How the Railways Serve the Farm

(By John Harland-Barber.)

(Govt. Publicity photo.)
Wheat in stook.—A typical scene on the Canterbury Plains, South Island, New Zealnd.

Once in a while there comes to every district an exceptionally prolific season. Some time ago a South Island province experienced this phenomenon, and such a growth of barley the old farmers admitted had never been seen. In the midst of this remarkable growth stood one paddock which surpassed even the surrounding record crops.

On the day when the reaper was put in to garner this wonderful harvest, an enthusiastic visitor stood with the owner, and saw the team of great Clydesdales almost sinking out of sight in the rippling golden waves of grain.

“It is the most magnificent crop I have ever seen,” he ventured.

“Aye,” said the farmer.

“It will return a stupendous number of bushels to the acre,” he went on.

“Aye,” agreed the farmer.

“And the market is towering, with no sign of a break,” concluded the enthusiast.

“Aye,” once again from the farmer. “But look what it has taken out of the land.”

The unexpected ingratitude of this gloomy remark was obvious; not so obvious the fundamental truth it expressed. The more successful the crop, the greater the amount of produce from a given acreage, the more the land is denuded of its vital elements. The sad story of the Middle West farms in the United States of America, where virgin prairie was mercilessly cropped, and left an arid desert when the farmers moved further west, showed the disastrous consequences of uncontrolled exploitation.

In a comparatively small country such as New Zealand, the imperative need of feeding the land after cropping has never been lost sight of, and the Railways Department, at an early stage in the history of the then Colony, recognised the vital need of bringing fertilizers and soil ameliorants to the farmer.

It would frequently happen that a

(Govt. Publicity photo.)
An example of prolific cropping in New Zealand, following the application of fertilizer to the soil.

farmer, handicapped by want of capital, could barely pay for the necessary fertilizers, and if he were faced with transport charges in addition, his position became impossible, and his sole alternative was to forego the application of fertilizers to his land, with disastrous results to both man and land.

Besides plant foods, most of the farm lands of the Dominion require the application of lime imperatively, and the urgency of the problem brought the Departments of Railways and Agriculture into co-operation to meet the situation. In the outcome lime was to be carried in lots of six tons or over for use by bona-fide farmers, orchardists and other producers, free of charge, for distances up to one hundred miles. The later development of road transport by motor vehicles led to the reservation by the Department of the right to withdraw the concession of free carriage if the recipient uses other means of transport than the Railways (presuming the Railways are available) for the carriage of other goods to or from the farm.

Fertilizers and artificial manures are conveyed at rates representing approximately a reduction of forty per cent, on the standard charges.

(Rly. Publicity photo.)
One of the finest fruit-growing areas in New Zealand. A scene in the Nelson Province, South Island.

It would be difficult to estimate the value of these concessions to agriculture in the Dominion. Year by year, the quantities of soil ameliorants handled by the Railways have increased, until now something like two and a-half million acres of land are annually treated with fertilizers. The grassland products alone in the Dominion at normal prices exceed £50,000,000 for the year, and as an indication of the services rendered by the Railways in assisting the achievement of so remarkable a development in the productivity of the land, it is worthy of note that the following tonnages of lime and artificial manures were carried free or at concession rates during last year.

In the earlier stages of the manufacture of fertilizers, it frequently happened that there was an undue proportion of what is known as “filler” or “diluent,” that is, material which produces no beneficial effect on crops or soil. Moreover, there was present, in some cases, an excess of moisture to the extent of perhaps twenty per cent. It became manifest that the carriage of useless or unwanted material at reduced rates, and that the farmer should be called upon to pay at the rate of from £15 to £30 per ton for either moisture or diluent of no fertilizing value was, to say the least of it, uneconomic. The need for strict supervision was speedily recognised.

Under the regulations of the Fertilizers Act and its Amendments the Department of Agriculture set up a system of rigid inspection and analysis of fertilizers, with the result that the Railways have now little or no dead weight to carry, and the farmer is protected so that when he purchases fertilizers he is supplied only with actual plant food or soil ameliorant. The magnitude of the problem may be measured by the number of brands of artificial manures registered in the

(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Loading frozen meat at Wellington, New Zealand, for the London market.

year 1931–32. This was something like 2,200, a number which appears ridiculous in a country the size of New Zealand. The bringing into operation of a scale of registration fees has reduced the number of brands to 915 in the past year. It may be remarked that many of these are identical or very similar, but manufactured or marketed by different companies.

Duly delivered to their destination on the farms, the lime and manures are left to perform their vital function, and the first part of the Railways task is completed. In due season, the tide turns, and from woolshed and dairy factory, orchard and farm, flows back to the railway sidings a stream of produce and stock. Long trains of sheep and cattle trucks move in orderly succession to the freezing works; truck loads of wool and produce to the centres; refrigerator vans bring beef and mutton or fruit to the wharves of the main ports for overseas shipments, and so the Railways tale of services rendered to agriculture in the Dominion comes round full cycle.