THE FARMER

NOTES FROM SEAFIELD.

FROM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT. I promised in my last to remark on the crop, and extent of land under it, on the farms by the Wakanui Creek, in which direction my journey has lain. I passed by the block of land formerly in the oc cupation of Mr Thomas Reid, but I was sorry to see that nothing had been done with it since the former owner left. How ever, the stubble was looking remarkably well, and generally there was plenty of good keep on the land. On the Seaview Estate Messrs Saundera have a fine lot of ‘ wheat well in, and presenting a hopeful appearance. I called at Messrs Proctor Brothers on the way. They have about 200 acres of crop in, with every ap pearance of a hearty result at harvest time, and to the left of the traveller, Mr B. Ede, in the same locality, has some fine promising looking barley and oats. Mr Jameson’s cereals are also coming on very well, and he has a fair lot of young cattle revelling in excellent grass. A fine flock of cross-bred sheep, I was glad to observe, shared his attention with the cattle, and showed he knew what he was about in running a farm. Just here, too, gorse fences give evidence of attention in their thriving looks and luxuriant blos som. Further on the farm of Mr J.

Wright meets you. He has a fine lot of wheat, barley, and oats in, and one of his buildings is a stable of the old country type. He has quick fence, too—one of the very few in the district —and I was pleased to see that it was bidding very fair indeed. Mr Wright/ is happy in the

possession of paddocks deep in luxuriant grass. Take the crops all round just here, the prospect is very bright indeed, and I was forcibly reminded of one of the fattest districts in Cheshire by the old English appearance of the paddocks, which look so green and hearty. It would serve no purpose to run over the list of industrions, hard working farmers who are settled around, but it is gratify ing, indeed, to see that as far as the season has yet gone, they have a lively hope that harvest will not disappoint their trust in a fair reward for their pains and toil.

I called in and saw our friend Mr J. W. Leadley, with whom I had a little chat. His crops are doing very well, only a little late. He has gone in this year for ploughing in his seed, and the result is a promising crop, well rooted against the ravages of the wind. His paddocks, too, are of the healthiest, and his cot of fine pigeons give quite an old country look to the farm Just op posite Mr Leadley is Mr Innes. who has erected a substantial stable. His crops, too, are looking well. The next farm arrived at is Mr Stewart’s, and opposite is Mr Thomas Walsh. Both these farms are splendid land, and the crops show that the owners are good farmers; they suffered here during the winter from floods, and I hear that the Road Board is going to cut a large drain to relieve them. On the Wakanui Terrace is Mr John Corbett, who has a large farm here, and a splendid lot of cattle. His crops ought to be very heavy this year, as some of the land was a part ofj the English grass paddocks of the old homestead. Higher up the creek Messrs. Sandrey and Blackler occupy about 1100 acres. They have the homestead, and the large trees and well grown garden make it look like quite homely ; in fact, it is the oldest place in this part of Ashburton. There is a very large wool-shed on the farm, and a lot of outbuildings. The gorse hedges here are very good, and well kept. There is a very large area in crop, and it ought to be very heavy, as the land is some of the best in the district.

On reaching the Wakanui Creek, I find I am in the township laid out some two years ago by Mr G. H. Moore. There is a newly formed road through it, but there is at present no evidences of houses or population. It _ was contemplated, I believe, to remove the school from its present site about 1-|- miles nearer town to this place, but the majority of the resi dents in the district were against it, so the Wakanui township is as yet only known to fame by the lithographic maps in the land agents’ offices. On reaching the top of the terrace, 1 found that I was among some very good land, the crops bidding well for harvest. Mr Meredith Wilson’s farm here looks well, and his improve ments are of a very substantial nature. The clay land about, this neighborhood has given the farmers an opportunity of using dug sods in place of ploughed ones for their fences, and they have a very tidy and substantial look about them. The main road from here to the school is one of the best in the district. The school is situated a corner convenient to the large population in the neighborhood. The master, Mr Ginney informed me that he had his hands full, having an average at tendance of 50 pupils, he had made appli cation for an assistant mistress, and he believed that one would be granted. Mr James Brown’s crops look remarkably well, and the land shows evidence of good farming. Mr Edwin Thomas has a nice block of heavy land close to the school, and the crops are very forward, his garden is very well stocked, he has a large col lection of farming implements, and gear about the place. I noticed some some very superior draught horses here, and a draught colt which took a prize at the show last year is a very powerful, well built animal, and would not disgrace himself in any show. Turning my horse in the direction of Seafield, I pass the farms of Mr S. Christie on my right and Mr D. Butttei’ick on my left. The latter gentleman is farming a large acreage this year, and his crops promise well. Mr Henry Beckett has a nice block of land higher up the creek, and Messrs Cass and others have succeeded in getting nearly all their land under the plough, Mr F. Cass, nearer the sea has hit on a very fair piece of ground, and the crop has a good show, I find that Mr Wellbron is now busily engaged in fencing the block of land now in Russoct north of Mr Butterick’s. This block, though a trifle stony on top, has a very fair sub-soil, he intends breaking it up ready for crop next year. Mr Connor has a very fine crop, which speaks well for the soil in this part of Seafield. Mr Dodson has a farm here of 300 acres in crop, 100 acres in wheat, looking very well; and I hope he will have a good harvest, I then travelled on to the poplars term, the property of Mr E. PolUson, he fm * ISs# Jet $* yhw*t, a fair: §*l4 p! f&t?, m a **** gw*

milch cows in good condition, and an English grass paddock with a good sward upon it. After having a drink of milk, T turned homewards thinking of what I had seen, and I made my mind up that things were not so bad after all, and will be much better if Providence will smile on us in harvest time. In my next letter, I intend informing you of the state of the crops in North Seafield and Cambridge. I can say that the crops as a whole look remarkably well.

