Mrs. Lance Rawson

“ Clearing and stumping is the most tiresome work of all to be done on new ground, so if our man can manage to get land already cleared and stumped he will be wise to do so. He should look out for a selection that has been forfeited, there are often such to be got, many of them partially improved even to the extent of being fenced. But I am surmising that my young farmer has to go through all the difficulties and hardships of the pioneer, and there-fore I give all plans, ways and means of working through them. ”

“ Maize is the best crop to grow on unbroken land, and to plant it he will have to hoe patches here and there all over the ground, keeping them as well as he can in line, make them raised somewhat like little hillocks, and plant three or four grains in each, this crop will loosen the ground for the plough. And while it is growing he may as well build his fowl house. Poultry will do no harm to the corn once it is well above ground, and by the time he has other crops in he must have a closer fence to keep out other animals than fowls, if his farm is to be for general stock. ”

“ He may have to pay pretty high for old milkers if they are good, possibly as high as £8 or £9 if he lives in New South Wales or Victoria, less in Queensland, but the money is well laid out if they are good and know him. In buying these cows, unless he is a good judge, or, as they say "has a good eye for a cow," he will do well to take some old farm hand with him. He does not require a well bred cow, or one perfect in form and point. She may be the meanest looking old scare crow imaginable and yet an invaluable old lady in the yard with young and flighty mothers. ”

“ The first thing to do is to fence the selection, this he can do himself, having learnt to split and fence while on the farm, but it will be slow work for one pair of hands, and he must have someone to help him cross-cut the logs for posts and rails, and also he knows that the quicker this is done the sooner will he be receiving some return, for directly his fence is up he can put his cows in, and if close to town, as he may possibly be, he can sell his milk. He can live in a tent while all this is doing, and by and bye when his cows are in and growing he can build the house. ”

“ When his corn has been gathered (he can give the cows the stalks, they will relish them if it has been a poor season) he had better see about ploughing the cleared land, and if he cannot go to the expense of a plough and horses, he should make some arrangement with a neighbour to plough and harrow it for him. If he has his own plough he cannot do better than plough, cross plough, and plough again, the more be stirs up the earth the better return will he get. If he has not had a very good crop of corn he must not grumble or be disheartened. ”

“ A Chinaman will often take five or six of his countrymen out to see his market garden, he says to them—"You can stop here for 'so long' till you get work, and you can work in my garden in return for your food." ”

“ A bad tempered cow will never make a good milker. If she does happen to give plenty of milk she is a nuisance in the yard, worrying the other cows, restless, pushing, irritable. She will be a mistake in the yard, just as much so as a bad tempered man. A bad tempered man will never succeed in the milking yard. In breaking in to the bail the greatest patience is necessary, as well as gentleness. ”

“ As time is money to a man beginning as I am describing, his fowl house should be on a plan quickly built, by and bye when he has things in full swing he can build a large house, and the old one will come in for a turkey house. If my young farmer lives in New South Wales or Victoria, where there is a fair proportion of very cold weather every year, he must make his fowl house close instead of open. And if he has plenty of small saplings he cannot do better than utilize them for his walls. ”

“ Often such a man as our young farmer can get a man or boy from the depôt; there is great sympathy between new arrivals, and if he can get into conversation with some one from his own country town, or even country, the chances are that he will be able to make a bargain beneficial to both. Many a new chum would rather work for nothing with a man from his own country than for high wages with a stranger who knows nothing of him or his country. ”

“ No doubt, fruit growing is fast becoming an acknowledged industry in the colonies, so our young farmer must bear it in mind when planting. It will be best to have the fruit trees near or round his house, so when he has decided where he intends to build he can begin and plant them about that portion of his land, always, of course, arranging them in order and line. He will be able to beg a few trees from his neighbours. Mulberries as a rule are very plentiful, also peach, orange, and in Queensland quavas, mangos, &c., &c. ”

“ The pumpkins as they ripen must be brought in and stored, and, so long as they are not bruised or broken, they will keep many months, not so the melons which must be sold for what they will fetch, and I would advise that they should be sold on the ground to some fruiterer who will come and take them as he wants them. The great thing in growing melons, or indeed any farm or garden produce, is to be first in the market. To plant, the instant the season begins, particularly is this the case with melons, the first of the season always command a good price and thus several pounds can be made. ”

“ The horses will be useful to him hereafter, in fact he will have to have a couple of horses very soon for hauling his fencing stuff, &c., but if he decides to sell firewood himself, that is retail it in the town, he will want more than two horses to do all the work, and his wood will only fetch from six to eight shillings per load. Of course, if he is close to the town and has two carts going he might sell four loads a day while his wood lasts, if he sells the wood on the ground he will have no trouble, unless he thinks it worth his while to keep a man to cut and do nothing else. ”

“ If near a Chinaman's garden he can, for about sixpence per week, get enough green food for a couple of pigs, then if he has any spare milk, which is hardly likely. However, until he sees a prospect of being able to keep a pig he must not get one, as it will not pay him to buy food. If he planted pumpkins among his corn by-and-bye they would help to feed his pigs. ”

“ The man who carries a stick to drive the calves to bed, or to bail up his cows, should be banished from among them. Treat all animals as friends and reasonable creatures and they will obey your voice and do your bidding carefully.
Having started my young farmer on his own land with a few cows bringing in a small return, I must now shew him how to earn something more from his land, while he is preparing it to make his fortune. ”

