CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 772, 29 May 1877, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

The ordinary monthly meeting" of T 3 ? ier ? bera of fchis Club was held at the National Hotel, Cambridge, on Tuesday last, the 22nd insfc Ihe President (E Maclean, Esq.) occupxed the chair, and the following were the members present : Messrs B B Walker, G E Olark, Henry

Reynolds, J Gane, James Runciman, Major Wilson, aud Mr "Buttle' Ifteoretary). : -; Mihutes of previous meeting were ■^ead^and duly confirmed. " . H $$ssrs Thomas Russell AWil|ljamv;Scott, who were nomtl^l^fpr Membership at last meeting, &r& elected. "M ■■ ;JVCr Gane read the folfpW paper on X PIONEER FARMING. " In coming before you to-night, Mr Premdenfc add gentlemen, Ta^lre firatio state, that I have found considerable dim. coltj m chosing a subject compatible «»tQ my limited experience as a farmer ; bub m reading the published account of the excellent paper delivered lasb month on to farm/profitably,* by our worthy Secretary, it occurred to trie that room- had been left for a- short paper, upon another aspect of the same question: r jshe earlier treatment of land bad not been dealt with. A system of profitable farming m yhich the settler ia not so heavily handicapped, and one more iv- accordance with the experience of occupiers m this district, was unmontiphed. 'I refer to what may well be desoribea as 'pioneer farming' Our country is new; as a rule our lauds are not sufficiently advanced to enable us to adopt profitably "the views enunciated by our Secretary j and we have a more accessible market by investing capital m improvements than m an expensive method of fanning to produce crops which must generally be sent out of the district for disposal. My intention is not, however, to combat statements, but if possible to excite discusstpn that ma? tend m the direction of making payable the important business to which, as a community, we arc committed. I look upon what was advanced here last month as belonging to a rather high class of tanning, and have no doubt that such farming m thioklysettled conntriea is remunerative • and even m pur own colony near to^the centre of population, where tne land is all m occupation, and where : no prospect exists of extending the holdingg except at premium rates, it is undoubtedly desirable to manipulate lands m that way which will result m the highest returns. But, Sir, every community must consider their surroundings., and weigh carefully each circumstanoe of their present condition, because conolusions that may be legitimate and sound to-day may be unsuitable and unsafe m five years hence. There is, to some extent, a contrast between pioneer and old settlement farming; the pioneer comes into some such district as this m which we ._ hyo, and, with due regard to his capital, buys so much laud. His first objeot is not, « How much m the way of crops can I make this land realise ; how soon oan I return into my purse the money I have invested;' but it is rather How can I best succeed m converting the at present unproductive, useless land into fertile fields and compact paddocks, so that, m theJiands of an agent, it may • with verity be described as an eligible estate. His market is on the spot ; his labour is put into his own land,, and well paid for, and for some years his anxiety is not to ascertain the market value of cereals or as to whether a crop of roots will leave him a margin j' but rather how he may improve bis purchase and make ready to increase its area. It is woll known that a man may work steadiiy, successfully, and progressively m the matter of a new farm with but scant knowledge o f 'he science of. agriculture, and with but a moderate amount of loose cash. By degreos the natural growth gives place to grassy enclosures ; and if the settler's uiean3- allows of his purchasing stock beyond what his fields will graze, the run, which consists of his own and other unenclosed laQda, offers accommodation tor his rising fortunes. With an increasing population a higher value for land is inevitable. Attracted by the improved appearanoe of the pioneer's property, other adventurers are possessed by the desire to share with him the position, the pleasure, the profits and the drawbacks of a new settler's existence, and sooa every available section is occupied— roads are defined and fenced, bridges erected, conveniences of all kinds facilitated and consequently the marketable figure advanced. But the pioneer has still remunerative "employment within his ov?n borders. Having erected his homestead, enclosed a convenient paddock or two and formed his riag fence, he has yet subdivisions to make and some unsightly spots to' clear up— belts, circles ai*d squares of trees to group m such form as shall combine enhanced attraction, comfortable shelter from cold winds, and add variety and beauty to the general outline. It may not be out of place, Mr President, to notice here that the pioneer farmer is not only enterprising but also is something of 'a philanthropist. The industrious pioneer is the true pre- ( cursor of all real success that any country arrives at. He opens up the arteries from whence flow the vital stream of commercial life. He benefits his kind by multiplying very largly the productive powcif of the soil. He represses malaria by the destruction of decomposing vegetation and making outlets for stagnant waters —and m its place fillsthe air with perfumes from ten thou3jnd. plants. JHe creates a demand for commodities and also prepares a supply of raw material, and so far a3 I have opportunity ,to discern, it has not been always those, withthe. large money qualification who hiive been moat successful, but often some wjiose sound judgment, persevering efforts, and praetioal common sense stood them m good stead of a more sordid patrimony. It is my belirf that a pioneer farmer will make less mistakes through a limited capital, than he would with large resources. I have thus, sir, endeavoured to describe how pioneer farming may be made to pay. As long as a settler has some portion of his lands m a lower condition to that to which they will naturally improve, without extraneous help, so long hts he a market for productive effjrts. The new land grasses are always profitable, but as first laid pasture runs out and the soil needs further culture nnd perhaps stimulants, let him by all means adopt measures to raise such orops for which his land is suitable, and at this the closing; stage of of pioneer experience, I desire cordially to cammend to him an appreciative consideration, of the Bubject of the paper delivered here last month, er the alternative of relinquishing m favour of a skilled agriculturist." After a rather long pause, Mr Battle said he was sorry to see ithe members so slow to enter on the discussion. Great . good was to be got by free discussion, aud he looked upon it as one of tho chief objects of the Club. ' He would not say that he disagreed with all 'that Mr Gane had^ advanced, but he thought the question was, " Had we not gona beyond that state dwelt on m this paper." They had nearly all got their lands m grass, and their pioneering ought to be at an end. They should now look for some good system of rotation for crops, and some better method of improving their stock, Their aim

