NOTES FROM SOUTHLAND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1494, 21 March 1885, Page 2

NOTES FROM SOUTHLAND.

[by d. b.]

ie As our harvest has now fairly started 0 perhaps your many readers may be in- , terested by a brief account of agricultural prospects here—the western district of e Southland. Reapers and binders can now be seen on every side in full operation, d There being such a variety of opinion as e to the respective merits of the different 1 machines, they are all employed, and the ,’ t large supply has considerably reduced the prices that prevailed some years ago. 6 The New Zealander (Reid and Gray) ' whica 1 believe is equal to any machine e in the field, can ho bought for L 55, a price :, not long since charge for the old Samuel- > son’s side delivery; but notwithstanding the reasonable price at which the colonial " machine is offered, farmers still largely ?, patronise the imported implements, 1 thereby injuring thsmselvOß and crippling > the enterprise of the locd mat!"' ‘ - factarers. To advance the old worn . out arguments for protection against ) free trade is one thing, but to pay away ! our earnings to a foreign country for I articles that can be manufactured here as cheaply and well by our sons and J daughters is another and one which, sooner or later, must engage our earnest 1 consideration. Wo have had a very s favorable spring and a ‘‘dripping” summer, and consequently wherever the land is suitable and properly cultivated, the crops are good. Taking the whole of the New River flat from Henmore to the Estuary, a distance of about forty miles, it may safely be said that the crops are magnificent: those of Messrs and J. Shand and J. I. Sutton, the proprietors of which are now buoy gathering ■ them, are equal to'any I baye ever seen. The weather, too, so far has bet?n parti- , cularly favorable for harvest operations, ] and hundreds of stacks are being built daily. The average yield of wheat on ' 1 expected to bp from 40 to 50 thisli.k. - and the quality of the t bushels per auto, ' <• remarkably 1 grain already thresheu .. '"Urrv- f good. In crossing recently from „ owen Estate, the property of Mr J. B j: Sutton, to the Aparima or Jacob’s river, a distance of 20 miles, I found a large acreage of the land in the vicinity of Spar F Bush to be of rather inferior quality; at b least the appearance of the crops now jg growing in that locality do not indicate a very genial soil. However, I am of opinion that if sub-soiled this land would b be second to none in the district; the d; natural drainage is good. A few miles pi from Spar Bush I came to a large valley tv known as the Waimatukn Flat, where the s land is of the moat fertile description and Pj has produced phenomenal cr 'ps The farmers in this locality, of whom a num!‘er are deferred payment settlers, have ( Q had much to contend with. The land di being formerly swamp required natych T draining, and there were great quantities a n of fi 'X and rushes to clear, but happily cr many of them are now enjoying the frifit ( yc of their labors iq the shape' of abuqdfnt l b«

