820 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.JF, [0^^^.2,1908. 



expei'iincntally, aiid wliat little we do know from local exjici-ieiicc is not too 

 retissiiriny ; iiowcNcr, that is prol)al)ly due in jiait to oni' lark of expcricMicc, 

 and without douht, much will yt^t be done l>v irrii^ation in localities where it 

 is possible to })rocuie or conserve the necessary water, still there will always 

 remain huge tracts where irrigation will mver be practical )le. In tlic-c parts 

 much nia\' be done without ii'rigation i)y producing and storing sufKcient 

 quantities of fodder in the good years, for 1 liCTc are I'cally few pai-ts of the 

 iState where this ina\' not be done in a normal time. 



Much has been written of tlii' unwisdom of allowinc the luxuriant growth 

 of grass and herbage to go to waste in a good season when stock are (piite 

 unable to keep it down, and men who, for the most part, spend their lives in 

 an office chair, read a, fcMv miscellaneous agi'icultural ]iul)lications. and acipiire 

 their knowledge of the country by travelling througli it, in a mail-train, abuse 

 the poor landholder, who has spent a lifetime in learning his busin(>ss, for not 

 cutting this supertluous growth and converting it into hav or silage. 



These men do not know the difficulty, expense, and disastrous i-esults to the 

 pasture of doing what they advise. VVe know a number of men who have 

 cut liirge (juantities of grass hay and stacked it, but they have never persisted 

 in the ])ractice, in this section of the State at all events. Experience points 

 to the fact that in almost all cases it will be found far more economical and 

 profital)le to cultivate fodder crops suitable to the district on prepai-ed land, 

 and cut and handle them in the regular way. 



Hay is better than nothing, but silage is better than hay for most purposes 

 where breeding stock are concerned. Ewes will rear good lambs and the 

 lambs will afterwards do well on silage, whereas dry hay is practically use- 

 less in such a case. The influence that a good reserve supply of succulent fodder 

 in the form of silage exerts on the management of a holding is far I'eaching. 

 Not only is this infiuence felt in absolute drought, but the knowletlge that 

 the supply is there to be called upon if necessary, will affect all the methods, 

 the stocking, the class of stock carried, etc. 



The tendency at present is towai'ds smaller holdings, and in these drv 

 districts where large runs have been the ordei- of the day, the small man. with 

 2,000 to 3,000 acres, is slowly but surely taking possessioji. Tliis is the 

 man to whom silage is going to prore an immense boon, and it needs no great 

 foresight to })redict that in the next few yeai-s almost all of these men will 

 be insuring themselves against loss in this way. The tendency is in that 

 direction. The prejudice and doubt as to its value are disapjiearing. and 

 every where one hears iiupiiiies as t(» the results obtainetl and metliods employed 

 by those who have j)ioneered the practic(>. 



One of the greatest sources of revenui' to the small iiolder is ij-oiny to be 

 fat-lamb raising for the export market, and with our capricious rainfall one 

 never knows whether he is going to have sufficient succulent feed to lamb his 

 ewes on — often indications are so bad that he is afraid to join the rams at all. 

 Such has been the case to some extent in this and other districts during the 

 present season, a great shortage in the lambing is the result, and in many 

 instances where the rams were put in a high mortality lioth.at and after 



