The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 993, 2 November 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1878.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever at&te or persuasion, religious or political. **# * * * Here shall the Press the Puoplb's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

One reason which perhaps contributed in a great measure to the falling-off iu exhibits of stock afc the Cambridge Cattle Show, last week, i was the want of condition in which ! large numbers of cattle and; sheep have been left by the severe and continuous bid weather which has marked the winter just passed, and from the effects of which they had scarcely had time to recover. This does not, of course, apply to the pedigree cattle of certain 1 reeders, for, so long as food is procurable at any cost, such valuable animals will be al ways provided for; but it affects much of tho general stock of the settlers, the choice selections of which might have otherwise been forwarded to the Show. A very simple way to remedy, this would bo to hold the Show a month later in the season, but a far better wayone that would go at once to the root of the and, instead of salving over the sore, remove the cause of the disease—rests with the settlers themselves. It is a matter to which we have on more than one occasion before referred to, but, at this season of the year, we need make no apology for again drawiig the attention of .country settlers to the subject. The past winter may hnve b°en an exceptionally severe one. It has certainly severely tried many of our stock and sheep-owners, but its after effect will prove beneficial. One sharp lesson, such as ithas furnished, is worth an infinity of advice and exhortation. It has practically demonstrated the nscessity of resorting more largely than Ottr farmers have been wont to do to thd production of winter food in the shape • of • mautrolds, turnips, and other irreen crops, for the sustenance of both aheap and ca'tie when grass is not to be had, and hay very often neaily as sewce. The lesson has not, we are clad to say, been whq.ly L>st, though it might even y<* f be much more widely applied. In the districts i of llangiaohia, Te Awamutu, and C«mbridgf», considerable breadihs of of land are banner broken up and prepared for the growth of mangoldwurfzel and outlier autumn and winter crops, and there is scarcely a farm en which much stock is kept but, we are 2gfL'£.n -d 'as some small

proportion of it this year devoted to of root crops. It ih a %eforni whieh is within the roach of every;farmer, for, now that so many necessaty I'lbor-savirig machines -are f'he excuse of the scarcity niiis . of labor.n»ect be W is, a reason for relying on grass solely. Indeed, we hnve seen that the stock-owner cannot always do so. Apart, however, from the more or less severe character of the autumn and winter months, a reliance upon grass land alone cannot be long persisted in. . The grass itself wears out and the land needs renovating. On lands, which for the first few years after being broken up grew maghilicant crops of clover that plant is novy dying out, and giving way to less valuable grasses. There is only one remedy for this, to break up some portion of the farm each year, and put it through a system of crop »ing which shall provide at one and the same time the food for stock which the clover formerly produced, and restore the impaired fertility of the soil. Root crops grown and consumed upon the land will do this, and the comparatively few experiments tried last year, with both turnips and mangold wurtzels, have proved . most unmistakably the fitness of both soil and climate for the production of heavy crops of cither root, and their adaptability for either being fed or soiled upon the ground where grown, or led to the cattle elewhere. What is gained, is first the thorough I working of the soil, secoidly a large bulk of valuable food at a time when, from the drouth in autumn and the rain and frost in winter, natural grasses afford little feed, and thirdly the fertilisation of the soil by the direct application of manure obtained by the consumption of the crop. As cattle of oil kinds continue to increase in the district, the settlers will have greater noed to fall back on green crops as a winter reserve, unless, as during last winter, they are content to r see a high market ruling for beef, while they have'no fat cattle to fcelh Another matter has likewise been brought to our notice, and that is the marked improvement wrought ou certain soils by deep ploughing. This, of- course is, as every farmer knows, a step which can only be be gradually entered upon; that too much of the now subsoil must not be at one? mixed with the upper soil, but we have heard of. two or three instances where an increased depth of furrow has been tried, and notably in the case of a. certain settler on the Hamilton side. of Tamahere, with the most marked beneficial results. An increased depth of soil not only renovates the already exhausted upper soil, but renders the whole more impervious j.to drought. In the cast we have alluded to, a marked improvementinfche crops, and especially root ci'ops, has been obtained by deepening: the furrow from four inches to fully six inches altogether. The main reliance, however, of the farmer for winter feed must be placed on the production of root crops. Deeper ploughing and artificial manuring are inertly the means to the end. What is heeded is to lean less than we have done on gra&'s, pure and simple, but to combine agricultural with pastoral operations —introducing a regular rotation of crops, and amongst them, as a matter of course, root and green crops for the autumn and winter soiliug of sheep and cattle. Until this is done, we shall never really know the natural productiveness of the land and climate of Waikato, or the amount of stock it can be made to carry. " y '■.. ■