The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1892.

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 85, 16 January 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1892.

The following letter which appeared in the Pahiatua Star of the 13th instant should prove of interest to many of our readers. " Now that the bush season is approaching, probably settlers who have not had experience in grazing bush land may be interested to hear something about grass-seed sowing from a bush farmer of some little experience. Of course different mem have different opinions about grasses as well as everything else, but my opinion is that if anyone gives the following mixture a fair trial he will be satisfied. Allowance of course must be made for the quality of the land to be sown and the class of stock to be kept. This mixture I think will be found most suitable for hilly sheep country, such as the most part of the Forty- Mile Bush is composed of. If the land is low and rich, then sow a little more rye and less cocksfoot, and also add timothy, but it is not much use sowing timothy on hilly country. Try a mixture per acre of — 12 lbs. ryegrass, 8 lbs. cocksfoot, £ lb. alsyke clover, 6 ounces crested dogs tail, 6 ouacesheep fescue, 4 ounces meadow foxs tail, 4 ounces of rib grass or lamb's tongue, 2 ounces of trefoil, and £lb of yarrow to every 5 acres. Great care should be taken in procuring ryegrass seed. Poverty Bay rye-grass is always in great demand, because it is known to come from old pastures, and seed taken from the first crop always dies the first or second year after being sown. If any of my brother bush farmers can suggest another mixture of grasses, or any grasses, that I have omitted to mention I will be very pleased to hear from him. " Our surmise that the Ministerial candidate at the Wellington election would win the day has proved correct. Mr McLean defeated Mr Bell by 151 votes. The Ministry have thus saved a vote in the House, but we suspect this gain may prove a loss to them in the end. A candidate such as Mr McLean, who protested so much, cannot be reliable as a member, and Ministers will one day find to their sorrow that one who appeared but as clay in the potter's hands to be moulded into any form they liked, can be as adamant where his real private, or imagined public interests are concerned. Mr McLean has " changed his views " before, and will, very probably, do so again. As a member of the House his position is made secure, therefore it is not too much to expect that, like other and better men before him, he will kick down the ladder by which he has climbed so high. The Trades Unions and Labor Councils may be a terror and exercise a wholesome restraint over him for a little time, but he will soon learn, like the other alleged "labor members," to despise the common herd to whose existence he and they owe their elevation. Wellington has always had the reputation of rejecting the best men who have been candidates to represent her in Parliament and she appears determined to stick to it.