should be to farm,, not merely for their j>wn benefit,, but for the ad- . vancen^nt qC^bj^^y^: as well, tn g|BhourdjsWiat tjhey^had to bestm ' an S?^ ibl^ Mr W* ||d remark^ th|t,\a person SW}g Igto. a n °wjp?unfe bought 9 l - m ■P'KPanoa^ith his »*«^ c {^N3u<#phQughfc tn^-t ra^iiy peop|o err!edyhri putting all tjieii* money lns> land, and sav-ing-jrothing for anything else. By ' putting a lesser proportion into land, Wd^iarger'sum for working it, they would get along better than they did. ; Mk James Runoimann^said, one remark of the essayist's had struck him as being -rather peculiar. He recommended ,tb.em to relinquish. - their. farms, after the. 'pioneer stage had "been: gone: through. Surely, after gbtng' thus-fair,' they ought to I go' oh/ It might be more agreeable, he had no. doubt, to take up hew •»/■ Ifarftis than/to wopkithpm afterwards. This feelib& was only natural to the old pioneers; he could >own to it himself, but> he thoroughly believed it was not for want of ability to carry it out, on their parts. . MrE.B. Walker thought, with reference to the amount of capital required to commence ibri a new:4. farm,- that no definite rule could b&^\ laid doyrn* Every thing depended on' the man himself. *One may start with one quarter the amount of money that another does, and m ten yearg time be much the better off o the two. ;„. ~ - - v Mr Clark said that; as the subjects were so similar, he would have to speak of both papers, Mr Buttles and Mr Gane's. Mr Gane had spoken of the m6sfc profitable system of farming hitherto followed. It now remained to point out the most desirable method to adopt for the future. He did not think, with Mr Buttle, that a man sKould have somethirig like £1500 capital over the value of his laud. His experience went to prove that the men who had brought large capital into the colony, had made shipwreck of farming. Men with small means, and who gained experience as they went along, had prospered best. If he, himself, had come into the country with large means, he would, no doubt, have gone m for old country farming, and, m the absence, of the experience he now possessed, he must have inevitably failed m it. Mr Gane had remarked; at < the last meeting, that the only system of rotation he had seen, was, grasses ■after -fern, cattle after grass, and sheep after cattle. He did hot say ; what should come after sheep. He (Mr Clark), believed, it, should be turnips, and then grass again. In this country,' it was not advisable to take more than one crop from land, and then lay it m grass again. On attempting .to take two crops successively, one would find the weeds overpowering and unmanageable. One of the chief things they had to do was, to study a oheap method of manuring the land. If one acre of land was manured for turnips, it would yeild'as much as three acres unmanured, and the turnips, m their turn, provided an excellent way of further manuring the land. Refering again to the rotation of crops, he thought it would be a very difficult matter to fix on a system that would be generally applicable. Mr Buttle said that some members were running away with a wrong idea as to the views on capital. He did not mean to say that so much capital was an absolute necessity, but, that it was an advantage. No one would tell him that he could hot get on better with a capital of £1500 than with Jgsoo. Some men, no doubt, could, as he had said m his paper, get on better than others, and, with less means, ..but cceteris paribus % the man with „ the larger capital got on best. V' Mr Gane thought that Mr Buttles view, of farming and his own were alike m one respect; they both wanted to make money, and the system he had spoken of that night, was, m e?ery respect, a better one for a new country- than Mr Buttles. If every one had laid by a certain amount of capital when they made their purchase, they would not have presented so good an appearance today as they did. The best investment was land, and they were, every day, increasing their capital, though not m cash.

