The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, DEC. 20, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2566, 20 December 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, DEC. 20, 1888.

Equal and exact justice to a]] men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

No more eloquent testimony could have been forthcoming to the necessity of securing the establishment of a model farm for technical training in agricultural chemistry and general rudiments, than the existing dissatisfaction with the Freezing Company's manures, to which we referred in our last issue. Were farmers sufhVtently versed in the scientific process of ascertaining the component parts of fertilisers and of the natural qualities of soils, they would, by making their own analyses, be in a position to detect at once any spurious article supplied to them and effectually prevent all attempt at adulteration in whatever

quarter. Such a degree of tlio knowledge of technicalities would provide them with an impregnable fence, against dishonest practices belli;: perpetrated upon them. Their innocence of agricultural and seientificsafoguarcls offer an open field for attack or impositions. The loss to the country that a want of technical education entails must be enormous. It is not alone the direct and serious loss endured by the farmer himself, but also the consequent depreciation of the soil by reason of impure fertilisers, or more correctly speaking, stuff of a non-f< j rtilisingcharacter, beingspreacl over the ground, followed by the worse effect, of greatly reduced crops and the disappointment of the farmer, who obtains an inadequate return for his outlay. Many instances have been told of the palming off of spurious manures on the unsophisticated yeomanry, both in this colony and in the Old Country. In one of the English counties a farmer accidently discovered, through the instrumentality of a better informed friend than himself, that lie had for years been purchasing a worthless manure, it lacked the chemical elements it professed to possess. The firm from whom he had procured the article, and who had been considered perfectly trustworthy, were as surprised as himself at the discovery, the manure having been supplied to them by the manufacturers*. The farmer had expended many thousands of pounds on the worthless rubbish, from v/hich his land and crops gained no advantage. And here we observe that it is also expedient for agents or retail dealers to acquire technical knowledge as well as the agriculturists, both being victims of imposition. Nothing can be regarded with more severe reprobation than Hneh criminal mal-practices that tamper with the greatest of the country's industries, and injure the main source of national wealth. If such a thing was general throughout the country, and the farming eommuiiitj' pontinuetl in an unprotected state, £hts

annual loss to the wealth-production of tin! liinfl would b<? iiunluulahle. Fortunately there are not many districts which, like the Waikato, are I urge ill isoi , hen ts of fertilising agents. It becomes all the more necessary, therefore, that special efforts he made hy the settlers of this portion of the colony to promote the early establishment of a School of Agriculture, and to secure the introduction in the syllabus of our country schools of provision for technical education in that department by practical teachers. The Waikato County Council should be given a cordial and generous support in their resolve to convert the Peach Grove Reserve near Hamilton into a model farm for the training of our youth in the science aiidjtechnical knowledge of every branch of agriculture. A correspondent, Mr H. Roelie, of Ngarots), who lias had some experience of this system of education in Ireland, pointed out in a recent letter which appeared in our columns the immense advantages to be derived from the inculcation of such practical knowledge. We arc sure that, in this respect, he expresses the views of nine-tenths of the people of this district, and we trust that, ere long, we shall possess a useful institution of the kind advocated.