Agriculutral

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2289, 12 March 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agriculutral

A VlO L'OtUAN PRIZE FARM. ] [TilK I , KKSS.| \ TilK following is the description of tho |n-i:ai farm alluded to in our Notes on Passing Kvcuts. It is the work of tho Agricultural reporter of the Australian :— '7 Vitunrting for the Government prize of ,C,M) for tho luv.t managed farm over .'>-(> acres and not more than I ,'2BO acres in extent, there were live farms, one being at Mount Prospect, one at Rotnesy, one i\t Tarnagulla, one at NatimuU and one at MootVwpna. Thojud»es awarded tlie prize to'thc farm of Mr Archibald Anderson, Mount Prospect, situated about midway between Oroswiek and Daylsford It will be observed that Mount Prospect is a cool, moist district so that the first prize in both the largo and small sections have been won by competitors who possessed the advantage of a climate favourable to a good system of general farming. It is worthy of remark, however, that several of the competing farms in the moist district received no commendations, while three out of the.five dry-district competitors were highly commenced. Had a larger number of northern farmers competed, the dry districts would probably have attained higher honours, hut it is evident that they compete at a disadvantage with the longer (published farmiug district's of tho colony. It might, therefore, be suggested that iu future tho extensive wheat- growiug northern plains should bo regarded as a separate district, and that a prize be offered for the best managed farm within that area. Mr Auderson, on the present occasion, competed against a good farm in a district similar to his own, as well as against three farms iu the northern area of the colony. Mr Archibald Anderson's Grcsn-hill farm, situated at Newlyu, about eight miles from Oroswiek and ten miles from Paylesford, is 670 acres in extent. Tho situation is an elevated one, beiriir about 1000 ft above the sea level, and the surface is undulating:, one of the conical volcanic hills iu the district being within the farm. There is a liberal rainfall, and the ldch chocolate volcanic soil produces heavy crops of oats, barley, wheat,' English grasses, potatoes, and peas. About 70 acres of inferior laud is in its natural condition, and the remaining GOO acres have all been brought under the plough. The arable land is not all equally_ fertile, for there is a small proportion of it consisting of grey loam or medium quality. Tho land is fairly well provided with buildings, there are eighteen miles of substantial sheep-proof fences, consisting of post, rails, and wire, and subdividing the property into 21 paddocks. Hedge-planting has not received much attention, fencing timber being easily obtainable iu tho adjoining Bnllarook Forest; but drainage has been extensively carried out. A good svstem of rotation, is adopted, the land is well cultivated, manuring receives a fair amount of attention, and tho soil is periodically rested in cultivated pastures. Sheep, horses, and cattlo are, kept upon the pastures, and some attention is given to pig breeding, so that the well improved farm is intelligently managed upon a good system of combining cultivation with tho keeping of live stock. It is possible to adopt a good system aud carry it out badly, but in all departments MiAnderson's system is well cxrried out. In Mr Anderson's system of rotation the laud lies for six years under English grasses, devoted principally to the feeding of sheep. It is then broken up and sown with oats for grain ; the next crop is wheat for hay, and the third is a potato crop. After being well cleaned with tho potatoes, a fine crop of wheaten or oaten hay is taken off, and the land is again sown down to pasture. It will bo seeu thai, in this course only one grain crop is taken off with two of hay, and potatoes coming between the hay crops, and then the laud is allowed to lie in pasture for six years. If there is less manuring than in the case of some other of the competing i'arm>, there is also a. less number of exhaustive crops within Uk: period of 10 years covered by the course.

