Agricultural.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2286, 5 March 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agricultural.

DEEP CULTIVATION EOR, SUMMER PEAS. A orhat many gardeners do not sufficiently appreciate the advantages of deep cultivation and deep sowing of garden peas. There are few,vegetables that will reward one so well for the labour of trenching as peas. Wo notion as confirmatory of this opinion, the following communication from ' A Kitchen Gardener,' in a back number of the Journal of Horticulture. He says : — The recent dry weather has been testing the peas. Heat will bring out their characters as quickly as anything, and it also tests the best modes of culture, and soon shows the result. On light shallow soil the straw soon becomes yellow, the pods wrinkled, and the peas hard and dry. We recently saw some pods that were in this condition, and the owner could not understand the reason. Plenty of manure had been forked into the surface before the seed was sown, and it was thought they would luxuriate in this*, but

they did not when the dry weather came. It was then they could not be understood, but in asking about the sowing tho matter soon became clear. The drills when opened for tho reception of the seed wero no deeper than three inches ; conspquently all the most important roots were very near the surface, and although tho manure was there it was dried up when the warm weather came, and the result was almost a failure of what might haye boon a fair crop. In aribther garden I could no,t help saying, '.'What: very' fine* peas.' 'Yes,' said their owner, "that.is the ' advantage of deep digging and deep sowing. The ground was trenched 20 inches deep, and the seed was put down nine inches from tho surface." This made the mistake in the other place quite intelligible, and I resolved to practice deep digging and deep sowing for summer peas. It was a treat to see , tho deep sown ones, for the roots being well down from the influence of any drought the plants were growing and fruiting iu the most luxuriant manner possible. A SIERRA FLOWER.

The most remarkable flower I have ever come across, in more ways than one, is that lonely little thing which arrows 14,000 feet "above the sea on Mount Witney—the highest.mountain not only in California but in the United States — and I*3oo feet above the timber line, and at a point among the clouds where all other vegetation has utterly ceased to exist. It is the monarch of the- world among flowers, however, and is radiant with beauty and freights the atmosphere with aromatic sweets. There is no soil, not even a thimbleful, aud no moisture except suow and hail and ico whore it grows, and looks pretty and proud. In fact, this little flower during its short existence goes to sleep in icy capsules every night, and fanes the sunlight in the morning dripping with tears of opal and pearl. It is shaped like a bell flower, and is gaudy in colours of red, purple, aud blue. It is called I'olemonium confertum, or Jacob's ladder. Its fragrance partakes of the white jasmine, with an assimilation of musk. It blooms alone, for it not only has no floral associates, not even a spear of grass or shrub, but tilers is no creature, not even bird or insect, to keep it company a single minute in the year. ACCOMMODATION FOR AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS. In the course ot an .interview between Messrs Hazel and Hodgkius and a representative of the Weekly Press, the former directed attention to a matter of very considerable importance to the welfare of the community. We refer to what he said on the subject of providing accommodation to agricultural labourers. Speaking of the unemployed difficulty, he said—" I think it is mainly due to the fact that there is little or no encouragement offered to the married labourer by the farmer employing men, by providing living accomodation. They seem rather to favour the nomadic class of labour, the single man who is here to-day aud gone to-morrow, and who can live in huts, . fee. This causes, in my opinion, congregation of the married men round the towns and eeutres of population, because there is no convenience up country for Ids wife and children. Thus if a man of the kind I have been speaking of goes up the country to work, he is forced to go alone, and this tends to the gathering around your centres of people who prefer the chance of work near their home to going where they cannot take their wives, &c. If a system of encouraging the settlement near their work in the country of married men with their families were favoured by the farmers, I think the formation of small settlements would be greatly facilitated."

Such is the view of an intelligent observer who has come amongst us for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the labour market, and the capabilities of the colony to absorb more people. This is not the first time by any means that the subject has been brought under the notice of the community. Oo several occasions during the last year or two we have urged upon our farmers the import- , aiice of providing suitable homes on their properties for agricultural labourers. YVe have shown that such a step would not only be a remunerative investment in itself, but would go along way towards solving the unemployed difficulty. There is no denying the' fact that the accommodation provided for labourers on farms and stations is too often of the most wretched character. Married men can only accept employment provided they leave their families in town. The life of the single men is so wretched and dreary that it is ■not very surprising to find them seeking periodical sprees at the neai'esfc publichoiise. The laying out of village settlements in different localities may do something towards altering this wretched state of things. But the real remedy after all lies in the hands of the farmers themselves. If every freeholder of a few fiiuidred acres would make a supreme effort to have one or two cottages erected on suitable plots of land, the unemployed difficulty would be practically solved. It is not merely that the farmer would thus have labourers near at hand on any emergency. The presence all over the country district of families would enable industries to be conducted which do not at. present pay, owing to tlie absence of suitable assistance. Even from a narrow and selfish point of view the scheme deserves the careful consideration of our farmers, because we believe that the investment would prove a remunerative one. From another point of view the urgency of the case is even more apparent. It is useless to deny that in the principal centres of population there is a demand for something being done by the Government to permanently relieve the labour difficulty. The form which this is taking is a demand for the protection of local industries. In other words, the colony is invited to levy taxes on the real producers, in order to find employment for the people who prefer or are forced to remain in towns. In any case, then, the farmers, miners, and all those engaged in developing the great natural resources of the country will have to pay in order to keep these industries going. From a purely selfish point of view it; would be a prudent thing for the agricultural community to provide healthy and remunerative employment J'or the people who now throng our streets, rather than pay for their support in the shape of taxation through the Customs. Mr Hazel has done the colony a service in bringing this question prominently before the public. Now that it has been raised, wc hope that our Farmers' Clubs and similar associations will take it up, for the purpose of ascertaining in what manner it can be practically dealt with.