“ A square hole can be cut at the bottom of the door to allow the fowls to go in and out safely, and to prevent dogs, pigs, &c., from getting in. But now if our young farmer lives in Queensland or in the warmer districts of the other colonies, I would advise quite a different style of fowl house—one I have found far more healthy than the closed in places. It can be any shape, according to the fancy of the builder, though the round house is most convenient for all purposes. ”

“ Of course, if he has the money to lay out in carts and horses he will do well to sell his wood himself, as it is a very profitable industry selling wood. But then if my young farmer has sufficient money to spend on carts and horses he will be able to start his farming venture in a very different way to this. I am writing for and to an imaginary young farmer whose means are of the smallest. Many of my economies would be unnecessary to a man who has money to spend. ”

“ Well, we will now suppose a man has served his twelve months with a farmer and has selected 160 acres of agricultural land at a rental of 6d. an acre per year. This is a better plan than purchasing outright, as it gives him the means to stock with the money he has saved. His cows will almost pay the rent, and at the end of five years the farm will be his own when he pays the 10s. ”

“ A nervous cow's milk will not be good, and there is no doubt that numbers of young cows are utterly ruined every year by the foolishness of those who first handle them. Most cows will make good milkers if properly broken in. A man needs to be in sympathy with the animal he handles, be it horse, cow, dog, or any other creature. ”

“ It is not to be expected there would be much of a crop grown in that way on unworked soil; provided he gets enough to feed his poultry, and give a little to the pigs, he may think he has done very well. The corn should be shelled by-and-bye, he will not need to buy a corn sheller for this small quantity, he can most likely do some of it himself during the evenings or he may be able to get some children to shell it for a few pence each. That for the pigs can be left on the cobs, they will prefer to shell it themselves. ”

“ On some it grows in patches, on others it becomes woody, and unless you really get a good crop, it pays worse than oats, barley, or almost any crop. On the other hand if it grows well it is a certain income, and being so little trouble is a better crop than any to grow. Five acres well fenced, cleared and under the plough, will give ample room to grow all he will have time to attend to for some time to come. ”

“ The man who comes with a little money will do well to put that money into the Savings Bank, and hire himself as a labourer on a farm, where he will very soon pick up the knowledge he requires of the different seasons, the different crops grown, and many other details which he will be the better for knowing before risking his money in a venture on his own responsibility. ”

“ When the land is cleared it is ready for ploughing if our young farmer has a plough or can get the loan of one. If he can do neither at present, I would suggest his getting one crop off the land in the meantime. ”

“ If there are bees, and few insects, when the vines flower he must go among them every two or three mornings, before the dew is off them, and fertilize the female flowers with the pollen from the male; if he does this the yield from the vines will be greatly increased, and it will take very little time. All that is needed is to pick a male flower that has plenty of pollen and shake it over the female flowers. He must learn which is which, or he may make the mistake of picking his female flowers instead of the male. ”

“ I once heard it said of an unfortunate half witted lad, "He is splendid with the cows and horses, can do anything with them. If they are ever so wild and rowdy with the others, and Carl goes into the yard, they'll quieten down." I was curious about the matter, because I hold the idea that great intelligence is requisite to manage animals, and that no man or woman of weak intellect should have anything to do with them. ”

“ THE YOUNG FARMER.
AGREAT many young men who have been farm hands at Home, when they come to this country, having a little ready money, buy or rent land, and become farmers on their own account, forgetting that their knowledge gained in England or Ireland, as the case may be, is of very little use to them here in the colonies. ”

“ The horse will be the heaviest expense. There is no use in my putting down any price or a limit even, as the price of a good horse depends more on the market, the supply and demand, than on the animal itself. However, I should think from £12 to £18 should get a very good horse of the kind required. If he is really unable to buy then he must just do as I have suggested, depend upon his neighbours. ”

“ It is far better to have a good man who understands his work at 25s. per week, than it is to engage an emigrant like himself or a boy at 15s. or £1, who knows no more, perhaps not as much, as himself. If he has a good man with him for a few weeks he can gain experience from him, and in fact learn more than the worth of the wages he has to pay him. ”

“ Once everything is ready for working he must bespeak a few customers for his milk, he will not want many, only just a few so that he will have no excuse for lying in bed and neglecting to milk on a Sunday morning, regularity is the great thing in all matters, and cows especially, they mast be milked regularly to improve and also to give them the habit of coming to the yards for the purpose. ”

“ There the cows are stalled and fed on all sorts of milk producing food. Here, well one has only to look at them to see how very little attention they get. By and bye, when we are older and wiser, we too will stall, feed, and attend to our cows, as doubtless we will to many other things, but at present we are getting along anyhow. ”

“ If my young farmer has the means and can afford to ignore the sale yards, his best plan will be to select his heifers from some station herd he has heard spoken of, then of course he can start with well bred animals, but very, very few are able to do this at first, though by degrees they can work into the better class. ”

“ One way of getting rid of stumps is by burning, piling up small wood round each and making the fire at the roots after digging well round and under them, but this is a slow process, and it is almost better to cut them out with pick and axe. ”

“ Therefore, have your bail covered, and for this nothing is better or less expensive than a thatch roof, and almost all farm hands know how to thatch, if not, they can soon learn. The floor can be slabbed, some of the rails left over from the fence, if cut and properly dressed with the adze, will answer the purpose, but they must be securely fastened. A good plan is to raise the floor a few inches by laying three or four sleepers under, then the slabs can be nailed to them, and the approach into the bail must be, as it were, sloped off so that the cow has not to step up on to it. ”

“ But if a man does as I suggest, by the time his year is up he has added to his previous knowledge of Home-farming a knowledge of Australian also, and the two combined must prove of untold value to a shrewd man just starting life on his own account. ”