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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 62

Cost of Working a Farm in New Zvealand

Cost of Working a Farm in New Zvealand.

It may be thought, because remuneration for manual labour is higher in the colony than it is in Great Britain, that therefore fanning operations must cost more.

This is, however, erroneous. It is within the mark to assert that five hundred acres or more can be worked at less cost than probably it would take to work a hundred-acre farm in Great Britain, for the following reasons: firstly, the genial nature of the climate is such that it is not necessary to house stock during the winter months, saving thereby the cost of attendance; secondly, farming operations may be carried on uninterruptedly throughout the ploughing and sowing season; thirdly, the paddocks are so large, and usually level, that the double and treble-furrow plough may be worked by one man or youth. The colonial farmer has availed himself of all the most modern labour-saving machinery.

The hay crop is simply cut one day, raked into windrows next, and, in a couple more, it is ready for stacking.

Wheat is cut and tied by machinery, and stooked, requiring no capping. It is frequently threshed out of the stook in favourable seasons, thereby saving the cost of stacking and thatching, but this system is not advocated except in hot, dry seasons.

The manure bill, which is such a heavy item of annual expenditure with the British farmer, is unknown or nearly so to the colonial farmer. From 1 cwt. to 1½cwt. of superphosphates per acre is used with the turnip and other root-crops, and even this is not used in a large number of cases. It will thus be seen how many advantages the colonial farmer has over the farmer of the old country.