Mr James Runciman, with regard to his remarks, explained that he -merely said, that a man would either have to adopt some advanced system of farming, or, give up m favour of someone who would do so, whatever one did, the farm fared the same. It was natural for some to wish to make a home on the place they had won: from the wilderness, but, he would not do as the old pioneers had done, and go into new districts. Of course, he must not be under-stood-to recommend this sort of thing to anyone.

Mr Henry Reynolds moved a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Gane foivhis valuable and interesting paper..

Major Wilson, m seconding the vote, said, that _ although from the general expression of opinion that night, the remarks of the essayist might not be quite applicable to this district, they had a direct bearing on such districts as the Upper Thames.

The motion was . carried unanimously.

Mr James Bunciraan m accor* dance with notice of motion, moved " That aa additional rule be added to the rules of this club giving a niomber the liberty of bringing a.

~^-ftftW! to the meetings of this clut^j after obtaining the sanction 1 ol [the 1 President; Yice-Preßideht, %r any . memtter occupying "the Obair on, that ; night, \stibh person ' not to take any part m the meeting except at the request of the Chaiwptn." MrGano seconded^ Several members spoke against admitting ;Bttangers until they had better jaooonimodatioa provided for theinyaM Mr Ruiiciiiiah uUiniately wiihdvevy his motion' for the preaeiit. '"' ■■". ...' ', .■ . ' ■. ■ Mr Runciman md the follow: ing report of tlie experiments made with his potato^jp :— In accordaface with a request, and a promise that I should make tbe result of 'my potatoe crop known to this Club. It will be m the reooJleolion of the; members that my potatoes Bad the honor of looking the beat crop -at the farm inspection under the auspices of this iolub m January laet. .. :

They were dug on the 24th, of March, and the [result was, as near as possible, 3 tona per aore, fully 7i tons of good marketable potatoes, and tho whole a very equal sample. (Although on old potato gr»wer, I never, had a more equal sample, and wholely free from oarbnnoles, a good round smooth ekinefl sdlid potato, which I consider is a good defcl attributsable to the manure used (the value of -which was £2 sterling per acre). The lesults of the following expenmemts oa a portion of the same crop will show for tfeefSelves; seven different manures were *Swd» and a portion of the laad vas.left ■unaanured. The land, to commence with, was all m the. same condition, and without variatidn, and was just 8 years from fern, 2 years grazed, and X year mowed. " ' The land was just 5 chain long, and the following experiments were upon N 8 drills, r-Bide by side :-r* ... 2Xo. l—Ato the rate 'of 4 cwt fine bonedust per acre j 1 drill gave 3801 b«, which was equal to 8 tone 16 owt 48 lbs, and all the following ia from exactly tbe same area, viz : 52nd part of one acre. No. 2— At the rate of scwt i-inch bonednst gave 8461b5, or S tons Bowt per aore. . ' . No. 3— At the rate of 2owt Peruvian guano gave 3511b8, or 8 tons 2owt 1081bs- per acre. No. 4 -At the rate of 3owt Hurst V pttato mixture gaveß6slbs, or 8 tons lOowt 62lba per aore. No. s*- At the rate of 2owt .fine boneduat 2qwfc salt gave?2B4lbs, or 6 tons llowt 96lbs per awe. No. 6— At the rate of 6cWt salt gave 2451b5, or 5 tons 13cwt 84lbs per acre. . . ,