Farmers and Farming.

We farmers get a great deal of good advice. We are glad so many are in terested in our ivelfare. Farming would seem to be the natural employment of mankind, and those who are unable, or unwilling, to gain a living and supply their' own wants by cultivating the soil, are very willing to tell others how to do it. But they often those -who are least able to give advice, are the most profuse with their counsels. There is not much wisdom in their reproofs, nor do they always fall on obedient ears. If those who walk with wise men become wise, then it is very, essential that we receive our instruction from men wiser than ourselves. If we are to learn industry from the bees, and the ants, there can be nothing degrading in learning something from the humblest of mankind. But no teacher can impart knowledge to his pupils, if he is not much more intelligent than they. It will be con ceded that farmers are the most numerous, and most useful, and the most industrious of all classes. And we think it can be proven that they are not only the most honest, but decidedly the best business men in the commonwealth. We are told we work too much and think too little, that we have not the accuracy and energy of business men,, that we ought to open a debtor and creditor side with every field on our farm, and know what every bushel of wheat and every animal costs us. This is all very well in theory, we know some thing about books and prompt payments, and what we are doing. We want to look at the results, the facts and figures, to ascertain who are the safest and most reliable men in the community. It has often been stated that ninety per cent, of our merchants or business men fail, some time during their career, to meet their obligations. We estimate that ninety per cent, of our every day farmers never fail to pay their honest debts, never defraud their creditors, nor take advantage of the bankrupt law. If this is a correct esti mate, then young people when they go into, business may expect there are nine chances in ten they will fail in business and defraud their creditors. And if they begin life on a farm with industrious habits, and a good moral character, there are nine chances in ten they will not fail to pay their honest debts, produce more than they consume, and add to their own and the aggregate wealth of the com munity. We are told farming is a slow business. "Very few get rich ; there are no million aires holding the plough. We can plough very well without them. The greatest good to the greatest number is not brought about by concentrating wealth, but by diffusing it. Are not a million of honest men, who produce more than they con sume, and never let their dates go to pro test, a million times more valuable to society than one millionaire who only gathers up the wealth that better men than himself produced, by some reckless expenditure or fortunate speculation ? We do not write in a boastful spirit, for a good many of us farmers are in humble life, and have had a fair square battle with poverty and privation. But we provide honestly for those of our own house, and do not like to see so many leaving the farm, and becoming discon tented because a few men get very rich in business.

Has there been so much progress and improvement of late that the young of the present generation are too good and great to live on a farm ?

The hills and dales, the green fields, and the blue sky, never tainted any pure heart or dwarfed any master mind. It is not gold and debentures, but a pure and honest life that constitutes a first-class man. When men become rich by ex changing one thing or another, there is nothing added to the comfort of humanity. It is a pity when a few absorb the wealth of a great many. Farmers produce by lawful industry the wealth that brings peace and plenty to themselves and associates ; they do not rise on another’s ruins.

Wealth of heart and moral worth are far better and more enduring than material riches. If we can leave a good name and a stainless reputation when we have done with all things that are of the earth, earthly, it will be of comparatively little importance whether we have twenty pounds or twenty thousand.

Wheat Cultivation.

FROM THE “RURAL AUSTRALIAN.”

Why should not wheat be cultivated as we cultivate the garden pea or cabbage ? The splendid results achieved by Hallet, Mold, and others with pedigree and stud wheats, with garden culture, surely justi fies the theory that wheat can be im proved in the same way as other plants, by special culture. It is nonsense to say that it would not pay. Why does cabbage, or potato, or any other culture pay '! Let the farmers try to grow any of the garden crops as he does wheat, and see how they would pay him. So it is with the improved varieties of all plants, they will all degenerate if they don’t get as good treatment as that which produced them, or at least helped to do so. In our opinion wheat should be planted at the same distance apart as cabbage; not, perhaps, ordinary wheat, any mor e than some of the poor sorts of cabbage. But in the case of Mold’s or any similar wheat they ought to be a foot, at least, apart each way. We suppose most of our readers have seen a bed sown with cabbage seed, for the purpose of raising plants for planting out, let stand for many months. What miser able objects they appear beside one taken from the same bed a few months before and properly cultivated 1 It is just the same with wheat. We sow the wheat just as thickly as we sow the cabbage seed, and the same result follows. Let the wheat be cultured in the saipe reason able way a? cabbage, apd in % few yem' time may and ft times* tfp ei§e 8f fls Rssp,

Insect-Eating Plants.

