SMALL VERSUS LARGE FARMS. BY OLD COLONIST.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1598, 30 September 1882, Page 2

SMALL VERSUS LARGE FARMS. BY OLD COLONIST.

It is curious to note how different are the ideas regarding the most suitable size for paying farms in the different colonies ; and, at the same time how very similar is the earth hunger and desire for large farms in all. In the coast districts of New South Wales and Queensland, and in Victoria also to some extent, a 100-acre farm is considered tolerable. In the Northern districts of New South Wales and the Southern districts of Queensland corn or maize is the staple crop grown. But corn is giving place to sugar cane, a crop, the cultivation and harvesting of which occupies much the same amount of labor and time as corn. A man with a family farming 50 acres of such crops has enough to do, and moro than enough unlesss he has considerable working capital available in the form of good working horses, fenced in paddocks, suitable ploughs, harrows and other implements, with barns, stables and other accommodation to match. There are thousands of such farmers in the districts mentioned. They are in a position to hire a man or two when their work demands extra service. They are as a rule, capable, contented, and prosperous farmers. Wo could wish there were thousands more of them ; and that others, in the same districts too, who have the earth hunger on them, ancl try to farm more land than they can attend to properly, would confine their energies to the smaller areas such as the more contented men find sufficient for themselves and their capital. Inland from the coast districts we come to the areas where wheat is grown. And, somehow, it happens that wheat, next to squatting pure and simple, developos earth hunger in its most virulent form. The fact may be explained by the, as a rule, more open character and more easily cultivated lands found most suitable for wheat. v ln those districts the prevailing ideas regarding the proper size for farms swell out. 100 acres are considered too small, and farms up to 500 acres are 'common. Then travelling towards South Australia aieas up to 1000 acres, and even larger are met. Ancl, even then the earth hunger is as active, if not more so ; and not a few who farm 1000 acres of -vvtheat, after the fashion of wheat farming in vogue; and men, too, who have their hands very full, working harder than common laborers, think they would be better to do if they had more land under crop— say 2000 acres I And so the evil of earth hnuger goes on all round the country. And there are thousands of men, who, with moderate areas of land — such areas as they have the means to farm with effect — lead lives worse than slaves. They are poorly fed, even in this land of plenty, are worse housed, labor all the year round from day-break till dark, with scarcely a holiday if any at all ; and the same hard terms are enforced upon their wives and families, who with the men, are harassed all the time. They are both overworked and stinted of every comfort and convenience getatable by money expenditure. The picture is sad enough ; but, experienced men will acknowledge it is faithful of a very large proportion of Australian farming. , That it is due to a great extent to the prevailing error of attempting to farm too much land is equally true. And, such being the case, ihere is some hope that good may result from deliberate examination of the situation. In the older countries, where cultivation of the soil is as well-known as bricklaying, carpentering, and other trades, men do not think of at* tempting to farm land unless ' they have capital sufficient for the purpose. This proportion of 'capital to the extent of soil to be got • un'd,er crop is so well understood, that regular estimates are struck of the amounts 'in stock t and in money necessary to farm per acre. If , the occflpants of land were disposed- to forget these Jaecessary conditions, there is np, fear of thedwnefsof the land fallingjtnto. the same error. So the, bußinesspgoes 6^inCfl,*well - understood''manner. - :; -"■ , >"'' '/^'V ri'*

than folly to shut our eyes to the risks which accompany the possession of land. A very great deal has to be done ere it yields a return sufficient to support , a famiiy in comfort. And it is the most serious kind of mistake to spread the energy and the capital over more ground than enn be turned to account profitably. It is here where the greatest risks come in ; and the risks increase in proportion to the extent' of land available. Where the country is opqn, and say wheat can be got in with comparatively little labor, the danger is greatest of all. Men tie themselves neck and heels literally, at the very outset, and by expending the little money they may havo upon seeding larger areas of land than they can manage, the whole is ventured upon the prospect of getting a fair crop under the most disadvantageous circumstances. Should dry weather, or extra wet weather, or rust, or other attendant upon farming fall upon the crop he is done for, in the worst sense of the term. The means he might have used for fencing, housebuilding and making his family comfortable, are gone. He hasjnot got the stock he might have had, and what he has, tho horses especially, arc harrassed and poor with over work, and poor stabling, and there are not the paddocks available or the feed necessary to bring them into condition, or keep them in working order. And it is but the very poorest kind of colonial farming which can be managed with sufficient and capable horse stock. So much for attempting to farm upon a greater scale than the force and capital available warrant. The prospects for success are much greater with the man who attempts to use no more land than he can control effectually. The' area varies of course. In the districts where corn and sugar-cane and cotton flourish, and where ordinarily good crops are worth to the growers from £6 to £10 an acre, a 50-acrc farm may bo all-sufficient ; or it may be 100 or more acres, if there is capital available for doing justice to all the land under crop, and for stocking it properly. But there are large numbers of men in the districts named who do much better with areas under 50 acre; extent than others 'who struggle on until exhausted with two or three times more land than they can turn lo account. It is a powerful lift towards success in colonial farming when a man starts with no more land than he can pay for without straining himself; when he can fence it in and put up decent and comfortable buildings for his family and his stock. Storage of water is an essential towards success, which cannot be neglected without incurring the lamentablerisks which ruined so many only recently, and bitterly disappointed so many more with farming. A bit of garden land, for supplying the wants of the family, might well be the very first start in colonial cultivation, although, unfortunately, it is more frequently the last. Very often there is no garden about the homestead. A cow or two, and as many cattle or sheep as the grass can carry safely, pigs and poultry, are all as necessary or even more so than any increase of the land under crop. Anything and everything vegetable which will help in the support of the farmer and his family, are amongst the first that ought to bo seen to. They pay the best to a certainity, for there is no crop produced in the colonies which it will pay lo farm if others are neglected which can be used in the farmer's own house. To sell crops in order to pay for other things that could be produced on the farm, is the very poorest kind of practice and economy. Yet it is practised very commonly and proves a direct means of keeping the noses of otherwise sensible men to the grindstone all the time. To the new beginner it is very important to steer clear of such mistakes as this. There is, also, another and scarcely less serious aspect of the effort to farm more land than can be cropped with advantage. That is the impoverishing of the soil, and without any hope whatever of being able lo bring it into good heart again by manuring. This is the case especially where wheat is grown. It is sold off the land, and almost always leaves the horses poorer than they were when the crop was put in. This exhausting of his horse stock is one of the most dangerous errors beginners at farming can fall into, and amongst the most necessary to guard against. Feed for the horses is a first consideration, for unless properly fed they cannot work ; ancl without their aid the farmer is done. It -will be understood, we trust, that the references to what may occur are made upon general terms and with a full knowledge of the decided skill which many farmers bring to bear on all their operations. Our effort in this paper is to try and induce others to follow the good example and avoid attempting -to farm too much land.