OUR PRESENT SYSTEM OF FARMING. CAN IT BE IMPROVED UPON.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 759, 28 April 1877, Page 2

OUR PRESENT SYSTEM OF FARMING. CAN IT BE IMPROVED UPON.

Mr PaESiDENr and Gentlemen. — Why I, if not the youngest, at any rate the least experienced of all bhe members of bhis Club, should have been chosen by the Committee to read you a paper this evening, I am at a loss to understand. When I look around me and see so many gentlemen, gentlemen of far larger experience, and maturer judgraeni

I certainly think a better choice might have been made. But, sir, I take &reat encouragement, from a remark which you niaj&k, aLo^ia*st. :meettng, n remark ph^h^ I might; say, I thorou^Uly a|prec.atesi that .you -would lik^T-to seeP^tir youngvinen dphie 6ut'| more£ and %L .feel sure that*the n^embe^i^present will treat the*temark_ijwhichHi make this e vetting witi some anient of leniency, coming as they "do from one who has had so little experience in subjects which we come here from time to time^to'discuss; - •■--

•Not -feeling myself competent to write you a paper on any one particular subject or branch of Agriculture as other members have done previously, I purpose this evening making a few general remarks on our present system of farming, or rather the system generally -carried out in this and other surrounding districts, and raising -the .question whether it cannot be improved* upon and that with profit to ourselves. I may say fyowever, if the farmers, .of the Waikato and of New Zealand generally knew how " to produce profitable., results, as well as most of the gentlemen I am now addressing do, I should have no occasion to read this paper. But, sir, I think yon will agree with me, -that this Club represents rather the bright side of our agricultural operations, "which is but a small area compared with the many- shady sides of mismanagement and consequent loss. The question which I commence with is this :— Does farming as at present carried on by the majority of settlers' in this part' of the country pay? Popular opinbn .answers— No. From grazing cattle upon which so many of us almost entirely depend, there is little or nothing to be made j with store cattle at present high prices and beef selling at only 24s to 27s the lOOlbs, (last weeks quotation) while cropping means such a heavy outlay for labour, and other items, j which take away all the profits, not to speak of the atmospheric and insect risks one is subject to in this climate. With this opinion, Sir, I may say I do not altogether coincide, but would rather think that were a little more ordinary attention given to our various pastoral and agricultural duties, farming would hot be' sbgenerally unprofitable as it at present is— -for, I believe, sir, (and I would wish to give this assertion marked emphasis) that not until we carry on our operations on sdiind practical business principles, and make farming our business, rather than simply an occupation, not until then .may we expect to reap much' benefit" from them.

I will here state a few of the causes which I think 'tend to make farming as carried on at present unprofitable, and first I would mention, mismanagement, or not sufficiently undersbanding ones business, especially the proper looking v &fter live stock* , Then farming wibh insufficient capital, or what 'amounts <to the same -thing, occupying too much land for capibal invesbed. Then" again exbravagance in personal expenses ;, not attending sufficiently to one's business, bub leaving things for others to look after, which . we should do ourselves ; buying too dear ; hot suiting crops to the land ; too little manuring ; taking everything 'but'" and putting nobhing back inbo the land j allowing too many weeds to grow j keeping too much useless and unremunerative. stock on our farms ; neglecting the use of salt, for animals and on the land; being too much satisfied with farming as it is, rather than it ought bo be ; the want of care in selecting good and right kinds of seeds; neglecting good parentage, in live stock ; being behind wibh our work, "rather than having things done and seeds in in good time ; and the want of general information on many subjects appertaining to farming. These, sir, are a few of the reasons which I consider tend to impede the progress of agricultural improvement. Many more I might name/ but these' I consider are the principal, and any one, -especially if he be a. stranger, or non-resident riding through our various districts, cannot, I think, bub be sbruck wibh the trubhfulness of these' remarks. What are the two principal ideas which must force themselves upon bhe mind of any intelligent agriculturalist passing through our district, bub that there is a great deal of mismanagement displayed, or else a great lack of the necessary capital to enable our farmers to carry on their operations to a successful issue. In regard to our present way of mauaginc our farms (I speak just now of the land —not the sbock), I consider there is a great deal too much of speculation, and not enough of system or method. At present a man goes in for sowing or planting a large area of bins or that crop, because he thinks that, for various reasons which he assib-ns, that particular crop will be remunerative, and nob from any system of rotation in crops . which he is endeavouring to carry out, and bhe resulbis, thab in nine cases oub of ten his expectations might not be realised. I think, sir, that, not until we have ceased to farm as a speculation, and commenced a proper system of rotation in crops and system in everything else, shall we begin to make our operations remunerative. Mr Mechi, an authority on British agriculbure, would tell us what crops he will have on a certain piece of land for the next eight or nine years, one crop following auobher in proper order of succession, but withoub going quibe so far ahead as that, I think we ought to have

our operations laid out for at least three or foiir years ahead. What th J right system of rotation is, to *cpFy"oub in this country, I am hot yet prepared to say ; practice and experience alone will prove that K $.# b J?- m P refct 3 r w ell con vinceS that', pj*iess-We do commence sonje siSfch System, we shall find our land deteriorate in its producing qualities, rather than improve, anaWbur "markets will become glutted with foreign products. This, then, I consider (withoub going into all the other minor -instances^ *£irr"fi rsT ana' great reason that tends to make our

