ROUND ABOUT HALCOMBE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 546, 29 June 1909, Page 8

ROUND ABOUT HALCOMBE.

A GLANCE AT SOME OF THE FARMS. Our travelling correspondent writes; — One day, in travelling from tho Mangaone Road, across country, to tho l''eilding ltoad, I came across some land'as good as ono need wish. My route lay across tho properties of Messrs. l< , . Vleasants, H. Hoduiayno, and J. . Managh. The land! had) been, mostly bush formerly, and was now carrying a wonderful sward of grass. ; Ono paddock, which was shut up, was a splendid one. A little further on I camo across some rape paddocks, much' ahead of anything I have seen this season. I do not'knoiv'how many, times: it had been browsed' bn.-'but,'l

when I passed, thoro was any amount of feed left. To show what this rapo must have boon originally, 1 may mention that my feet brushed the tops of the- stalks as 1 rode, along. It seems to uial;o no difference what tho quality of tho land is where tho turnip blight comes. A paddock of swedes, through which I next wont, were very poor. In fact, a decent turnip crop seems a rarity this year. On all hands, I met tho Bamo re-' mark: "My turnips aro not much uso this season, on account of tho blight." After getting out of tho bush lands, the soil is not go good, having been scrub country in bygono d-.iys. However, it grows very good oats, and it seems that tho more tho ground is worked, tho better it is. I noticed, in some casos, that the ploughing was too shallow; at least I thought so—it did not soem to bo inoro than four inches. I made a remark to that effect to one farmer, and be said that it was deep enougfi, as all tho woods and rubbish were covered. But I take it that this is only one consideration in ploughing; and only a small one, too. The more important aim is breaking up tho ground as deeply as possible, in order to get good tilth. If the same pieco of ground is turned over year after year, it must become impoverished. However, it was not only there that 1 saw tho better soil. In Halcombo district, on the Stamray Road,'in the valley, there is a thirty-nine-acro farm, owned by Mr. Neilson; a Dane.. From what ho'told mo, and from what I subsequently learned, this must ho one of tho best little farms in the district. Mr.; Neilsen states that he had some eight or nine paddocks. This last season he had milked eik cows, two of them being .heifers, and, from them, fie had sold 10671b. of butter, in addition to tho quantity used in.the house. Ho had 115 sheep at present, but had 139 a short, time ago. tie geta the ten price for his fats, and, besides these, ho had always one horse, sometimes two. A short while ago, he used to' grow, a Jot of potatoes, and raised as much as i 2 tons to the acre. These jottings may serve to show that there is good land round Halcombe. • "