U o , 7— Common farm-yard labour only, gave 20Olbs, or 6 tons 14cwt 721bs per acre. No. B— Nothing, gave 225^bs, or 5 tons 4owt 52lbs per aore.

The whole m each experiment, yon will observe, have gone as near as f ossible to £2 per aore for manure. In my opinien, if we have to use more money per acre than that, 7 ifc the purchase of manure, our ar6a of potatoes will v b'e small. I •weighed each separata lot m the same way as paken Ant of the ground. You willabserve the drill treated with the fine bone-dust ehdwe the greatest result m weight of potatoes, but not«early such an equal sample as those trtated with Hurst's potato mixture. These latter were much more equal m «iz«, and a superior sample. Hext c»mea the guano manured cropsr "They were also a very good sample. As to those treated with the salt, the result shows that salt as a manure, proved of no good. Those with the farm-yard manure were a very unequal sample, some larger than any of the others, but, a greater proportion small and unmarketable., . Now, comparing the best with those which got no manure, the result shows a difference, or, rather, a deficiency m the latter of 3 tons llcwfc 107lbs, as against £2 worth of manure, thereby showing that it will amply pay to use manure, as the same amount of work was incurred m each oaae. And f ar bher, tou arojall praotically aware that the potato orop bos not extracted the whole value and use from the manure. There is little doubt but that the prop or grass will reoeive considerable benefit. Ooe thing I quite overlooked until it was too late, that vas, to have kept eaoh parcel separate, and tested the keeping qualities of the various manures, ■ as I believe tbtre is a good deal of difference Jn that respect. Of course, I oould uob have given the result of 'that experiment; . at this time. I am sorry I oould not have experimented upon, say half or a-quarter of an acre for each sample «f manure, to prove after results, but, such 'matters are noc easily come at upon a neiv place, 1 ; and where fencing ; ia^a scaroe commodity. K*Cn. rej)ly "'. to Mr Keynolds, Mr J^.noiman said that the balance of the » croft was treated with Hurst's mixture at the same cost per acre, viz./ In answer to Sfr Wjttker; he said, he had used medium sized potatoes, cut through the middle, for seed. The were ploughed injwith a skim coulter on tht 3rd or 4th of October. In reply to Major "Wilson, ,he said, that the drill without; manure might have risceivedv benefit from the manure im the a drill on either Bide. Mr Clark said, he had grown a drill ;of 4 mangdlds without manuro between two manured, one at the rate of 3cwt bones, and 3jwt salt per acre,t"and the other 3cwt salt, Peruvian guano, and the middle drill had simply nothing m it. In answer to further questions, Mr Rdnciman explained; that he had sown the'manure By hand along the drills. Salt would not injure the enf; . potatoes. He preferred manuring the plant to manuring the ground previously,' except m the case of' farm yard! manure, which should be allowed to lie on the ground a sufficiently long time to admit it's rotting, or the potatoes are of a very unequal size.

Mr Buttle moved a vote of thanks to Mr Ruuciman for his paper. Mr Henry Keynolds seconded. Carried. Some discussion arose as to the order m which the essay's should be taken, and it was arranged that Major Wilson read the next essay, the subject to be advertised.

The following notices of motion were then given :—

By Mr Gane— That ho would move <{ -That the President call

upon each member to speak to the ' question, before the meeting; m

order that discussion, may be pro. inoted."

By Mr. James Runciman — "That he would propose Mr J" P Campbell as a member of the club."'

By Mr R Reynolds—" Tfhat he propose Mr A A Fantham as a member/!

The Club House Committee reported that the subscriptions had reached JBllO, and that steps wouldbe taken at once to procure plans and a suitable site.

This was all the business.