THE YE0MAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 37, 16 September 1867, Page 3

THE YEOMAN.

In the earlier numbers of this journal we suggested the establishment of a Brewery Company on the limited liability principle, believing that it would be a paying speculation ; that it would be the means of supplying the public with a better and cheaper beverage than die poisonous compounds no win use; and that that which we can produce ourselves at a less cost than what is charged for it by others would be true economy. This remark applies to other articles besides beer, and is equally applicable to pickles, preserves and dried apples, which we import from London, Tasmania, and America. Still the absurdity of paying some £o per ton for water to be carted over the Remutaka, when we have much better water for brewery purposes on the spot, is not greater than the assertion once made by Mr Bunny that a railway was required to carry our agricultural produce to Wellington, when maize, oats, wheat, flour, and even cheese are brought at a cost of £5 per ton, from Wellington to the Wairarapa. We trust that the Yeoman column of the Mercury will be the means of rectifying this state of things, and of causing the money now sent out of the district to be circulated within it.

Wc have not the slightest doubt that barlcy will grow well on bush land in the Wairarapa, because w-e have had ocular proof of the fact. “ Sugar bag swipes ’’ would be in no demand if good malting barley were procurable; but we confess that we look to the establishment of a bravery to create the demand for barley rather than a large supply of barley to Cause file establishment of a brewery. With the population of New Zealand, the demand must create the supply, and not the supply the demand. In the expectation that a Bravery Company will eventually be formed, we reprint the following remarks on the cultivation of barley from the “Australasian."

The English farmers, especially those of the Eastern counties, are very divided in their opinions as to the best mode of depositing this seed in the ground. The majority prefer drilling; many sow broadcast; and not a few maintain that dibhing pays the best. "We prefer the drill, which, with care and under ordinary circumstances, will deposit the seed with the greatest degree of regularity as to depth and distance. Depth is a point of more importance than, on superficial observation, may appear, and is frequently overlooked. If the seed can only be covered it is considered quite sufficient. When the land is w-ell and amply worked the seed is often put in too deep; consequently the plant is at times a long time making its appearance, and when it does, it looks weakly and sickly, and grows slowly for some time. If the Suffolk drill be used, the depth at which the seed is deposited can be easily regulated by the removal of a portion, or all, of the weights of the coulters, if necessary. We are glad to learn that drills are being used up-country in increasing numbers. They are rather expensive certainly, but it will pay any farmer who cultivates a large farm to employ one, as it enables him not only to sow t® half a peck the quantity of seed per acre, but all he puts in is put in well, evenly, and at a regular depth. The quantity of seed per acre varies according to circumstances of soil, climate, and period of sowing. Two bushels drilled is perhaps on the average sufficient in this colon} 7 , for we believe barley, as well as the other cereals, “ stools ” more than in England. Thin sowing on some lands is very apt to produce a coarse quality of grain. We do not advocate either extreme; half a bushel! saved per acre at seed-time will sometimes cause a loss of six or eight bushels at harvest. Thick seeding produces a fine straw, and the crop generally ripens earlier by a few days, which latter, however, is not so much an object here as in England, unless to escape the attacks of the caterpillar. Of the sorts of barley for growing, the old English and the Chevalier attract at present most attention. The former is extensively grown, and is well adapted fora great variety of soils and climates. On good barley land it produces heavy crops and a good quality of grain. The straw is weaker than in some other varieties, and consequently it is not so well adapted foxvery high cultivation. Its great recommendation is its property of early ripening, which renders it particularly valuable for late sowing and also for cold soils and late districts. The Chevalier (the old English improved), is largely grown on all the best bax-ley lands. The straw is much stiffer than the last named, and it will stand forcing to almost any extent. On suitable soil it produces a very superior quality of grain, and is highly esteemed for the purposes of the maltstci. The pi-cscat price foxseed purposes for the ordinax-y English hax-ley is from ss. to 6s. 6d. per bushel, but Messrs. J. Gough and Co., Plinders-street, have as usual imported a quantity of remakably fine Chevalier, not so good in colour as we have seen it; but the wet harvest in England last year easily accounts for that. This grain is beautifully thin in the skin, and according to the custom of this firm, their fixx-ming friends can, by applying, obtain any quantity for seed purposes. The price is rather high this season, but this is owing to the last season in the old country having been so unfavourable. Messrs Gough and Co. are charging 12s. per bushel. Chevalier barley cannot be recoxxxmended for cold soils and late districts.

Top-dressings pay well for application to this crop. Any phosphatic manures, which can be depended upon, may be put on at time of sowing, thrown broadcast upon the furrow, and harrowed in before the drill. Even at a more advanced stage of the plant, should it he seen necessary to give the crop another dressing, a mixture of one hundredweight of nitrate of soda and two hundredweight of salt, will he found beneficial; and to insure a speed}' eifect it ought to he sown if possible in wet weather. With the exception of the attacks from caterpillar, barley suffers hut little during its growth from disease. After the early part of its headsmutty ears will at times appear, hut these are generally succeeded by more healthy ones, and the flowery smut soon disappears. Some few farmers dress their seed barley with bluestone, as well as their oais and wheat; but the loss from smut is so very trifling that this process is seldom adopted. At threshing time our farmers should bear in mind that barley chaff

or awns from capital food for their lean stock, and will come in handy lb? cold night -, if they take a little trouble to secure it from the weather. As a grain it is as economical a food as any on the farm, and when the maltster a figure is too low, can ho cracked most advantageously for the farm-horses or profitably used in the pig-sty. We have heard of some extraordinary yields of barley in this colony. Last season a report from a reliable source gave a return of eighty bushels per acre ot malting barley; but our fanners may he pretty well satisfied with half such a quantitj'.