MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2648, 19 April 1894, Page 2

MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Geraldine—Tuesday, April 17. [Before C. A. Wray, Esq., S.M.] CIVIL CASES. The administratrix of the late Peter McShane v. Isaac Geo. Wilkin—Claim £56, interest on mortgage, Mr F. Wilson Smith for plaintiff. Judgment for plaintiff by default for amount claimed with costs. H. B. Webster & Co. v. E. A. Foster— Claim £65 1s Id, balance due on current account. Mr F. Wilson Smith for the plaintiff'. Defendant admitted the claim, but said he had not been given time to work his case up, and asked for an adjournment to allow of him bringing in a counter claim of about £43.

fl. B. Webster, plaintiff, was called, and stated that from the time of the final balance on March 14th, no mention had been made by|defeudaut of a counter claim till recently. The Magistrate agreed that if defendant paid the amount he was sued for into court, he would adjourn the case. Defendant said he would do so in half-an-hour’s time, but as he did not turn up judgment was given for plaintiff for amount claimed with costs. The court then rose.

GERALDINE FARMERS’ CLUB. The Committee of the Geraldine Farmers’ Club met on Monday evening before the ordinary monthly meeting of members. Mr B. R. Macdonald was elected to fill a vacancy on the committee. The Committee decided to discard the idea of sending printed post cards to members re monthly meetings, and thought that an advertisement before the meeting was sufficient. ORDINARY MEETING. The ordinary meeting of members was held after the committee meeting, and it is pleasing to record that the attendance was a vast improvement ou any previously seen at the club’s meetings. Mr M. C, Orbell (president) was in the chair.CORRESPONDENCE. From The Railway Department, re club’s resolution regarding rates on farm produce, “ The commissioners very much regret they cauuot see their way at present to reduce the railway charges on farm produce.” N.Z. AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE. A circular was read from the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, inviting the club to send a delegate to the N.Z. Agricultural Conference to be held at Wellington on May 29th next. The entrance fee would be £2 2a for the delegate, but the Government would pay travelling expenses. After considerable discussion as to whether or not the club’s funds would admit of a delegate being sent, it was resolved that the committee appoint a delegate to the conference, and that members be asked to contribute privately to pay the delegate’s expenses. NEW MEMBER. Mr R. W. Hood was elected a member of the club. THE NIGHT OF MEETING. Mr Wreathall brought on his notice of motion “ That the club’s night of meeting be changed from Monday to the first Wednesday sale day nearest the full moon iu each month.” Major Moore suggested that the matter be left over till the annual meeting to decide. Mr Wreathall agreed to the suggestion and his withdrew his notice of madou. PRACTICAL FARMING,

Mr Geo. Ward, who had twenty minutes allotted to him, in which to entertain the club, gave a brief interesting address on farming from a pratical farmer’s point of view. He first of all mentioned what ho considered the best time to sow grains. Wheat especially should be sown in May or as near then as possible. If sown at this time wheat would escape rust, and give a better yield and quality. Of the kinds of grain to grow red chaff was the best wheat, and would yield most bushels to the acre. Velvet chaff was a very good wheat, but essex was rather inferior. The quantioa of flour per bushel of wheat wore :—Essex, 38B> per bushel; red chaff, 441 b per bushel; velvet chaff (if good), 40lb per bushel. Ho would recommend that oats be sown in July. Danish oats were very good yielders. Canadian oats he found yielded well, and also tatariau. Among root crops potatoes and carrots would do best planted in September. In September they got a hotter hold of the ground, and the weather would not dry thorn up so quickly. Plough]'ng was a very important part of {.inning. The land should bo ploughed when dry to prevent it from baking hard. The land should lie .10 or 12 days before the sceii is sown. There was nut enough attention paid to ploughing by farmers to-day as there should bo. Ho remembered in the old days they used to got some splendid crops, 80 or 00 bushels to the aero. But now, as a rule, farmers called for tenders for the work, and it was not well done, and .the laud was ploughed too wide and too deep. Land should be ploughed from 8 to !l inches wide, and from 5 to G in depth, with a good comb, so that when the harrows go over it the laud would harrow down bettor than when ploughed Hat. Ho was speaking mostly of broadcast sowing. Speaking of ploughing matches ho recognised them as, very

useful. It was a means of showing the rising generation how the work could and should be done. If they went on as they were, in time very few would know what good ploughing was. He thought the club could not do better than get up an annual ploughing match, so as to keep up the name of good ploughing. Wheat should be cut just before the head is turned down, for then it would make a better sample than if left till too ripe. Wheat too ripe would not turn out good flour. Stacking was a thing that required greater attention than was paid to it. Of course it depended a great deal on the weather how long the stooks should remain in the field. In good weather the crop should be ready to stack in 8 or 10 days. Farmers were very careless in stooking, and allowed too many sheaves in the stook; 10 sheaves were quite enough for a stook. To secure the crop was the most important part of farming. The size of the stacks should be 7 yards across the bottom, 12ft up to the eave, with 15 rows round the head. Farmers sometimes forgot to put sufficient straw at the bottom of their stacks. This was an important matter. Another thing, sometimes the spoilt wheat at the bottom of the stack got mixed with the go od wheat, and the farmers’ sample was deteriorated, and he was condemned for growing inferior wheat. Sometimes stacking was done in a hurry and the stacker was not given sufficient time to put the stack together properly. Again, stacks in some cases were not well built, and in time they collapsed by the centre sinking down owing to sheaves being thrown in without being built. Another mistake made by farmers was threshing, wheat especially, out of the stooks. Wheat should be in the stack 6 or 8 weeks at least, and if the farmer could afford it three months would be better. Yery often they blamed the miller for bad flour when it was their own fault in sending away wheat not fit to go. Mr F. R. Flatman moved a vote of thanks to Mr Ward for his interesting paper. He thought there were one or two things not touched upon that might have been gone into if Mr Ward had been given time enough. Mr H. B. Webster seconded the resolution. He thought one or two points in the address were open to discussion. Farming 14 or 20 years ago was a very different thing thau now. In the old days, with virgin soil, any shoemaker could almost be a farmer. To-day, however, land had to be cultivated. Mr M. 0. Orbell disagreed with Mr Webster with respect to farming 20 years ago compared with farming to-day. He agreed with Mr Ward on most points, and was of opinion that ploughing with a single-furrow plough was better than ploughing with a double one. Mr Wreathall agreed with Mr Webster’s remarks, but thought farmers should not pay so much attention to minor matters in farming as they should to the ma tter of making the land richer than when they found it. That was the chief thing to consider. Major Mooore was of different opinion. He thought that minor details were about the most important things to attend to. If Home farmers saw how stacking was done in New Zealand they would say “No wonder you can’t make farming pay.” There was not linso to be considered a good stacker of men that called themselves stackers in New Zealand. Mr Fergusson pointe i out that in the Old Country when a farmer took his crop ofl he ploughed the laud up at once to let the frost at it, but here he noticed they put sheep on the stubble almost up to the time of sowing again. Mr Allan said that in New Zealand they wanted all the sheep feed they could get, and he considered it better to keep sheep on the land during the winter. He was sure that ; n the hands of a good man he could get as good results from ploughing with a double farrow plough as with a single one. The meeting then terminated.