to lot the dry weather injuriously affect the crop ; but it is considered advantageous about Newlyn and Mount Prospo;t. When potatoes aro pluntod niter tin; i hay crop, they are put in five inches deep, but it planted under the so 1 in bieaking-up pnstuvo land the depth is four inches. The crop yields from four to five lons as a rule, although from eight to ten tuns are sometimes obtaiued. The heavy yields are obtained in favourable season* from manured laud. In May or June the potatoes sire dug by contract with a spado or fork at 5s pur ton. The grain crops, like the potatoes, were clean and well cultivated at tins time of the judges' visit. In point of cleanness they were not equal to the crops on sonic of the small farms, where horse-hoeing, bare-fallowing, or the one white crop system was adopted, but little, fault could he found with them, and tliuv were a little cleaner than on the other large farms. The oats, which were Danish, were promising a yield of between 00 and 70 bushels per acre, and the return is generally between 45 anil 7,1 bushels to the aero. Oaten hay generally yields 2.Vtons to the aero. The wheat crop would probably yield 30 bushels per acre, and the usual range is from :»0 to 40 bushels, while wheaten hay feudally returns three tons to the acre, jkrley is a crop not so much known in the district, although heavy yields can be obtained. It is seldom grown by Mr Anderson, the caterpillar plague and the low prices causing hi n to prefer other crops. In the case of all the crops tho seed is changed every two years, with evident advantage. The reaper and binder is used in harvesting both the grain and hay crops, the hay being made into sheaves. Much labour is saved by sheaving the hay with the reaper and binder, and in order to save the labour of stacking and thatching the grain the sheaves are carted from the stooks direct to the threshing machine. Underground draining "lias received a larce amount of attention, and Mr Andersou°asserts that the capital spent in this work has been profitably invested. Prom a conical hill on the north side of the farm the drainage naturally overflows the lower land, and in order to keep the fields on the lower levels from being injuriously affected 2,000 chaius of underground drains have been made. The main drains are ISin. wide at the bottom, and from 2ft. Gin. to Bft deep, being filled in with stones to within a foot of the surface. The tributary drains, which aro smaller, ure made hi the same way. The main drains, which constitute about one-third of the whole length, cost 20s per chain, and the smaller ones from 8s to IO'S per chain. The water supply of the farm is also good. The Bullarook Creek runs through some of the paddocks, and four dams arid three wells supply the othbi" fields. The house and farm-yard are supplied from a freshwater well uO feet deep, the water being raised by a windmill. An elevated iron tank containing 1000 gallons is filled by the pump, aud from this the water is laid on to the house, garden, and horse and cattle troughs. As already indicated, machinery is extensively used in. workiug the farm. There is one of R,ansorne's steam threshing-plants, a winnower, two of Wood's , reaper aud binders, a reaping machine, a chaff-cutter corncrusher, two pea-rakes, three waggons, two drays; and the cultivating implements are—three double-furrow ploughs, two single-furrows, three sets of harrows, a scraper, three rollers, two drill scarifiers, aud a horse seed-drill for sowing grass seed. The seed-drill is capable of sowing 20 acres in a day, aud the threshing plant is also utilised in threshing on other farms in the district. Tho live stock consists of six working horses, 12 dairy cattle, four pigs, and .1175 sheep. The horses are those required for working tho farm, Mr Anderson not giving any attention to breeding. Two or three breeding sows are kept, and about 12 fat pigs are sold during the year. Six of the cattle are milking cows of mixed breeds, and the dairy supplies homo requirements, the surplus butter being sent to market. The sheep consist of 409 Lincoln ewes, 100 merino ewes, a number of rains, and the remainder are lambs and dry sheep. Mr Anderson prefers the Lincoln sheep to the merinos as being quieter and more profitable on tho rich pastures of the farm. Prom the Lincoln ewes he obtaiued 126 per cent, of lambs, and from the merinos 90 per cent. Tho land carries two sheep to the acre all the year round. From lambing season to the CDd of January there are two ewes and two lambs pelacre on the pastures, aud the lambs and other surplus stock aro then sold, reducing the number for the remainder of the year. The wool is worth as 6d, and the iambs sell at 10s, so that with the lambs' wool the pastures return more than 20s per aero per annum. Greenhill is fairly well provided with buildings. The residence is a nineroomed wooden house with verandah, and it occupies a pleasant situation commanding a very fine view of the surrounding: country. The orchard and kitchen garden, which are well kept, are sufficiently large to supply all the requirements of the household. One of the best buildings on the farm is a fine stone barn, o6ftlong by 24ft wide, having 17ft walls and a shingle roof. It is situated on the side of a hill, so that the putting in and taking out of : grain is facilitated. The barn will hold ' 12,000 bushels of grain. As a lean-to ' against the barn, there is a machine-shed of corrugated iron 2-ift by 25ft, aud there 1 are also a blacksmith's shop, a dray shed, ' and a tool-house of weatherboards. The [ six-stalled stable is pitched with stone, and the chaff-house with loft, the dairy, the men's hut, cowshed, aud piggery are all upon a fair scale, although not i altogether up to the general stan- , dard of tho farm. The woolshed 1 and yards are fairly well constiucted, and the shed is provided with one 3 of T. Robinson and Co.'s wool presses, worked by ratchet and pinion. A large ■ havshed in course of erection is 70 ft. f long, 18ft. wide, and 25ft. high at the s eaves. The iron roof is supported on 1 box piles, which cost 30s each, and the 3 shed will cover the whole of the hay crop. Hedges have not received much attention, fc but a row of pine-trees, three-quarters of 1 a mile in length, has been planted along 1 tho private road which runs across the - f.'irm.

