WHAT TARANAKI GROWS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 605, 7 September 1909, Page 8

WHAT TARANAKI GROWS.

It's- little, but it's wise , And a terror for its size. . : .'. , :'. —Old Ballad ■/What Taranaki -grows, besides ;butter and. cheese, hhs been.told, by a.writbr in!thb,''Kew Zealand-l^armer"- ' - ■ ■-.■ . "Taranaki's production of-dairy produce,' he says, ''seems .wonderfully ;good Vwhen the ■sizo .of .the: province ia considered';,:. There' are: less than, 'a rand a quarter macros .of..land in occupaition"'thore, ; while there'' are about, thirty-eight , millions occupied in the' Dominion. : The proportion undor cultivation though-is much .in favpiif, of Taranaki,' iyh.ich has nearly.; a million acres tluls :'in' us'o, ' while' the; ttital-'in Ncw ; Zealand''is• between: fifteen and.sixteen millions. 1 , 'The holdings in. Tarai • naki. average about -170 acres., Tho, average, for .tho'iDominion'.is ovcr i2OO. acres.' .....Tara- . nalii has 32,500 acres /'under/crops'); and 650 .acres (fallow: land; 35,500 acros-are. in.'grasps, of J.frhichi' 22,500' are ip .tiissoek ' and ' native 'grassesv'; Of' tho 13,000 acres', of .sown; grasses. .5000 vare." on .' ploughed. .8000 /on, /laiids'nbt.ploughed/. VfJot iihucli' fruit, ocvtr'ee-'i growing is'done, as .tho . extent .of-.the or-' ,cbards..;is lonly : crops in Taranaki, oats, as in other .parts' of •New /Zealand, is /in the, /heaviest.;;:,acreage..' : Tliero are 'aliout .10,000 aor.es ..of ,'oiits.' grown, ;ahd:thc/npxt:,heavießt/graini,/is..b'iirloy,>bibb'; is ; little. moro than a . tenth so' extensively grown.: Thero are about ,400 aorcs; of wheat/ 300 acres of maize, and not 100 acres of rye, •Tho';- total/ grain /cultivation, amounts;;to ,a : little; over 12,000,: acres,': which 'is nof;. much moro than one per . cent, of tho area so. .utilised in:'the. whole' Dominioii.. / . , i.. • '.bettor. : in .:green props;-.:'-The comparatiye'.-percentago/per. acrein'unangolds isiheavier/than in any : otner proiy'iiibo. l-Taranaki"'has ,'ovbr 1300 acres'of the ■irppt crop down, Hawke's Bay less /than 1000 acres,' Auckland . and ' Wellington lbss;/ still, Canterbury about 3800 acres, and .Otafeb,TsQO' ;<jr' 1600. acres.', The area .of. mangolds groin: ;in ''.Taranaki; is, more than onMigbtli;of;;thb /area: grown' in : the. Doniinibn. 1 , :About' TOO; oi :800' acrcs/'of Taranaki soil'-.is 'used for grow'ing;potatoes and' 17,000..for.turnipi-.taisingj jb'oth :of which /show - pfoportibnately heavy icomparative. w-hile '3500.'ito'; 4000, 'acres are down in rape. 1 .yery is •grown,!; and/about.>7oo.;'.acre's,';of ithe. land used, for feeding' down 175,000.' > 'aj«es: have beenjploughed/and,.sown, most..in' grass/ and a few-hundred; acres' in.clover."': The; ; land '.hot' ploughed but ,surface':,soivn about 730,000/ acres.About .I.l^ooo':acres.}is /'Used for hay,/.'and;:' a ' tenth; of (that, .area--for": en-; silage." , ; : ;,';/; i.