THE AOBICULTUBAL JOURNAL. 



369 



Malton Farmers' Association, 



^PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



At the annual meeting of the Malton Far- 

 mers' Association on 31st July, at Settle, the 

 Chairman (Mr. W. Baynes) said :— During the 

 past year three general meetings have be™ 

 held, and three new members elected. The de- 

 putation appointed in October to urge on the 

 Prime Minister the appointment of a Station- 

 master at Otto's Bluff was courteously received 

 and led to entertain the hope that the request 

 would be complied with during the early part 

 of this year. If nothing has been done yet in 

 the matter ws may be surj that valid reasoua 

 can be alleged; but I understand that the 

 necessary building will shortly be commenced. 



The negotiations for importing bone meal 

 having, unfortunately, fallen through, we shall 

 have to be content with basic slag, or suth 

 other commercial fertilisers as suit each man's 

 fancy, soil, or pocket. 



Rust and blight continue to afflict our forage 

 crops, and no satisfactory remedy or substituLo 

 is yet forthcoming. Millet (or manna) wUJ 

 probably be more grown. Some was shown at 

 New Hanover last week, or very fair growtii, 

 but it, too, seemed to have suffered from nist.' 

 Those who have good dei^n soil should give 

 lucerne a trial. To convert it into hay of a 

 marketable quality, a mowing and a baling ma- 

 ehine would be required, a,^A these are eomino- 

 into more general use; for havmaking, general- 

 ly, has become a great industry, and vast areas 

 are now annually shorn of their natural grasses 

 How long they will submit to it without ma- 

 nure IS a question that tin e only can answer. 



I have again to record a dry spring— tlie 

 driest m my experience. To get any crops in 

 at all demanded energy and crganisation of on 

 mean order. Eleven days was all I had. Uniil 

 March no rain of any consequence fell liere 

 since March of last year, jigain, the hi<?hcr 

 lands have had the advantage. Except, 

 haps, in a few favoured places, the mealie crop 

 will be below the average. At present prices 

 It will not be a very remunerative one, when 

 we ta,ke into account the cost of fertilisers, 

 kahr labour, and trek oxer, and the fact that 

 mealies, being now the only crop that it is safe 

 to grow, must pay the whole rent of the farm 

 It IS very unsatisfactory, ioo. that, with a few 

 weeks only, at high pressure, for ploughing 

 and weeding, there should be such an uncon- 

 scionably long time to spare for reaping. The 

 ploughing season, being so s^ ort, necessitates a 

 large number of oxen being available, and then, 

 for eight or nine months, on i iost farms in this 

 district, there is absolutely -nothing for them 

 to do. In former times diov would have o-o.io 

 on the roads, "leading transport." That is now 

 a thing of the past. But, as usually happens, 

 something else turns up, and it seems likoiy 

 that employment will hereafter be found -Vt 

 least during the autumn, in ploughing ' ior 



wattles. Just now t)he farmer is moat fortu- 

 nate who has a wattle plantation of his own 

 to fall back upon, when he runs short of ready 

 money, or employment for his hands. 



Two meetings of the Natal Farmers' Confer- 

 ence have been held, at which this association 

 was represented. Your delegates failed to carry 

 the resolution urging the slaughter of lungsick 

 beasts, too many people being still of opinion 

 that a beast is all the better, and in fact, m^i^ 

 valuable, for having undergone a course ol 

 pleuro-pneumonia. Such a beast, it is true, 

 may be fairly considered immune, and incapable 

 of again contracting the disease from another; 

 but, should he ever get a touch of fever or in- 

 flammation, and his lung be then reerudescenc. 

 I am still confident that he would be a very 

 lively source of contagion. However, as such 

 animals are being disseminated, as it were, all 

 over the colony, careful observations should 

 soon settle this vexed question one way or the 

 other. 



A resolution passed by the Conference in 

 favour of the immediate establishment of ex- 

 perimental farms, has been already given effect 

 to iby Government, and a sum of 'money voted 

 by Parliament for the purpose. I know so?ne 

 people deprecate such things as a useless wa^te 

 of money — like offering pearls to swine. I trust, 

 however, some of us are a'oimated by a mjre 

 teachable and progressive spirit. In all age.s, 

 since Adam took to farming, and in all coun- 

 tries (from China to Peru) that have attained 

 to any degree of civilisation, agriculture has 

 been the special and constant care ot Princes 

 and rulers. Its encouragement and protection 

 have been recognised as necessary not only to 

 the comfort and wealth, ibut the very existence 

 of a great nation. In our own times the far- 

 mers of America, Australia, and many other 

 countries, have had experimental farms, ac^ri- 

 cultural colleges, professors and experts, lav- 

 ished upon them. Their eiilightened and far- 

 seeing rulers take care that every aid and en- 

 couragement possible shall be held out to those 

 who are willing to develop the resources of the 

 soil. In the United States, especially, nearly 

 every item of extensive a^gricultural' produc- 

 tion has long been protected from foreign com- 

 petition by an adequate impost on all such ar- 

 ticles as would otherwise °nter into a success- 

 ful rivalry with them from abroad. Is it not a 

 fact full of significance for us that these are 

 the very countries that are now suecessful'y 

 competing with us in supplying South Africa 

 witn almost everything we consume? Therefors 

 It behoves us, I say, as farmers, to show ^ur 

 appreciation of such favours as we are receiving 

 from the Government, hy utilising them to the 

 utmo.st foi- our own and the colony's benefit— 

 and then to ask for more. 



As a beginning, I would suggest that we each 

 give our worthy and oblig;ng Hon. Secretary 



