March, 1910 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. _ 
THE KRM, 
Farming in England. 
Ata recent meeting of the Minlatcn 
branch of the Agricultural Bureau an 
interesting paper was contributed by 
Mr. Paze on the above subject. The 
writer stated that the lot.of the English 
farmers, compared with those of Australia 
is not a happy one. Rents are very high, 
ranging from £2 to £8 per acre for 
agricultural land, and the tenure is very 
inzecure; the land in almost every case 
being held on a term of one year only 
There are practically no Crown lands in 
England, as we understand the whole of 
the farming lands being held by rich 
and being let to the 
He 
did not meet one farmer who owned the 
The English 
farmers are very reserved and conserv- 
ative as a class, and are unwilling to 
discuss agricultural matters with farmers 
from’ other parts of the world. They 
seemed to him to look on thém as their 
nataral enemies and to think that but for 
the other producers of the world compet- 
ing against them in the production of 
wheat and other grain they would realise 
a much better price for their products. 
Nevertheless the Englishman has the 
better of the Australian in wheat, as he 
can obtain from Is to 1s and 6d per 
bushel above the the price realised in this 
country. Another advantage which th® 
English farmer has is that labor is cheap ; 
but the cost of production in other ways 
must more than counterbalance the cheap- 
ness cf labor. Where the Australian 
farmer would do with one or two men, 
the English farmer would employ four or 
private owners, 
tenant farmers at a yearly rental. 
farm which he occupied. 
five. 
much more advanced and scientific in 
Agricultural methods appear to be 
Australia than in England, and the same 
might be said of labor-saving machinery. 
The multi-furrow plough and the large 
six or. ten horse teams are unknown in 
England, in fact, where more than two 
horses are used they always have an extra 
driver. He saw asmall seed drill being 
worked-by three men and one boy, and 
three horses—one driving two 
horses attached to the pole of the drill, a 
man 
boy leading one horse in front, and two _ 
men walking behind the‘drill. He also 
sew the same way of working a twine 
binder—two horses being driven by a 
man, and one horse in the lead being led 
by a boy with one man on the seat of the 
machine The English farmer does not 
sow a crop for hay, but cuts what is called 
meadow grass and clover. It is left on 
the ground for days, or even a week, after 
it is cut; then it is raked up into rows 
and tossed about until dry; it is then 
carted in‘o the stack. In some placesin- 
stead of carting the hay with wagons or 
drays, they have a long rake, or scraper, 
15 ft or 20 ft. long, with a horse attached 
to each end. With this the hay is drag- 
ged up to the stack. ‘t is then thrown 
on to aspiked elevator and elevated to 
the top of the stack, where it is taken and 
stacked by men with their hands—not 
with pitch forks. The wheat crops in 
the parts visited looked no heavier than the 
best in this district. I was told, however, 
that they should yield from 30 to 50 bus- 
hels per acre. The oat crops were very 
heavy, and should yield anything from 
50 bushels upwards. The barley crops I 
saw were very moderate, and not nearly 
so heavy as the best in this district. The 
fact that all. grain crops in England are 
bound and threshed with a header, or 
threshing machine, and that consequently 
little’ or no loss of grain occurs during 
harvest operations, would no doubt im- 
prove the yield per acre. Stock of all 
kinds, including poultry, are very much 
dearer than in Australia. 
are worth from 3s 6d to 6s 6d, and turkeys 
anything up to 38s. Fat sheep realise 
from £2 to £3 in the market, and fat 
bullocks up to £20, while draught horses 
are worth anything up to £70 or £) 
Dressed fowls 
The farm stock, however, is much superior 
to oure, particularly horses. He was Very 
much surprised, both in England and 
Island, to see the splendid class of horses 
working in the towns and on the farms 
Whether hackney, carriage horse, or 
ponies, they were all in good condition 
good movers with plenty of style, and in 
most cases perfectly’ sound, while the 
farm horses and those working in drays or 
wagons about the town are as good or, 
better than the stallions travelling for 
hire in this district. 
—‘K. & W, Times.’ 
What Irrigation Does. 
It reclaims arid wastes. * 
It makes a prosperous country. 
It causes the desert to blossom, 
It insures full crops each season. 
It makes poultry raising BGLII and 
particularly profitable. 
It multiplies the productive capacity — 
the soil. 
It destroys insects and worms and pro- 
duces perfect fruits. 
It creates wealth from water, SI 
and soil, 
It makes the farmer independant of 
rainfalls, 
It yields suiprisingly large returns to 
investors, ; 
‘It makes possible the Gethin of 
choicest fruits. . 
It gives arid lands great Bag over 
rainfall areas. 
It will increase threefold the value of 
rainfall.—“Poultry and 
ands having 
farm,” 
PRINTING 
EVERY 
DESCRIPTION 
AT SHORTEST NOTICE. 
“Australian 
Gardener” Office, 
20 Waymouth Street. 
