CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1246, 24 June 1880, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

The following is the report of the discussion which ensued on the reading of Mr Hicks' Essay, at Monday's meeting of the Cambridge Farmers Club, and which appeared in our issue of Tuesday : — "^ Captain Runciman considered that the subject of jyheaj; growing dealt with by Mr Hicks was o^ne utmost importance to them all. He understood the essayist to say that grass land should not be kept more than five years before renewing it ; first taking off a crop of turnips and then some cereal crop. His own experience taught him that with the prevailing rate of wages such a course would not pay— because the fern on the light lands of the district could not be exterminated in the period indicated. It was perfect nonsense to break up land until the fern had been exterminated. With wages ruling as at present it would never pay to cut it, and the presence of the fern precluded the possibility of their getting good crops. He thought they would have to leave their pastures longer than five years before they could profitably utilise the land for cropping. Much, however, would depend upon the farmer himself, who under different conditions would naturally be led to adopt different methods. One thing was clear : | they ought to go more into cropping ; the the land was eminently fitted for it, and they only wanted experience and a little foresight. He would, with the permission of the Chairman, have something to say at a more advanced stage of the discussion. The President said it was the privilege of the Chairman to make a few remarks at the close of the discussion. However, he would, like Captain Runciman, avail himself again if opportunity admitted. The question, it seemed to him, which the away opened was, wheat after gras*, and what means should be adopted in relation thereto. He wan rather opposed to Mr Hicks in this, and Avas of opinion that it was not desirable to grow wheat after a turnip crop. He found that the .land was choked with turnips, charlock, and many noxious weeds, which appropriated to themselves much of the nutriment which should go

to the wheat. The method which he favored was to put wheat into the newly broken up land, to be followed by a crop of turnips, laying down the land in grass in the spring' following. By this means a season would be saved. But there was another and equally strong reason why this course of procedure should be followed, and that was this : it was almost impossible to feed off the turnips in time to sow the winter varieties of wheat, which he had not the least doubt were the best, at least as regards yield. Having regard to the present price of wheat, his firm were going into the cullure of winter oats. They had a crop in tllis year, and expected to harvest it about the time of the hay harvest. There was an objection to this system on the ground that the harvest work would interfere with the haymaking, and that it would occur at that period of the year when the weather is most unsettled. But it had this advantage : that the land would be ready to sow witli turnips. Mr Hicks recommended the use of the skimcoulter in breaking up land, but it could not be used on double-furrow ploughs, and he thought it more profitable to use these than the single furrows. The remark in the essay about the superiority of the crop on the old Maori track went to show how necessary it was that their lands should be solidified, if they were to grow large crops. His firm were now getting a land-presser, which was a machine made expressly for the purpose — not a roller; and if they got up a ploughing match this season he would have pleasure in sending it on to the ground for inspection. To return again to the subject of the crop best adapted to precede wheat, he would give the place to red clover. According to Voelkner, the root of this plant was the best preparation for wheat, and he did not know of another district in the world so well adapted for the growth of red clover as Cambridge : so luxuriantly did it flourish that it became a perfect weed, and could hardly begot out of the land. They should first take a crop of hay off, and the land could tlien be prepared for wheat in the manner suggested by Mr Hicks. He quite agreed with Captain Runciman that in the present state of the labour market it was a very difficult thing to make farming pay. The difference between 3/6, which was the old rate, and 7/6, which was the present, meant in most cases the difference between profit and loss. In the South' he believed that in many instances men worked for 3/6. As a large employer of labour he did not wish to be the first to move in this matter, but there could be no mistake about it that wages in Waikato were much too high. Twenty-five years ago farm labourers worked in this province for 3/6 a-day, and he had no hesitation in saying that the class were more satisfied then than they are now. As he had before said he would not take the initiative in reducing wages, but it was a fact beyond question that the present high rates hindered in a great measure the progress and prosperity of the district. The labour question was a very ticklish one to deal with. It was, however, a question which was beginning to be much discussed. What he contended was that the present price of corn, beef , mutton and other products of the farm were out of all proportion to the rates of wages. He was entirely of Mr Hicka' opinion that high class farming ought to be resorted to, but he would ask, how could it be followed in the face of the present state of the labour market ? Mr Hicks