THE COMBINATION OF PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 333, 6 December 1879, Page 2

THE COMBINATION OF PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS.

To Ik Editor of the Waiiurapa Daily.

Sir, —There being a great deal written just now re starting local industries with a view of bettering the condition of the Oilwiy and finding eni|iloyineot for laborers, I am led to think that we might with profitable results, go into the question as to whether some of our existing industries and pursuits can be made more productive of wealth to both the country and individuals, With this object in view I purpose making some remarks, and will take pastoral and stock-breeding pursuits as my subject. It will, I think be conceded by most intelligent people, that live stock, and their produce, wool, tallow, &c., constitute the main source of our wealth in New Zealand. The question is—Can we ncrease the quantity and valua of this produce? Can we produce more wool, tallow, ik, awl all of a better quality I I answer that this can be done, and will, to the best of my ability point out the means, It is the combination of Agricultural pursuits with the Pastoral. By this is meant the production of better food, ind consequently a better and more valuable class of stock, agriculture in itse'f destroying the inferior growths of vogetation and producing a more abundant and nutritious one,

Doubtless, in the early days of any colony's development, pastoral pursuits, unconnected with tillage are a necessity unavoidable from many causes. Now, however, in the face of an increasing jjupulatiuii and better means of communi cation, the time has arrived when this primitive mode of working, should give place to a more enlightened and progressive •system. To make my n,eaning distinct I will sketch the manner in which quantities • if stock are fed and reared in this Colony. ■Sheep and cattle on most runs are fed principally on tho natural herbage of the country, this funning at best but a very irregular supply of nourishment. This herbage, growing some on rich land, mi poor, cold wet and sour land ; each serving some purpose, good or bad, and each producing nutritious and unnutrinous food. The rich and warm land, (luring spring, early summer, and autumn yielding abundance of feed, in the heat of summer it is parched up, and in the winer months there is little or no growth on either rich or poor land, what there is being wanting in nourishment. From these facts it should be evident to all thai slock on these properties are very irregu hiily ted—at times having abundance, at others only a bare existence. Look at the wretched scoured stock on many places durimr the winter and eirly spring months! Look at the poor quality of the meat often in the market in the winter time! Look at the ill-conditioned, ponrly grown wool in many instances. Breeders grumble at the stunted and fast-degenera-ting stock, the low price of wool, the small quantity of it, or the sin ill yield of tallow. What is the main cause of this! I emphatically state it may be attributed in ii very great measure to this want of a constant and nourishing supply of food for the animals. If stock are not regularly fed they must ultimately degenerate and loss accrue, Can breeding-stock, starved for several months be expected to rear good healthy offspring 'I No; the progeny are stunted, and I am sorry to say these poor, ill-grown animals are again used for breeding purposes, thus multiplying the evil. It must, I think, be pitent to all, if they will but give it a thought, that to produce a good and valuable class of stock, it is of primary importance to have available throughout all seasons of the year uood nutritious food Many people will admit all this, but will say, How is it to be brought about, wecannot afford to plough 1" To these 1 say, sell half or a quarter of your land, working the remainder in an intelligent and profitable manner. Any individual who has not capital in proportion to his extent of land must, of a necessity, be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the work before him of placing the whole of h a property and stock on a proper footing. These men mint reduce their stock and acreage, and employ the proceeds in initiating improvements on the portion re tained.

In the production of this constant supply of nutritious food, agriculture must plav the principal part. The plough must be put to work, the ground tilled, Let it not be thought that by agriculture T mean the cultivation of wheat, barley, and oats, entirely. It is to roots, crops, hay, oaten and grass that I particularly desire to call attention. Let it also be understood that I am propounding no scheme to put the whole country under tillage, my object simply to show that on these large and varied tracts of land forming the sheep and cattle runs of this, coun-

try the indigenous herbage must be supplemented to such an extent as will insure a reserve of food which may be supplied when the herbage is scant, parched up, or wanting in nourishment, & thereby supplying the animals with regu- * kr food, who, in return, will supply the owner with more wool, tallow, and meat, and all of a better quality, and consequently of more value in the market. All will, I think, agree that it would be a desirable thing for New Zealand if every sheep produced say from 1 to 2 pounds more wool, and if every animal boiled down yielded from 10 to 20 pounds mire tallow. There are thousands of shejp shorn in the colony clipping from four pounds of wool, which amount might be almost doubled by judicious feeding. Thousands of sheep (culls) are boiled down, yielding from 8 to 10 pounds of tallow, which quantity might have been increased twofold had there been means of fattening these animals before they were sent to the pot. Another strong point, and one that should commend itseli in conjunction with pastoral and agricultural pursuits, is that where one 1; b >rer is now employed, 4 or 6 would be if the land was tilled. Many persons, in advocating the cutting up of the whole agricultural countrywto small farms, seem entirely to }ht of the fact that if a flockowner is W aTe no arable land, he cannot produfflfintclass stock. It is one of the ejraitial points in stock-breeding, to a success, that there be sufficient land'fit for tillage joined with the mountain land as will suffice to grow a surplus of food against the day of need. A provident man saves for himself and family against a rainy day, and an intelligent stockbreeder will do the same with regard to his stock by providing for them hay, turnips, rape, &c, against winter comes on, or succulent food on his low land, against the time when the summer heat parches his grass on the mountain sides, well knowing if he fail in this, loss will come 'O him, A v o d to small farmers (especially those who burn or sell their straw). You must m;ke stock-breeding or fattening go hand in 1 and with agriculture. On very few farms in this colony are there any more animals kept than suffice to do tho workef ploughing, &c, The whole of tho crops are removed, and of necessity the constituents of reproduction along with them, There being no means of get-yj ting manure except at a cost of carriage and labor out of all proportion to the value of the crops themselves, sterility must ensue. The rearing and feeding of stock for market points as a remedy for ttiia, the manure produced by the animals serving to keep the land in heart, i.0., maintain in a groat degree its reproductiveness. On farms where animals are not kept, of necessity great waste must ; take place. Quantities of produce not being marketable, owing to injury from wet and other unavoidable causes to which all are subject. All or nearly all of this can be utilized when there is suffi- ' uient stock. It follows therefore, that very little of the farmer's labor is lost to liim.

No originality is professed for these ideas, Quite the reverse, but, having arrived at the conclusion that our principal sourca of wealth (live stock) may Ir*. greatly enhanced in value, to the mutual oenefit of individuals and the colony generally, I have presumed to draw attention to thesubjec', trusting that if my remaks do no good thoy will y be productive of no evil, Thanking you, Mr Editor, for publishing my former letter, I have, etc, ANewZealandeh. A M