crops of wheat, oats and crass seed, the latter yielding as high aa 70 bushels per acre. I may state that land highly improved capable of bearing such crops can bo bought here at from L 6 to LIO per acre on very easy terms. Mr Vvilliam r>a'e, who is well known in your district, having been engaged in farming on the “ Plains,” bought a farm of 400 acres last week at Lfi an acre. The land, which was formerly swamp, is partly drained, all fenced, some 100 acres ploughed, and carries a dwelling - house equal in every respect, to the Ashburton Parsonage or the Central Hotel. Mr W Thomson, late of Waterton, and Messrs W. and 13. Saunders, late of Ashburton, have also purchased farms ' a short distance from Mr Dale’s recent acquisition ; they are all , reclaimed swamp land. Mr Thomson has I just cut a crop of about 100 acres, which, i I have no hesitation in saying, is the best crop he ever grew. I found Mr Wm. Saunders busy cutting a small crop of Tuscan wheat, which gave promise of a splendid yield, fully 40 bushels to the acre. His barley is also good, and his oats, standing considerably higher than your correspondent, equal to anything in the district. Daring Dale, the farm of Mr B. Saunders, was purchased by that gentleman about eighteen months ago, and at that time, being a deep swamp, was barely safe to cross on foot. Now, however, three large drains six feet wide and three feet deep have had the effect for which the were designed, horses and drays can be taken over any part of the property with ease. Mr Saunders, assisted by Mr T. Hunt, also from your district, has ploughed a considerable acreage during the past summer, and with the aid of a few cross drains the whole of the holding could be brought undercultivation, when it would, nodoubt, rank as one of the best grazing farms in the colony. Leaving the Waimatuku Flat, I passed through that fertile track of country known as the Limestone Plains, a name given to it from the fact that it rests on limestone rock, which may be seen cropping through the surface in places The farmers here devote their attention chiefly to grass and turnips, and as a result they have made comfortable homes. Grain growing here, aa well as in Ashburton, has not been an unvarying success—too often when attempted upon a large scale it has been a lamentable failure. For several years past the Five Rivers and Merrivalo Estates have annually grown cereals to the extent of about 5.000 acres each, but now the price of grain having fallen so low and there not being a corresponding reduction in the cost of cultivation the proprietors Messrs Ellis Bros, are sowing down their land to grass. *he crops on the Bayswaler estate are, aa usual, very good. They comprise 2,200 acres oats, 400 acres barley and 490 acres wheat, the whole estimated to yield an average of 40 bushels to the acre But notwithstanding this satisfactory result the proprietors of the estate, Messrs Snrth and Kingswel), have sown down the area now under crop with English grass. Harvest operations here are carried on with vigor, and no time is lost in sending the grain to market. There are three threshing mills at work bagging 3.000 bushels daily, and the roads are lined with teams carrying grain from here and elsewhere to the Otautau railway station. In the Bayswater district Mr Edridge has a farm of about vO3 acres in extent ; the proprietor, with very evident and natural satisfaction, called my attention to a splendid crop of Timothy grass —SO acres From this paddock last year, Mr Eldridge sold upwards of 20 tons of seed, and although the present is the third crop in su cession, it promises to be quite equal if net superior to any of its predecessors. Next c«ne the celebrated Gladfield estate, which I see is advertised in your paper. It "curtains 11,000 acres of the very best agricul ural land, all flat, well drained and intersected by good roads. 7,000 acres of the estate have been cropped, all of which, with the exception of 200 acres now leased for one crop, have recently been sown down with grass and turnips. Mr J. O. McArdell, < n behalf of the British and New Zealand Mortgage and Agency Company, has been instructed to sell about 3,000 acres of this splendid property. The sale will take place in Invercargill on 4th April, and 1 am assured that only nominal reserves have been placed upon the sections. Buyers now are few and far between, and I have opportunities to know that it is intended to realise even at a sacrifice. Consequently, I would recommend every farmer in Ashburton to attend this sale, as I am confident that opportunities to buy grand sections of 50 acres and upwards will occur, and those persons fortunate enough to secure the bargains will never regret their visit to Southland. The Company represented by Mr McArdell is a substantial and liberal one, and although I have not the terms advertised at hand just now, 1 am sure any straightforward, practical farmer would have no difficulty in arranging money matters with the genial auctioneer—the only seller, by the way, who can dispute the pride of place with your Mr John Matson. A really good public

school under the charge of an efficient teacher is within half a mile of the property, and the spiritual wan-s of the neighborhood are attended to by by periodical visits from different clergymen. The Gladfield estate adjoins the rising deferred payment township of Drummond Twelve months ago Drummond had no existence, except, perhaps, on the map, but now the embryo city can boast of an

hotel, a general store, a sad ler’s shop and a score of dwelling houses, all occupied, and when the school just applied for is erected Drummond will be no mean town. Speaking of the respective merits and demerits of the different parts of New •Zealand, it must now be generally admitted that the pdr::_ has ariived Southland will have her say and can many special advantages. A few years ago large fortunes were predicted for the Canterbury, and particularly the Aahbqrton, producers of grain, but one misfortune and another have fallen upon the Canterbury farmers until many of them have been compelled to seek freih fields and pastures new. Scores of them have found what they sought in Southland, and are now settled upon our fertile plains “ where the grass grows green,” and with industry and frugality promise to build up homes which will be a joy to themselves and an inheritance and strength to posterity. In my next letter I will, with your permission, give full particulars of Otautau, '.Vaikola, and Vyray’s Bush, where there are a number of Ashburton immigrants settled and prospering.