said the work of the farm should be done by the farmer's own family, but it must be borne in mind that even the members of a farmer's family would expect to receive wages. Notwithstanding this, lie looked forward to the time when the whole of the flour and grain consumed in the district should be raised in it. Even at the present time a cosiderable area of wheat might be planted without much additional labor. In many places the farm horses were allowed to stand idle when they could be employed to this end. It was a disgrace to the district that they imported so much corn from the other provinces. The land Avas eminently capable, but if nature could give them the grain, it was fanning that they would have to look to, to give them the bushels. (Hear, hear). Mr John Fisher regretted that Mr Hicks had not gone somewhat further into the subject of wheat growing. In what he had advanced he (Mr. Fisher) could not entirely concur. For instance he proposed to take three crops of his land in one'year, a matter it was to be feared attended with some difficulty. He questioned veiy much whether land after turnips was suitable for wheat ; the tendency of the crop on land so richly manured would be to run to straw. He (Mr. Fisher) had now grown wheat for several years in succession, and he thought successfully ; but he had followed out the plan adverted to be the president. He did not think that the most of the land in the district required manure before wheat, although it was advisable to apply some after such a crop. He had laid down grass after wheat without manure, but he was disappointed in it. The red clover died out in about three years, its place being filled by meadow fescue or '• Yorkshire fog." He believed the results would have been more favourable had he applied manure. This year he was going to try the experiment of putting wheat after turnips, but he was not very sanguine as to the result. He believed the system he had previously adopted would be far more successful. Mr Fantham said he was unfortunately absent when the essay was read. From what he had heard of the discussion, however, he concluded that Mr Hicks advocated the sowing of wheat after turnips. He quite agreed with Mr Hicks in this. He had not tried wheat, bat he had sown oats after turnins and got a very good crop. The president had remarked on the necessity for pressing the land and what would be better than to get a mob of cattle or a flock of sheep on the turnips. In the Waikato the land contained a large number of insect?, which he believed destroyed a large portion of the cropland the treatment the land received by being trampled by sheep would get rid of these pests to a great extent. After wheat or oats the land should be immediately ploughed and sown with turnips again with manure. The turnips should be drilled and grass sown on the land. The President said he had tried turuips followed by a corn crop and they found that the crop contained a large quantity of turnips and thistles. They must remember that when the land is iv a fit state for turnips it was also fit for thi&tles. He wished to know whether any of the gentlemen present had grown barley. His firm grew it and would continue to do so as they found that, unlike wheat and oats, it did not suffer very much from the attacks of the caterpillar. Mr W. L. Martyn could not agree with Mews Hicka and Fantham in recommending the gro rring of wheat after turnips in a dintrict like Waikato where labor was ro dear. La->t year he fed off a crop of turnips and afterwards put a grubber over the land : but notwithstanding thi*, when they came to cut their oats they found the crop contained a large quantity of turnips and weedn, and the machine could not jret through. They had to get the weeds removed at considerable expense. He thought if land vras skimmed and the grass allowed to rot, and afterwards ploughed in and the land sown in wheat, it would pay better than by putting it in turnips. His experience taught him that it did not do to grow wheat or oats aftec turnips. He

quite agreed with the remarks about consolidating the soil. Captain Runciman said it behoved every one to glean all the information possible on theso subjects, in which they were all deeply interested. He knew a gentleman in that district who was following, three year* in succession, wheat after wheat, and he (Captain Eunciman) was carefully watching the experiment, although it was not likely that he would adopt such a system. He had road somewhere of a farmer in Oregon, in America, who had grown wheat on the same land for 15 successive years, until the soil would not return its own SOed. Another farmer tKen took the land and took five crops of mustard off the land, then sowing it red clover and cutting it for three years, following this with wheat, of which he got an enormous crop. This showed at any rate that red clover would renovate the soil and supply it with those constituents which were most required by wheat. He also heard on very good authority that a Mr McKinnon, who lived on the opposite bank of the river to Rangirin, had grown a very large crop of oats, and harvested it. Many people could grow a large crop wh» failed to garner it. Well, Mr McKinnon had grown 50 acres of oats, and had harvested and sold 3000 bushels— a figure which he did not believe had ever been reached in Waikato before. Perhaps the caterpillar had not yet penetrated to the coutry lying across the river in that direction. He thought they ought to find out how these oats wtre grown. If they in Waikato could obtain such results fanning might be made to pay even with the present high price of labor. In Oregon the rate