™ llk fo J | »° calves and pigs. In [add-on to Mr. Adams and his two s<M ° ,lt3lde labor was obtained a**i cjst ot £SO. Ihe potatoes and aniois vW* manured at a rate of llicwt pt'r aire. The manure ■ consisted o'f eqrJL^| t3 °f superphosphate af||H >t manure. The potatoes are NorlieriP tal ' s ; t} >e onlons * are brWn StfSffsh, d rille(l in earl >' ln Angusti afcrtne rate S 4!l) P er acl ' e ot seed. YMe onions W re P ullea during Januarf and February, and allowed to lie on the ground abjout fourteen days before being marketed. Storing the onions W been trie i without success. Blight Hoes not h >3 Northern Star potatoes', but hje says "there are Stars atid Stars." : | THE FUTURE OF J FARMING AND THE FARM^ABORER. This is! an age o7cnV^ e an<J And of all occupation! followed in Australia and New Zeal? l " 11 no «e is being s - 0 -vofnui»dlv a.fl'ecte/l as that of farming. Here \yiSf{fcP.' jr lan(ls aro i' mm S in°tillage, 'there field for the application of development in farming. the torali.-.t, the man have been given a status. These branches of farming, in a word, have been raised to a profestion. Colleges, peripatetic instructors, and journals have been, and fe'till are, infusing a leaven of science and wisdom into the old methods of farming, and the annual returns of the land are now gradually, but surely, rising in scale. The importance of practical as well as theoretical instruction has been recognised by the Commonwealth Zealand Governments, and rising generations are trained at numerous Stole institutions'. —The Laborer of the Future.— The laborer of the future will be of a very different type to his forerunner of to-day. In the past, and. to a large extent in the present also, the farm hand (outside, of course, of the cadet) need only to be a sort of Samson with farming experience. The laborer of the future will be of a higher, more intelligent order. No longer a mere drudge, he will be, instead, largely a mechanic. Mechanical appliances will perform the bulk of the labor. The laborer's task will be to manipulate; them. Already the motor plough tills the prairies of the States, pulsators milk our herds, the motor lorry bears our wool to the railway, and day by day motors and mills ami engines are revolutionising -farmtug before our very eyes. The future will s'ce every farm a factory. The farm laborer, too, is in a state of evolution. That same wave of education which is revolutionising and elevating farming is also elevating and, so to speakrevolutionising him. Speaking of Jfcrica, a writer says: "Even the poorejpAmerican citizen has 1 a soul toil. He wants more scope for his active mentality." Passing a gang of laborers at work, this authority found that they were everyone Italians, except the foreman. This is the position that will confront us before many_years_have passed. America has schools of all kinds in

every large bring- ' u ae humblest. And Australia running the eduariße^^^^^^^K- 111C c and State. I> OU machinery by dnulg(^^^^^^B,j h . ul( [. v.'ork landers will^^^H^« obla j na ble. Our only ho^^^^^Hy cll . the hold up hands to be faced or two our raised the people Regarding the the

it is legislation could prevent 0 danger scarcely the —Greater It would be the fact that the of machinery into of farming will of a more thc equipped farm will be immensely more the best provided one of increase returns will farmer's wider ability- his 'machine*! give work accomplished.' So sit facilities on road, and by rail be countryman will} be able to shake hands with his With the oi the farni will in its capacity If or this reason I believe the labor will be greater than George Cox, in the Pastoralists'^^^^K A'U^TRALiJ^BfcAT. JA recoi^^wp; lr g§6t continues (says of official aggregate vicld million bushels,, will This will be rf previous highest return in the season of^B^^»' though ffhr spring of'this dry, cool weather prevaißßßng the ripening process, and Epccd full ears and plump grain. -Msiere is almost a complete absence c||t and other diseases the prospects (Ifigood yield are evenbetter than tllJwere a month ago. If the estimate! #lO million bushels is realised, its valjjat current price (4s per bushel) I|§ be approximately ,•£10,000,000. wiat-growing has assumed imjportalflkproportions in the Commo.-iwfjalth, JgfL there are indications whiclji point to ife rapid expansion. Even now the areh, mider crop and the asgregate outputA ctmpare not unfavorably kvith Oanacla'. The wheat harvest "of j Canada -ha'-Jeen boomed tb such an eitent .that this fact appears to be difficult to; realise. The production of CaAada in'l9o3 was 120 million bushels—jujst 50; per cent, more than the estimated yield of the Commonwealth crop this-year. Canada's average vicld per acre'is 20 1 /; bushels; that of Australia. 10y., though it will be about 13 bushels this; season. If Canada's average yield p4r acre could bcattained, her aggregate* output for 1908 w»uld be rebelled in the; Commonwealth without adjlingUnothejr acre to thc wheat-fields,] which are now about 6 million acrfs. The relatively Strong position of I Australia ia a wheat-pro-ducer when 1 compared With Canada is still further'illustrated by the fact that the average yearly production in Canada 'for