The ex Lout to which tho laud is manured depends a good deal upon what value is attached to idioop-druppiugs. The mauuiv ma.de by tho hordes, the onwf, and the pigs is carefully saved, and applied to tho land, but although tho climate is a, comparatively wet one, the quantity does not amount to more than -about IGO or ISO loads per annum, serving to liberally dress about eight acres p:-r annum. This manures is applied to top-dressing the pastures, and its effects are seen on the succeeding grain crop. 'If cattle wore kept instead of sheep upon tiie pastures, the quantity of farm-yard manure would be much larger, but as the grass land bears a large proportion to the cultivation, account must be taken of the sheep manure, which is evidently distributed over the land. • There are 235 ncrt:3 under crop, and 365 under cultivated pasture, as well as 70 of natural grass, making 435 acres of grass land. A flock of 700 or SOO breeding ewes is kept on the farm so that at shearing and until the lambs and other fat stock are sold there are from 1030 to 1200 head ou the farm, the present number being 1175. These sheep, which also run upon the stubble after harvest, must return a good deal of manure to the land, while the proof which they yield in the shape of -wool and increase 13 also a strong point in favour of the sheep-grazing- system. Artificial manures have been tried, but the results have not been satisfactory. Bone-dust was the manure tried, and it seems that it is not the kind of fertiliser which the volcanic soil of the district requires. It may be said that in Mr Anderson's system an ea*y system of rotation, with periodical resting in pasture and whatever fertilising results are derived therefrom, is in a large measure substituted for heavier cropping and the direct application of manures. The pastures are close, well-grown, and luxuriant, giving the impression of having been carefully cultivated. It is worthy of notice that white clover and cow-grass a.re important elements of the mixture siivn, audit hay been observed

that the clovers have a beneficial effect upon the soil. As the clovers are a different order of plants from the grain

crops, it is evident that they are more suitable than ryegrass for land that is intended to be afterwards put under cereals, and tho experience of Mr Anderson and his neighbours upon this point is well worthy of attention. The mixture sown on G-reenhill I'arm consists of one bushel ryegrass, 01b. cocksfoot, 51b. of white clover, and 51b cowgrass. The land intended for pasture which has borne a hay crop is grazed upon by sheep until March, when it is ploughed, harrowed, and rolled, and towards the middle of April the seed is sown. The grass is stocked Li"hUy the following September. As sJroady mentioned, the whole of the farmyard manure is employed in topurosaing the pastures. The grasses grow well, keeping up their productiveness for insny years, hurt they pre renewed with advantage after the sixth year. The crops this season are 95 acres of potatoes, '"'0 acres of vbeaten hay, '-'0 ncrea "f wheat for grain. 70 acres of oa'.s (,'jp. being f f >r hay), and 10 acres for h-.y. The potato land is under sheep fill

August, when it is ploughed. It lies about a. month, arid is then cleaned with the soM'itfer. The harrow and scurilier are used as required to keep the land clean until the planting season, which is October and No\'e?nber, Jt is then planted by pu)U£hin<r the sets in, two double-furrow- ploughs being used one after the other, with the ploughs set to eat Sin. Pinkeyes and Brown's Iliver sets fii'e j»ut in at the rate of (iewt. per acre, aad the .ground is immediately liarrowtfj and rolled. When the rjotatoes arc abovi. I-tin. above ground the L-iiici is airain harrowed. The pot/ito Lorse-hoo n» also employed to keep the potato clean until tin"/ are hilled up. In many district;,; hilj;n<r up li'is been abandoned, as unnecessary, and tending