A FACTOR' IX D-AIRY FARMING. 59> 



selves at their leisure from the sun's rays, or the sudden change to 

 cold which one gets in the Colony practically from one year's endi 

 to another. Under prevailing conditions the sob she.ter th..t a 

 cow can get either from the sun, the rain or the wind is a six cr 

 seven-wired barb fence ! 



These few ideas indicate but a tithe of the benefits to bc- 

 derived from the proper and reasonable feeding of breeding; cattle,, 

 which causes lucerne to be such a factor in dairying, and it behoves 

 all those who possibly can to lay down lucerne lands. Not all can 

 do it ; the hilly condition of the land and the soil formation may 

 be adverse, but to them other crops are available. Lucerne in a. 

 country like this can never be a glut in the market, for if the mar- 

 ket is glutted for direct sale, the feeding of a farmer's own stock 

 and the indirect protit thereby derived is always open to him. 

 I believe, in fact I am sure, the indirect profit is greater and far- 

 more beneficial in the long run than that derived from the direct 

 sale. Of course it takes greater time to realise, but to balance all 

 this your stock reaches m.iturity earlier, and the manure obtained 

 by this system of farming is (,f no little value and importance,, 

 when by this practice tho far.niM 1 , while cropping his acres, can. 

 greatly improve his soil value 



I would like to see lucerne plr.ntecl on every available piece of 

 ground possible, whether under irrigation or net. Naturally l he- 

 crops are heavier under irrigation, but eveii without it, given: 

 reasonable cultivation, gor.d crops can be assured even in dry 

 weather. 



The changes that will arise from the extensive use of 

 lucerne by the dairy farmer of this Colony have in a very 

 detailed way been shown to be unbounded, and the beneficial 

 results that will arise to the milk producer and the Colony at large' 

 as a producing state must be enormous. When this development 

 and improvement have taken place and the raw article is produced 

 very greatly in excess of the present, then will be the time for 

 co-operative advancement. I ask you does it appear reasonable on 

 the face of it to sell off one's crops while one's own stock is wither- 

 ing away for the want of proper sustenance ? 