92 million, and .in. the _ Commonwealth Ul'/a million bushels. If 'Australia's average yield per acre had been raised by only 5 bushels per aere—a result not impossible of attainment, as the achievements' of Wimmera farmers have shown —then Canada, with all her increase of population during recent years, would have had nothing to her advantage in wheat production compared with Australia. Our low average yields have retarded the extension of wheat-growing. At one time these low yields were regarded as wholly caused bv unfavorable seasons. But fuller knowledge of «limatic and soil conditions has resulted in better methods of wheat husbandry being adopted, and consequently better returns' have been obtained, lln' no part of the Commonwealth has greater progress been made in those improved methods than in the Wimmera, 'where good harvests are now the rule. Thorough summer cultivation of fallowed land, the use of artificial fertilisers, the adoption of new and hcavicr-vieldin? varieties of wheat, and at the same time by combining sheep husbandry with wheat-growing, clean fields are »,ren everywhere, the grain is piump, and there are good yields. Under old methods' the Wimmera wa3 regarded as worked out and hopeless for wheatgrowing; under new methods it is one of the most prolific areas in Australia.

If -the-dairying-industry in.New Zealand is to receive justice, every effort should be made towards keeping up regular shipments' all the year round, and this could be attained" by sowing and cultivating suitable fodder crops for winter feed other than turnips, and by saving our waste teed ana making ft into ensilage or hay. At present we are hardly doing justice to our line climate and the favorable conditions Nature has endowed us with. Countries like Australia, Canada, .and Denmark, under less favorable conditions, are doing better than are to meet the difficulties of the season when feed is short. Throughout South Canterbury the cocksfoot crop is a very heavy one this season, and many lar'mera have marie applications to their county councils for the right of cutting on their frontages. The Waimate Council, which has ltMt» miles of roadway under its control, has subdivided this into 24 sections, and is calling, tenders for the prixteg?- oofi f cutting cocksfoot in each of them.

receiver purchased for a dollar or two, hoar an opera in Paris, Melbourne, Vienna, or New York,.

To an interviewer Mr. Tes'la said that he had proved from a station he had already established that the very powerful current developed by the transmitter traversed the entire globe, and returned to its starting-point in an interval ol eighty-four one-thousandths of a second, the journey of 25,000 miles boing effected almost without any loss of energy. The earth acts exactly like wire in this transmission, but with the distinction that it is a .conductor far more perfect than any that could ever be manufactured by man, on account of its enormous size and isolation in space. "It has Often been asked," says Mr. Tesla, "how this current could be directed to any particular point. Thin question can be answered clearly by a mechanical analogue. Imagine the earth to be a large bag of rubber filled with an incompressible fluid, such as water, and that, by means of a piston inserted at a certain point, the fluid is periodically forced in and out of the rubber bag. The result will be a rhythmical vibration of the whole bag. It is erident that, if another piston be placed anywhere, these pulsations will be transmitted to that. Now, there is a way of releasing a distant piston tnrough a safety lock or combination so that only that piston will operate at the distance which is' released by the particular combination, like that of a safe."