THE YEOMAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 38, 23 September 1867, Page 3

THE YEOMAN.

COST OF HAND POWER. The father of the writer, who was a practical farmer, used to show that one acre of land worth £4 per acre per annum would be more profitable than four acres worth only £1 per acre, inasmuch as the produce of the one acre would probably yield a crop equal to that raised on four acres, while it would not cost a fourth the amount of labor. If in England, where rents, rates and taxes are so high, and wages are,comparatively speaking, so low, labor forms so important an item in the cost of farming, how much more must this be the case here where wages are at least three times higher than at home. It surprised us who had seen the simple contrivances adopted by the American farmer to save labor, to find how little labor saving machines were employed in the Province of Wellington, and the fact itself may account in part for the little progress made in this Province in agriculture. The following remarks taken from “Morton’s Handbook of Farm labor,” showing the comparative cost of hand, horse, and steam power will prove interesting and instructive ; but it will have to be borne in mind that the labor effected in one day at home will exceed by at least one-third in amount the labor done here, and that its cost will bs at least two thirds less. In other words, the labor estimted to cost 3d per hour in England will cost Is per/hour in this country, and consequently the advantages of horse, or steam, over hand power, would be here four times greater than at home. Mr Morton says:—

A man will dig 8 perches of land, or say 2,000 square feet, nearly a foot deep in a day. In doing so he lifts probably three-quarters of it through about a foot in height, that is to say, he lifts 1,500 cubic feet, weighing at least 150,0001b.‘ Ift high in ten hours’ time, and to do it, therefore he must maintain upon the average a lift of 2501b. per minute all that time Of course, in addition to the mere lift, there is the labour of cutting off this earth from the firm ground to which it was attached. In my second case, then, this portion of his labour is very much reduced. Three men will lift 100 to 120 cubic yards of farmyard dung, and fill it into carts, in ten hours’ time. The 33 to 40 cubic yards which fall to each man’s share, at 12 to 14 cwt apiece weigh 50,0001b., and this is lifted over the edge of the cart, or 14ft high —equal to 200,0001b. lifted daily Ift. high, or l 3301b. per minute. This is one-fifth more then in the last case. Now take a third instance, in which there is no labour in detaching the weight from any previous connexion: —A man will pitch in an hour’s time an acre of wheat crop, tied in sheaves, to an average height of full 6ft., on the cart or waggon. Straw and corn together, such a crop will weigh more than 2 tons, say 5,0001b. In doing this he therefore lifts 300,0001b. I ft. high in ten hours’ time, or 5001b. per minute. My fourth case is of much the same kind. One man and five boys or women equal as regards wages, and I will therefore assume equal as regards power to three men will throw into carts upon and average,|of Swedes and mangold wurizel 3 acres of a good crop, say 70 tons in all, in a day of nine hours length. They lift these 150,0001b. 4ft., being equal to 600,0001b. Ift.; or 200,0001b. apiece in nine hours’ time which is about 3701b. a minute. These four cases indicate the mere force of a man, then, at a cost of say 3d. an hour, as equal to a lift of 2501b., 2301b., 5001b., and 3701b. per minute; the two former being cases where the load has to be detached as well as lifted, and the third being performed under the influence of good harvest fare. But now compare this even in its best case with the duty of the steam-engine, namely, the lift of

33,0001b. Ift. high per minute mr u.u, .>■ -w. u less per hour; and compare it with the actual average performance of the horse, to 19,0001b. lifted Ift per minute for fld an hour. In order at the last rate named to do the work of the steam-engine, sixty-six men would be required at a cost not of od. but of m >re than 15s per ho ir, and in order to do the work of the horse 32 men would be needed at a cost of 8s instead of 5d per hour. It is plain that if we can take much of the mere labour of the farm out of the hands of the labouer. and put it into the hands of steam power for its performance, there is an enormous amount of saving to be made in the cost of agricultural production. It is plainly lolly in the labourer to think that as regards the mere lahou • of the land he can compete with either steam power’ or horse power. Strength of body is desirable and sinew hardened by long practice in hard work has a considerable marketable value, for that, however hardly it may sound, is the aspect of the matter in which the interests of the labourer most directly appear; but it is clear that for sheer lift and the mere putting forth of force, horse power, and still more that of untiring stream, must grind the soul out of anybody that shall pretend to competition with it.

' Lime as a Cuke for Slugs. —At midnight we sowed lime at the rate of fmr bushels per acre on the one and a half acre of wheat which they had attacked. The limewassown against the wind, and the lantern showed that they were out feeding and had been destroyed by the lime. Not a blade has disappeared since. It is clear to me that we had been neglectful in not applying it earlier. As soon as a few plants were missed the lime should have been sown. We had, however, attributed the loss of plant to the wet weather. Our attacks from wireworm on the light land was at once arrested by the salt dressing, which I have always found a certain cure if taken in time. The damage done by slugs this season has been very considerable, and wireworm, on the light lands, has done much mischief. As it is, half my peck of wheat per acre is uneaten by ;1 ig, and the adjoining three pecks per acre will probably be all the better for having been partially destroyed. I have fifty acres of wheat a full plant from one bushel per acrein fact, some of it would be, in my opinion, better if not sown so thick. It is clear to me that lime should be sown late on a mild night and against tne wind, in order effectually to destroy the slug.