of wages was one and a-half dollars per day ; but for this the farmer did not get merely the miserable eight hours system which it was attempted to force on the New Zealand farmers. They got more like 18 hours, or at any rate from 4 o'clock in the morning until dark at night. He agreed with the President that the men were far more contented when they were in receipt of a moderate wage than they were now. He himself had done, years ago, many a hard day's work for 2s 6d, and felt perfectly satisfied. With regard to the skimcoulters, he greatly approved of them, and would like to see them on every plough at the next ploughing match. Mr W. L. Martyn said he would like to mention that he had a very fine crop of turnips this year sown with a drill after stubble with about 2cwt, of manure to the acre, which was as good as Qcwt. if sown broadcast. He was satisfied that turnips would do remarkably well after stubble, provided they were manured. There being no further remarks by members, Mr Hicks replied. He said with reference to the remarks which had fallen from Captain Runciman, there was no fern in the crop of wheat to which he had referred in his es»ay. He cut the fern about Christmas, aM immediately after ploughed the land —a course which he considered had the effect of checking the growth, ami almost killed it. With regard to what the President had said, he assured them that the young thistles which came up after the wheat was sown did no damage at all. It was very seldom that land could be made to return an even crop, and he hadh't upon the expedient of folding the sheep at night upon the poorer patches, thus ensuring a fair distribution of the manure. He had not treated turnips and grass together, as Mr Fantham had suggested, biit he had no doubt that such a course might be followed with success. With the present rates of labour and the prices obtained for produce, high class farming would not pay : the profits all went to the laborer, and the farmer got nothing. In England, at the present time, the sons of farmers would not turn to work as their fathers had done; but if agriculture was to be made to pay, this would have to be altered, and the owner of the soil would have to do a groat part of the work himself. There was no disgrace in work, which rather tended to elevate a man than anything else. In order to the successful pursuit of farming, the land would have to be in such quantities as would allow of its being farmed by the occupier. Mr Clark moved a vote of thanks to Mr Hicks, for his valuable and instructive paper. This was seconded by Captain Runciman, and carried unanimously.

The Proposed Ploughing Match. Mr Clavk said he had given notica at last metting to move for a committee to carry out the annual ploughing m itch As, however, there appeared to be some difference of opinion as to whether they should hold the match this year or not, he would like that question fettled before h<* moved his resolution. With a view to teat the question he would move—" That the Club do hold a ploughing match sometime in the month of July next " Captain Itunciman said he would second the motion pro form", in order that it might be discussed, but he would not bind himself to support it. He considered that it was a great piece of folly to go to the expense of a match unless they could be guaranteed a certain amount of support and fair competition. After a pause, The President said the question did not appear to be taken up with the earnestness which was desirable. He was very sorry tosee such a poor attendance. Either they did not take sufficient interest in the Club or they were holding their meetings too frequently. "With regard to the ploughing matches, they appeared to him to have dwindled down to a competition ! of implement makers; the men never seemed to be considered At all. They should first get a suitable piece of ground to hold the match. He had no doubt that they would greatly popularise the Club by holding all sorts of shows, and he would not oppose the motion if the subject was taken up with spirit. If it was not they had better let it drop. Mr Buttle said Mr A. Reynolds had offered a piece of ground at Pukekura on which to hold the match. Mr Clark said it appeared to him that they were going backward. Last year they had no show because the members of the Club would not come forward and the same thing appeared likely to happen again. It might be said that he was an interested party having offered cups for competition at the show this year; but he might tell them that it was his purpose to offer cups every year, and his action might be taken to be a standing challenge to all the Auckland seed merchants. After some further discussion which was joined in by Messrs Fisher, Buttle, and Martyn the following amendment moved by Mr Buttle was carried :— "That a special meeting of this Club be held on Saturday afternoon next at 3 o'clock to discuss the whole matter. " Capt. Eunciman said he had been asked by Messrs Hammond and Byron to state for the information of the Club that samples of soil sent to them would be forwarded to England and analysed free of expense and the analysis forwarded to the sender. / It wis agreed to discuss the matter at the next meeting. Mr. Buttle gave notice tnat at next meeting he would move for/a committee to carry out the annual cajole show. Mr. Fisher asked whafrTiad been done with the samples of whe&t forwarded to the club of th" Department of Agriculture Washington, U.S.A./asit Avas now time to plant them. / The secretary laid' the samples on the table and it was agreed that fie Pres dent and Capt. Runcinian distribute them. This was. all tile business,