farming operations unprofitable — m^aeagSJuej^-.- ; I b&ismin the principle " that what is worth doing at all, is worth doing well,'*, 'and if our lands are worth farming, I , think they should be. .worth farming well. And next to ib, and almost as , great a reason'^ is' attempting to [ farm with an insufficient-amount of capital. Here I feel I am -treading ; on rather delicate ground ; but the : question' of capital iri . ip^oportion to [ laud is an important one, a more im- , portent one, perhaps, than "'is' geng- . rally considered, fori^yery much,' s i ' not altogether, depends the . amount of capital employed whether t farming is made profitable : or not; t How is it possible, 1 would aSk, for , a man with only £3 or £i an acre . capitai to. compete wish a man who . invests from £10 to £1^ an acre ] f. The result of such competition ia t that the man of the larger 'capital i will, in most instances; absorb the b one of the smaller. It will not take j. much to convince one that most . farms in this district labour under t this disadvantage; ocular' demon- - sbration proves the fact ; and I may j be asked the question, Well, -how t would you get out of the difficulty? j I answer—By' lessening our hold--3 ings. I believe, sir, in small hold- , ings with a sufficient amount of r capital, rather, thau large ones with , a deficiency of it. GW me. 100 ; acres with or £1,400 "to [ work it, and. I will make a' larger j profit with less labour and less worry t to myself than I would with 200 . acres, and only the same amount of - capital invested. I consider that, > fpr a man to farm profitably here! [ he should have at least from £12 to I £15.. .an, acre capitai in vested, -and j just a s a man's capital ranges below , that standard^ so*will his chances of . making money at farming be t lessened. I do nob wish ifc to be l understood, genblemen>- by;", these' t remarks, that a man with only a- . limited eapital will . hot succeed— by y no means ; for I think, at the same j time, that one with only a small capital may, by good management, 3 strict . attention to his business, 3 together with persevering em ; ergy and sobriety, overcome many . difficulties, and be finally successt ful, but it would be a hard struggle, j for a man with capital will always : be able to outrun- and undersell one r wholia^;.Htj4j9ipr"n6n6>' i V.T^erefore I . say we' shiould , rather endeavour as t much as possible to increase our l capital by reducing our holdings . until the necessary amount per acre j. is arrived at, than ' lessening it ;by | enlarging .bur „ area of occupation. : What. . is it that has-.-.- made --British ; agribulbure whatiti.sf 'British com- , baerce . whab ib, is ?, pr Britain ' her- ; herself what she is : prudential ou t- ; lay of capital, and if there is one ! thing more than an6-herVthat tends to keep back New Zealand and Waikato agriculture, it is the witk holding of it. Take the country through and I think I am not far out when I say that three-fourths of the land, in this j3art of the country is held too largly Jin proportion to the occupiers capital, and consequently unsatisfactorily and Unprofifcably to the country at large as well. as to the occupiers. . Improvement in our agricultural operations will only be arrived at by an increased outlay of capital, or failing that, by considerable diminution in the extent of oiii' holdings. I know that the pride.6f proprietorship rebels against such a step, and besides" perhaps there is nothing as a rule more difficult- to arrive afc than the amount of loreage capital required for profitable farming. A man holding 500 acres of land, but with fc capital barely sufficient to farm 25 he does not like to see half his farm lying waste,, and so he distributes his limited capital over the whole 500 aeres, when he knows well enough, and cannot deny that it would be far more profitable to him to employ his time and money on only the 250 acres: Diminish our holdings then, and thus increase our capital, remember it is the maximum crop that pays, the minimum keeps agriculture poor and backward. FARM INSPECTION. Mr Clark read a report of the Inspection held in January lasb, but as ib is merely a condensation of what has been published, it is unnacessary to print it now. PROPOSED CLUB-HOUSE. The President said that at last meeting a subscription-list was prepared for building a Club-house. A letber had been received from the people of the village of Cambridge asking them to amalgamate with 1 them in building a public hall. |For his part, he wished the Club to have { a private building of their own. r The Secretary would read the letter. The Secretary then read the 1 letter, which, in effect, asked the i Club to assist them, and made no direct reference to '"-he building cun- p templaied by the Club. I The President said they should, perhaps, instruct the Secretary to p acknowledge the receipt of the letter, n Mr Brooks said he had some con-

versation with the originators of the letter, and they had desired him to support it afc % the Club; t .^ufc he had reserve;, his ' until ho knew what sort of ' building the plub proposed putting up. An impt%s||^n seamed to have J|ined Jgroutid that the Club were g^in'g fo; erect a Pnblic Hall, and it liiad appeared an unwise thing to many^to build two halls, and to have divided interests. He had promised to support them if it was found that what the Olab wanted was identical with what was desired by the town; but if the public wanted a hall, and the Club wanted,... merely a club-house, they were of course different things, and they would not clash. He was not present at the meeting of the Club, and he had been. led to believe that they .(the Club) intended to erect an ( Agricultural Half. Some sort of Public Hall had become an absolute necessity in Cambridge. The School Committee had received a letter from the Board of Education prohibiting the granting the use of the school-house for any public purposes in connected with education. Thus, the people were* thrown back upoa the Odd Fellow* Hall, which, was much too small. Some large building • was very desirable.

The President said Mr Brooks •was out of order, the matter was /for a public meeting to discuss. All they could do was to acknowledge the receipt of the letter. He thought a committee should at once be appointed to report upon the proposed club-house.

Several gentlemen, spoke in favour of doing something at once when, Mr Bubble moved thab rule 6 be suspeuded for that night, to enable a commitbee to be appointed, without notice of motion. Mr H Reynolds seconded. — Carried.

Mr Brooks moved "That a suitable building for the Club be erected, and that a committee of the following members bring up a report at next meeting .'—Messrs E Maclean, R 3?arker, E B Walker, John Runciman, and H Reynolds. The motion was seconded by Mr H A C Ferguson." — Carried.