THE YEOMAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 31, 5 August 1867, Page 3

THE YEOMAN.

The following calculations with regard to sheep-farming in enclosed paddocks is given hy a contributor to the “ Bruce Herald ” a very excellent journal published in the province of Otago :

I should recommend the seeding down to pasture of thee-fourths or four-fifths (according to extent or other circumstances) of each farm, cultivating the remainder of each, principally for the supply of the establishment, and to provide some winter feed wherewith to help out the pasturage and keep the sheep in thriving condition; and by growing a portion of green crop, &c., for use during the drought of some of our summers (for the growth of wool ought never to receive any check) ; recourse, according to circumstances, being had to trough feeding or folding off. In this way we may safely calculate upon at least 40lbs. of the most valuable washed wool per acre for the farm throughout. But this would be often exceeded, and allowing Is 3d as the price per lb., which I consider a low estimate, £2 10s. will thus be raised from wool alone, and if we had (at a much under-estimated rate for sheep) only £2 10s per acre, it will be clear that working on a good scale would leave a tolerably handsome margin, for the amount of labor in sheep-farming on this principle would be but small; and it would also admit of the employment of a portion of unskilled labor. In all farming where proper appliances are at command, the greater the extent of the operations, the more economically they are worked. If, however, we calculate upon the scale of 100 acres only, and taking into account that the produce of a couple of cows, pigs, poultry, a, little extra grain, roots, &c., would provide the living and incidental expenses of a frugal farmer, and allowing £SO for rent, £IOO for wages, and £IOO interest, he will still, at the moderate rate allowed, have a margin of £250, at which, seeing that he has had his living, no man would have cause to grumble. The allowance for labor is amply sufficient, for by working only mildly himself, one youth would be the only regular requirement, with a little occasional assistance, and thus, if the necessary capital could be commanded, a few years would render Hew Zealand highly prosperous.

The “ Californian Farmer ” gives the following as some of the advantages of thorough cultivation:— It involves; 1. The mechanical pulverisation of the soil giving a better seed-bed, and making the particles more accessible to the action of the roots. 2. Better drainage, and at the same time hitter ability to withstand

drought, the soil being moist and mellow where it otherwise would be baked andhard. 3. The posing the comminuted particles of soil, and co-operation of the atmosphere in farther decomsetting free the mineral elements of the growing plant, 4. The absorption from the atmosphere of a greater portion of its ammonia and carbonic acid for the direct nourishment of vegetable life. 5. The increased effect of manure, from their more complete intermixture and consequently more perfect action. 6. The cleansing the lands from weeds, which not only obstruct the nourishment due to the growing crop, but also generate successors, continually multiplying themselves from year to year. 7. The better condition of the field for machine work; it dulls the knives of a reaper or mower, and leads to frequent breakages, to cut through the crops on a roughly seeded field.

Mr. Mechi, the celebrated experimental agriculturalist, lias made the following remarks on thin-sowing : u Fifty-eight bushels of fine wheat, with 2 3-4ths. tons of straw from one peck of seed per acre (actual result in 1864), and nearly the same yield in 1865, may well astonish those whose over-seeded . crops become naturally thin in harvest as compared with mine, just as an overcrowded plantation, or insufficiently thinned crop of turnips, never arrive at a natural perfection.” “There is nothing more easy than to detect at or before harvest the quantity of seed that has vegetated; the thin plants have thrown out numerous stems rising with a curve from a single crown, strong, .reedy, glassy, and with long and hard ears and long kernels. The opposite of all this takes place in a close growth of plants. The crowded stems rising vertically are thin, flabby, near the ground, and easily beaten down by storms; the ears puny, and the kernels small. With a small quantity of seed the crop, however heavy, may be bent down like an arch, but is never laid flat to the ground and injured like the thick sown.”

“ The ! peck per acre has come up well and when the sun is out the tiny plants show themselves at regular intervals, and will (I should say from the past experience) probably yield equally or better than the rest of the field (11 acres); still, to the uninitiated, it looks quite a failure when compared with the adjoining portions drilled with my usual quantity, one bushel per acre. I always drill nine rows on 7 feet 4, which is something over nine inches from row to row and as for many years I have never deviated from this arrangement, any bungler who denies this (forming his opinion from the thick crop) must not be believed. The distance from row to row has been frequently measured by numerous f farmers, not for the purpose of finding fault, hut for their own information or guidance. I have between 40 and 50 acres looking well, and amply planted from one bushel of seed. Our distances cannot he less than 9 inches, because we always horse-hoe between the rows with Garrott’s horse-hoe, the hoes being 7 inches.”

“ On heavy, drained, and well-farmed land in our eastern counties a bushel of wheat is an ample sowing, and I am much inclined to believe that 2to 3 pecks would be more remunerative. I am experimenting in order to satisfy my mind. I shall continue to endeavor to arrive at safe conclusions in spite of all the sneers or jeers of persons whose motives are apparent, and whose mere opinions are not worthy of notice. In the opposite scale 1 will place the recorded approbation of hundreds of the mostpractical andestimahle agriculturists British and Foreign, who have formed their conclusions from practical observations. An advocate of agricultural progress and amendment must naturally expect some hard blows from various quarters. Self-satisfied non-improvers, locked in agricultural prejudices and antiquated practice will never forgive me for causing a disturbance.”