RURAL TOPICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2157, 13 August 1907, Page 1

RURAL TOPICS.

Farmers in the Duusandel district this winter have been nursing the owes on the best feed on their farms, to enable them to maintain their con-, dition for lambing time, which is fast approaching.

The London “Meat Trades Journal” says that it'is estimated that last year £650,000 in round figures Was paid to Australian exporters for their rabbits, and that upwards of £90,380 was expended in shipping freights to London ; whilst labor and material for the boxes in which the rabbits were packed, came to close on £39.000

The New South Wales Government has decided to institute a system of training young men for farm work. Pupils are to be apprenticed at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College for terms of from four to six months, and will be thoroughly grounded in various duties of farm work. Much of the work of production at the College will be carried out by these short- terms apprentices.

The potato \vas brought by Sir Walter Raleigh from America in the year Ir.SG. It is probable that seeds and not tubers were imported. The vegetable was widely grown and appreciated in Ireland, while still unknown in England. At the commencement the potato was more frequently baked than boiled. From Ireland the vegetable passed into Lancashire, then on to Scotland, blit some rigid Scotch objected to it, because its name was not found in the Bibile'.

The natural desire of most farmers is to get the heaviest weight of roots they can from the ground. It is a point for argument whether in the -ase, say, of turnips, swedes or mangolds, it is the most profitable to thin freely, manure heavily and grow hig ] eeimens, or to grow a large number of roots, but of smaller size. On this point the “Mark Lane Express says: —We havo evidence at shows and in field crop competitions of the enormous size to which mangolds can he grown by the aid of nitrate of soda | and other powerful fertilisers, but, from a practical point of view, is the cost of this high cultivation returned in the quality of the roots, and t-lie gross weight per acre? Of course the growing of mangolds closer together and getting a larger number to the acre does not necessarily lower the cost of production, because thetax on the land is perhaps heavier and the labor bill would, on the whole he larger. We are disposed to the opinion however, that medium-sized roots are the best- quality for feeding purposes, and if as heavy a weight can ho grown to the acre there appears to he no advantage in huge, nitrogen-fed mangojds. Of course, size has a certain infatuation for some growers who do not consider the cost in production and the utility value of roots of monstrous weight and extensive girth,

| There are undoubted signs of an early spring (says tihe Oamiaru Mail), and it will not be long before many of the deciduous trees are in leaf, llecent showers have given a wonderful filip to the grass, and a great chango is already noticeable. As a matter of fact, the ground has retained a fair amount of heat throughout the winter months, and it will not be surprising should grass come away rapidly. Later frosts, may, however, have a retarding effect.

In one respect there is a complete contrast (says an English writer) between the opening years of the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. A hundred years ago cattle were of comparatively small, account, grain was paramount, and hundeds of fine old .pastures were ploughtcd out to grow the wheat that was so scarce and dear during the process of the French wars. To-day in almost every part of the country corn-growing has fallen off, and live stock are the sheet-anchor of farming.

Th© Marlborough “Express” says:— Tt appears as if someone in Christchurch took a violent fancy to the prize Romney and merino wool from Marlborough that was shown during the Internatiional Exhibition. Mr. Tapp, who was responsible for the safe return of the wool in the Marlborough Court, reports that Mr. Jas. Thomson has had to bo content with 3211 j less Romney wool than he sent down, that quantity apparently having been lifted. Mr. J. Moore, local agent for the Agricultural Department, has also reported that some of the choice coarse merino wool that Mr. R. F. Coulter beat the world with at St. Louis Exposition was lifted from the encased collection in the Agricultural Court, he being left to settle up with the owner.

The Mamleville correspondent of the “Mataura Ensign” writes While having a conversation with a large landowenr the otlier day I casually asked him if he was putting in much crop. “Don’t talk to me about crop,” he said, “I have been hunting for the last month for a ploughman, and there is not one to be found for love or money.” The labor unions’ demands are getting serious, and are driving the farmers to put their lands in grass as soon as possible—2os to 27s 6d per week, Is 6d and hour in harvest, a fortnight’s holiday on full pay, knock off at 5 o’olock sharp, no grooming horses after 5. He takes the farmer’s hack after tea, and off he goes! Ha tells the farmer to groom his own horse, and the farmer can’t say “Boo.” and still the farmer is afraid to invest 7s 6d in the Farmers’ Union to look after his own interests, while the labor unionist freely give £1 5s per member, and it pajs him to do it.

Last- year the British farmer used 108,000 tons of nitrate of soda, which represents in cash, considerably over ■one million sterling. During the past two or thro years nitrate of soda has advanced in price owing to the increased demand from the United States and Japan. The world’s consumption of nitrate of soda for 1906 amounted to the prodigious total of 1,641,000 tons, against 1,547,000 tons in 1805, an increase of 94,000 tons, or 6 per cent. Dor nitrate of soda at the present time the farmer is paving between £ll and £l2 a. ton, and at such a high price the use of it is hound to he limited. But a cheap form of atmospheric nitrogen, such as that obtained by the Birkland process, will not only save, the farmer money, it' will enable him to bring

under cultivation some of tlio land that is at presnet useless, owing to the heavy cost of fertilising it. This discovery, joined with the recent discoverey of soil inocculation, places in the hands of the farmer two new forces which undoubtedly make for the amelioration of his condition in the future.