STATE EXPERIMENTAL FARMS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3166, 17 April 1909, Page 3

STATE EXPERIMENTAL FARMS.

SEVERE CRITICISMS. J The recent visits of fawners and others to the Government experimental farms at Ruakura and Waerenga, in the Waikato, have once more drawn public attention to these State institutions. Various letters have appeared in the press criticising the methods adopted at these farms, and much private comment had been made by individuals who hesitate to make their opinions public. There can be no doubt, says the "New Zealand Herald," that Government experimental farms can be made of immense value to the community, and undoubtedly good work has been done and is being done at both Ruakura and Waerenga The main question is raised by those critics who* ha ye recently dealt with the matter are whether the State •farms in the Waikato atnd elsewhere throughout the Dominion are doing all that could be expected of thern, and whether they are giving a fair return to the public for the money expended upon them. Waerenga, according to the 1908-9 report of appropriations for Consolidated Fund Services, costs the country £5,000 annually, and this is by no means the extent of the expenditure on this institution, because various sums under headings appear elsewhere which would make up a total considerably exceeding £6,000. A recent visitor to Waerenga" declares that the farm, instead of showing signs of imiJrovement under the heavy expenditure of money and labour, shows signs of deterioration. He states that Waerenga being largely a horticultural and viticultural institution, he went there with the idea of learning something about orchard work. . After being shown round the property by the various officials, he came to the conclusion that he could gain more information from a visit to the commercial orchards about Auckland than he cDuld gain from an institution specially designed and paid for by the State for this purpose. The home orchard, he declared, instead of being a model of what a well-kept orchard ■should be, was a disgrace to any practical fruit grower. The ground , under the trees was as hard as a frrick, and looked as if it had not | been cultivated for months. Considering that it was dry, hot weather [ at the time, the ground should have been worked to a fine tilth, in order Ito conserve the moisture. Some of , the trees were seriously affected with j .various diseases, and in some cases, where remedies had been tried for woolly aphis, the remedies had i scorched, all the foliage and practically killed the trees. Our agricultural reporter, who visited the farm, ! bears out these statements, and adds I that the* nuifsiry, which vsfd.to be a j ! model of what a nui'ser]? shotold be, was decidediy unkempt, the stock ' being uneven, unhealthy looking, and J in some cases very roughly bedded. | Another critic, dealing with the viticultural portion of Waerenga, states that the vineyard was certainly 1 not in as good condition as it used to | bi, and that the expensive wine- ' making plant, instead of being under the charge ot an experienced and qualified vigneron, was being looked after by a person who until recently was the celldrman, who could claim no special knowledge of wine-making. "There are this season,"' says this individual, "several hundred pounds' , worth of grapes to be turned into wine, and a slight mistake in the handling of the crop might mean a "total loss." j Still another critic, commenting cn the commercial orchards which i are being st.uttd at Waerenga with a viaw c-f leasing or selling to the j public, said that so far as he could ! ses these orchards had been planted |long befora the necessary shelter '■ belts had been established, arid that the absence of sufficient shelter I meant that the fruit trees would j have a severe struggle for ex- ! istence, and might receive such a j check from exposure to cold winds as would permanently injure them. ! These-criticisms are made, not jby people anxious to discredit the | value of experimental farms, but by i men who recognise their immense ! potent value and are desirous of see- ' ing them fulfil their proper function?. There '"s not a farmer in the Dominion but has benefited by the top-dressing and other manurial experiments at Ruakura and Waerenga, nor is there a vine-grower but has derived valuable information through the work carried on at the lattt r station. It is doubtful, however, whether the great staple industries of the country—mutton and lamb raising for export purposes, wool growing, dairying, and commercial fruitgrowipg— have received the attention they deserve. One of the complaints levelled against the State experimental stations is that they are run too much on the lines of the gentleman's model farm, which a few years ago was such a feature in certain British agricultural districts, where men with a superabundance of wealth were found anxious to show how farming could be carried on regardless of expense. In a new country like this, where the bulk of settlers have to start operations with limited capital, it is worse than ironical that State farms should conduct their lessons on lines suitable for the man who has won a competency at farming, or who, after making his money in some other way, is anxious to take up farming as an interesting hobby. The seven experimental stations m the North Island —Arataki, Bickerstaffe, Momahaki, Ruatcura, Tauranga, Waerenga, Weraroa—draw £22,500 yearly from the Consolidated fund, and this by no means represents the full extent of their < expenditure. Even on the present lines, these farms averagely are well worth the | money expended upon them, but if conducted oh lines more in accord- \ ance with the conditions and requirements of the country, they might easily become worth twice or thrice their present value as educational institutions.