CARELESS FARMING.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1302, 2 November 1880, Page 3

CARELESS FARMING.

Not only is necessity the mother of invention but also 6i • providence and thrift. Waste not, want not, is a good maxim and one which, the New Zealand farmer does not very generally heed. He may not waste time or money or valuable material; bat he certainly wastes magnificent opportunities. There is an inertia in human nature that makes us feel that what«^& never had we never lost, and so we proceed, year in and year out reaping only ha^f ef what opportunity has Bown for us, says the Taraualci Herald, a journal which gives great attention to farming matters. Careless farming is the trait which a foreigner most observes in this country. A ffilure to raise all or evert a email, fractional part of what the soil is capable pf yielding is a fault of wide prevalence. If a man by imperfect breaking, or slovenly sowing, or insufficient weeding, raiaes only half what bia ground is capable of producing, how much better off is he than if he spent half bis time in idleness ? Indeed in one sense he is worse off, for personal idleness may be limited to personal consequences, whereas the unused resources of the country remain as a blot on the national character and tend to produce and ingrain habits of thriftlessness and sloth. A man is seldom better than his surroundings. Philosophers show us that organic nature has a wonderful aptitude for conforming itscharacter to that of the environment. Hence careless habits are not alone vicious for the direct loss they entail but likewise for the positive injury they inflict on the community* since they are as insidious as malaria, and as hard to eradicate as the Canada thistle. By contrast with New Zealand farmers European husbandmen are models. Not a spot of ground is wasted,. AQt an ounce that- the ground is capable of yielding that is not, laboinously and patiently drawn out, and not a measure o^ replenishing the soil is neglected. Imagine a New Zealand farmer planting the angles of the fields at corners which the plough cannot reach ! But such is done

in Europe, and more soil is carried from below and plastered on the ledges of the hill's to form a spot of tillage. The manure heap in such countries becomes an object of tender concern, aH(I women will quarrel and fight on the public road over an apronful of hQrse-manure. In answer to the question "Why we do not do so here, it may be sufficient to use the slang phrase, " We do not have to," and this may be Satisfactory while there is plenty of land, but those who live lone en,ough to grow up with the country will discover when the latter has reached a respectable stature that ''many a little make a ' muckle *' and that trifles make perfection but perfeption is no trifle.