SMALL FARMS v. LARGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1529, 22 April 1882, Page 4

SMALL FARMS v. LARGE.

It i£V7SII-knowu to ovevy reader of history that iv olden times, during the prevalence of the Feudal System, very little attention was t given to agriculture. Lords, vassals and slaves were constantly engaged in warfare, and ,only tilled the land 1 When there was no fighting to be done. After the civil wars, and the abolition of the It'eudal System, ;howover.;j men began* to settle down and pay more attention to the cultivation of their small plots of land, for in those days the land was Principally occupied and tilled by a class of husbandmen called yeomen, who were considered a middle class between gentlemen and peasants. The first signs of the decay ot the English yeomanry dates" from the time of the Tndor Period. Henry the Seventh finding that the many Binall holdings were being merged into large estates, whereby tithes and taxes were diminished, enacted certain Ordinances for the prevention of, this evil. Lord Bacon, in his history of the life of Henry VII., speaking of these Ordinances says :— " Enclosures at that time began to be more frequent, whereby arable land was turned into pasture land, and it was therefore enacted that all farm - houses that had twenty acres of land and upwards should be maintained and kept up for ever and to be in no Aviso interfered with by any other statute." But notwithstanding these measures the yeomanry class gradually disappeared, and England has essentially become a country of large estates and large farms. No doubt many of the tenant farmers of the present day are descendants of the old yeomen, while at the same time it is probable that many have sunk to the position of farm laborers. This change in the iiuai affair s of the country has no doul»fc been beneficial to agricultural progress. The land is now-a-days chiefly farmed by men of capital and education, who have rendered it much more productive than it would have bcc6mo in the hands of small freeholders. 3Jut it is a question whether it would not be better ior the country at large if the produce of the land, oven if it should bo less productive, were enjoyed by those ,who raised it, than that the land should yield a krgcr increase, which, for the most pait, goes to the landlords, who neither sow nor icap. Tenant farmers in the old country reqnire a capital of about £10 pur aoic to. take a farm with any chance of .success, bo that men of small capital arc loft completely put of the question with regard to fanning in England or Scotland. It is in the colonies, however, th.it a man of limited means can embark his small capital witli cvciy chance of increasing it by the exercise of frugality and industiy. At Home, bctAvccn men of small and large capital there is a wide gulf fixed. Here things vie different, as here it is said, ".Jack is as good as his master ;" and those avlio como to the uoloines ay ith a few pounds have every opportunity of acquiring land, cither leasehold or freehold, ami those avlio do not bi in:; anything but a pair of A^'illiug hands may in time become farmers of their own land. It is j generally considered that a large faim at Homo can bo more economically worked, iv many respootb, than a .small one. The I plant required to woik a binall faun is to I a certain extent sufficient for a larger one. I To carry on a farm on the most advanced I piinciples a Luge outlay must be incurred I in obtaining the most efficient mechanical I appliances, not only for field Avork, but a I good system of fanning requites that the Ihomcbtead should he prouded Avilh apIparatus for crushing, chatting, and&teamling fodder, &c, and the plant is not eon■siilfveil complete ■uifc'hout n .steam engine. ■For a1!a 1 ! 01 king a farm on the most impiovcd ■method, the outlay and expense per acre ■13 less for a gootl-sr/ed fai m than for a ■small one ; but according to the men c ■simple and unscientific style of farmBug at present practiced in the Bolonios, the man of small capital lias as much chauco of getting a good reBurn for his outlay as the large farmer Bias. In some lespecta he is at a disadvantage. For instance, if he has only ■.bout fifty acres under crop, it is hardly Hrorth his while to purchase expensive Hiachines for such a limited area. Corn Brills and bidding machics can generally Be hired, but perhaps they cannot be obHvincd at tho'right time, for such things H.-c generally wanted by everybody at Hie same time ; and those a\ ho have to or borrow must wait until their have finished. It appeal? that the small f;um';r h at a or less disadvantage compelled large fanners, according to the state agriculture in the country. If corn be sown and reaped by hand, a small can be a\ orked as cheaply per acic larger block. it is a fact tli.it the rapid of English agiiculturo dates from time when Luge farms became the it does not necessarily follow tint a farming iv a small way is deficient scientific knowledge 1 elating to The bettOi educated is, thw liioi c likely he succeed 111 farming, as in cveiy tiling — for the ignorant man is geneially diced and opposed to mnrnatioiis. when education was only reach of the few, the men of small Avero unable to hold their own the superior intelligence of men and education. Under a system of education, such n& a\c in this colony, everyone is enabled sufficient education to cany successfully tluough life, if they energy and perse veiaiK"..'. have uoav a School of Agriculliue Farm iv full J>\\iug, whcic arc gaining an acquaintance Mith farming, both piactioal, tlicoreand experimental. When these men leave the college, aad put the there acquired -nfco use for own benefit, whether it bo upon or small farms, it is 'o be hoped example will so leu jn the redistricts in which they may that the state of agiiculture will improved, and the country benefit from the money exin establishing and maintaining

success of Christian missions in lms aroused the l'uddhists to ted exertions. They me holding jted meetings allo\ci ihe Land. first Russian settlement in the .States has been founded on the of Sicily, Louisinnn, 2800 acres been bought for the settler?. fl'uxc Farm SjinvAvrs. — An old once paid he would not have a an on his farm who did not liabiphislle. He always hired whis3aid he never knew a whittling •to find fault with his food, his complain of any little extra work isked to perform. Such a man ei'ally kind to children and to under his caie. He would i chilled land into warmth and would bring in his hat full of a the barn without breaking one He found such a man move bout closing gates, putting up J- seeing that the nuts of his ore all properly tightened be>ok it into the field. He neverhistling hired man bent or kick to drive hei # -ou the run into the Ie had noticed that sheep he fed "(1 or shed gathered around him, stled withqut, feav. He never 'a- whistler,! who was not. I pud. econojnicftli •