A FARMER'S LIFE.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 416, 13 June 1947, Page 5

A FARMER'S LIFE.

Sir-I was very interested in Sun- | downer’s article on Taranaki and farming generally, At first I could not get the hang of it until I read the part about there being practically nothing to do on a dairy farm except milk. Then I realised it was meant to be humorous! Well, sir, I think you will agree it was all in rather bad taste. You surely realise that although we farmers got a good laugh out of it we are not. the only readers of The Listener. Unable as we are to share the first-class amusements of the town-dweller who has first-class concerts, pictures, and plays to attend, we have to be content with the secondclass fare of the wireless. There are many town-dwellers, astounding as it may seem in these enlightened days, who thought your article to be a serious one, and they might get the idea that a dairy farmer has no top dressing to do, lime to spread, manure to spread, autumn and winter. feeding to do, ploughing, and sowing, chain harrowing, drains to clean, fences to fix, implements to renovate and mend, wood and coal to cart, hedges to trim, pigs and calves to attend to, noxious weeds, gorse, blackberry, thistle, and ragwort to eradicate, gateways to fill with sand, buildings to patch and paint, gates to make, rushes to dig, sick cows to doctor, young pigs to castrate and ring, months of harvesting hay and silage, etc., etc. to do; that life of a dairy farm merely entails six hours a day milking for 360 days in the year including Sundays, Saturdays and all holidays -truly a lovely life if you can afford to pay someone else to do the work. while you have, as he says, "days off" as often as you like. Quite a good life if you don’t mind slogging in for 65 hours a week for 40 hours’ pay. We don’t complain, but in justice to us small farmers I think you should have made it clear it was a rather clever caricature of farming. |

RUSTICUS

(N gahinepouri).

(We are assured by "Sundowner" that what our correspondent complains of was a faithful summary of an actual conversation. For further information about the life of farmers we direct our correspondent to an article on Page 6 of this issue.--Ed.).