Mr Francis Darwin has recently added some important facts to our knowledge of these plants. It has long been surmised that those plants which catch and kill insects in various ways depend upon such food for their healthy growth, but direct proof of this has heretofore been wanting. Mr Darwin instituted a series of experi ments to decide the question, as follows : —2OO plants of Drosera rotundifolia were cultivated in soup-plates filled with moss ; each plate was divided into two parts by a low wooden partition and covered with gauze to exclude insects. On one side of each plate the plants were fed with small pieces of roasted meat, placed upon the leaves every few days, while those on the other side were not allowed any such food. In the course of a month the effect of the meat diet was evident in the brighter color of the leaves, and -when the experi ment was ended it was found that the plant had received such nourishment from the animal food. While there was a decided gain in every way, the greatest advantage was found by comparing the seeds produced by the different plants. The ratio between the weight of the seeds from those without animal food and those with it was as 100 to 379.7.

Hen Lice.

When a hen wants to sit, make a new nest with clean straw or hay, sprinkle it with a little dusted carbolic acid, Persian insect powder, or common flour sulpliur. When such precaution is not taken, hens are often literally driven from the nests by lice, and the eggs are lost, to the chagrin, and sometimes to the perplexity, of the owner, who does not know what is the matter. Hen lice art not very big, but they are influential, and should be systematically interviewed when a poultry keeper is desirous of success. No water fowl is troubled with lice, if it has plenty of water to swim and bathe in.

Stall-Feeding.

Soiling, or stall-feeding, is not a new idea. Previous to 1836 Lord Egremont, in Sussex, used to have his milch cows tied up during the greater part of the year. He maintained that one-third of the food was saved, that the cows were fed with one-fourth part of the usual trouble, and that more dung was made. Comparing even the system of yard feeding with the fattening installs, Mr Ellman, of (Jlynde, a skilful agricul turist, found that nine oxen fed loose in the yard consumed, in destroying as well as eating, as much as twelve oxen that were tied up.

Height of Trees.

The following heights are furnished by a correspondent as the average attained by different forest trees : —Oak 45 feet; ash 38 feet ; beech 45 feet ; birch 47 feet; elm 44 feet; lime 44 feet ; poplar 48 feet; fir 57 feet; chestnut 44 feet ; sycamore 37 feet ; yew 16 feet.

MY MOTHER.

Who did not feed me from her breast, But thought the “ patent bottle ” best ; And often called me “ little pest”?— My Mother. When sleep forsook my open eye, And rocking only made me cry, Who, then, would Steedman’s powder try ? My Mother. Who never watched my cradle-bed, Excepting peevishly, in dread Lest I should wake and lift my head ? My Mother. Who went to theatre or ball, And didn’t mind my grief at all, But let me cry, or squeal, or squall ? My Mother. Who ran to lift me when I fell, Then shook and scolded me right well, And skelp’d me, —where, I needn’t tell ? My Mother. Who whipped me always, as a rule, And said, “ You dirty little fool,” And sent me blubbering off to school ? My Mother. Who scolded when I soiled my bib, But laughed when I would tell a fib, And ditto when I lied quite glib ? My Mother. Who never taught my lips to pray, Or moral precepts to obey, Which was her “ wisdom’s pleasant way ?” My Mother. Who was a tigress or a lamb, Who raged at me, then gave me jam ; In short, who made me what I am ? My Mother. And can I ever, ever, be through my life of thee, Who Wast a terror unto me ? My Mother. Ah ! no ; for faithful memory shows My childhood’s miseries and woes : How I escaped, heaven only knows — My Mother. Rakaia _____________ J-

Drill Hall for Wanganui. —A new drill Hall for the Wanganui Volunteers has been erected. The building is also well adapted for public meetings, &c., and will accommodate 1100 people seated. The cost is about £950. The Wairarapa. —Gold prospectors in the Wairarapa district evidently _ mean business. Messrs Brandon, Crosbie, and Purdy, have started on a fresh tour of in vestigation. They intend to examine the Rimutaka Ranges very carefully from Featherston right down to the sea for in dications of auriferous ground, and they are very sanguine as to the result of their explorations. A Long Petition. — The 2000 or so people who want a railway between Hoki tika and Greymouth, used 100 yards of foolscap to tell their wants to Parliament. The Darrells. —The Sydney “ Tele graph ” of the 3rd instant says :—The many friends of that estimable lady will learn with regret that Mrs George Darrell, who is now in Melbourne, is suffering from a severe and painful illness In con sequence of this, Mr Darrell has found it necessary to withdraw from the co-lessee phip of the Victoria Theatre, fje will ap« pear this evening for the' Jast tjipe, I ails en Tm yfopjw

f Friday. October i /. 1879

IHE ASHBURTON HERALD.

Printed and published by Horace JOHN Weeks and Charles Dixon, at their Printing Office, East Street, AshbliftCM. Friday, Otfobpr, l], ityg. • ;j



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