A POVERTY BAY FARMER ABROAD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2154, 9 August 1907, Page 2

A POVERTY BAY FARMER ABROAD.

VISIT TO TIIE DARLING DOWNS

SOME IMPRESSIONS

Mr. John Partridge, a Poverty I Bay farmer, who recently returned from a trip to the Darling Downs Queensland, whither lie went ioi the purpose of studying the countiy with the object of buying land. in the dstrict, gavo a few impressions of tlio locality and its possibilities to a Times reporter. Toowomba, the central sotl'lemont of the Downs, is 600 miles from Sydney and 100 miles from Brisbane. Previously the traot I was used for grazing, but is now boing cut up into daily, farms. private syndicate was doing tlio cutting up and disposing of the land on toll years torms. Mr. Partridge went over one run which had boon. cut up • I tlio Eton Vale Estate. The sections ranged in area from 40 to 1,000 ncies, but they were mostly between oO and 150 acres. Tlio usual tiling was tor persons to tako up from five to ten of ithetso sections. The syndicate evidently does not intend to withdraw from the business, as during the time Mr. Partridge was in the country three more" estates .were bought for subdivision. Ihe rainfall on the Eton Vale Estate averaged 30 inches per year. The Downs are situated on the great dividing rango, but the average height is only 1000 loot., and it is hard to realise that tlio. land is elevated at all. Tlio rainfall decreases going west. Hie climate is the healthiest in Queensland, and Toowoomba is tlio health resort

of tlio province. Large grammar schools and boys’ colleges are situated I ill tlio tow'll. The dairy industry was I started on the Downs about, five years I ago, and sinco that time has been I going ahead fast. Toowoomba lias a I population of about 15,000, and mini- I hors of smaller townships are growing up along the railway lines. Five lines of railway converge at Too- I woomba. The land cannot bo com- I pared with that of Poverty Bay, as the two soils are so very different. I The country is beautiful to the eye— I here and there are wooded knolls I with long sweeping slopes in between. I The creamery system is not followed I —most of the milk is separated at homo, and the cream is sent by rail I to the butter factories, in most eases, I three times a week. The butter I manufactured lias a very fine flavor. There are prac! ically no artificial I grasses—the whole country is covered with “natural” grasses. These grasses make excellent feed in the slimmer and dry off in the winter. .There arc two condensed milk factories oil the Downs. , One is run by the wellknown firm of Nestle, who pfiy 5.1 d per gallon for milk. In Mr. Partridge’s opinion the. chief need of the district is a permanent artificial grass which would lie available in winter and summer alike. For winter feed lucerne, Capo barley, rape and pumpkins are cultivated, lucerne I being the chief crop. A good paddock of lucerne will stand five cuttings in a year, each cutting averaging from hnlf-a-ton to a ton per acre. A certain amount of wheat is grown and « considerable amount of maize. An ordinary crop of maize will run from 40 to 50 bushels per acre, and Mr. Partridge understands that two crops per year can be grown. The farmers break up their land and put in maize and pumpkins, very much as is done in New' Zealand. Maize costs considerably less than in New Zealand, as it- is ripened on the stalk, and further it. is put through a machine which strips the bushels and bags the grain. Oats are grown to a certain extent but only for chaff and straw. They grow' a tremendous straw and practically no gram. Hie fodder oats used are imported .from. Victoria and New Zealand. The soil, varies in color from very red to very black, with various grades of chocolate between. In places the black soil is 20 feet deep, with nothing in the shape of a sub-soil as New Zealanders understand it. The black soil is heavy and stiff. Farmers do not care .about driving in wet weather, as the wdieels of the vehicles pick up large quantities of soil. The general rule among sheep men is to buy large-framed merino ewes and cross them with Shropshire ranis. The lambs are fattened chiefly on lucerne and Cape barley, and sold to the freezing works. In wet seasons there is great trouble with intestinal worms in the sheep. Settlors aver that the present season is too wet for the good of their flocks. Mr. Partridge was very much struck with the number and quality of the pigs in the Toowoomba market. There w'ere 400 penned at one sale Mr. Partridge attended and very high prices were realised—from 3os for 80 to 901 b porkers to £3 10s to £3 15s for heavy-weight pigs running from “40 to 2501 b. The bacon industry is one of the biggest on the Downs, and the bacon turned out is in great demand all over Australia. There are -roveral bacon factories competing for the pigs raised. Practically the only flocks are of sheep. Rearing cattle on a large scale is greatly injured fay the tick trouble. Beasts have to be dipped every three months in an endeavor to get rid of the tick. The tick does not exist on the Downs, chiefly on account of the very temperate climate. Cattle from infested districts cannot travel to clean districts, such as New South Wale!. Owing to lack of combination and smallness of output the farmers could not command high prices for produce, and they only get about 10s 6d for fat lambs weighing 341bs. • Another handicap, was the long distances which had to be travelled to. seaports and the resulting high rates of railway carriage. Farms on the Downs ranged in price from £5 to £lO for arable land, according to the proximity to railways and the amount of improvements and cultivation. There are several New Zealand settlers on the Downs, who are satisfied that the country will increase in value; and they aro anxious to get moro New Zealanders there, because they say they bring in new ideas and are more enterprising than the old Queenslanders. The class of harness horse is very good. They are chiefly bred on the “natural” grasses out west where horse-breeding is carried on much as sheep and cattle breeding is done in New Zealand. The draught horses are a poor lot, the farmers breeding from cheap sires. Tlio majority of the dairy farmers like the milking shorthorn, though some favor the Ayrshire and Jersey breeds. One thing that militated against cropping on the Downs was that the country is liable to sudden and severe hail storms, and when one of tlieso had gone through a crop there was no necessity to put a harvester through it. Mr. Partridge had no experience of the summer climate, but he thinks the winter climate beautiful. For a week or ten days there would ho fine days with a clear blue sty followed by one showery day; and there was no half-and-half about the fine days. There is no doubt in Mr. Partridge’s mind about the actual fertility of the soil. .There is a noticeable absence of creeks and rivers. The water disappears and flows in subterranean streams. If a man wants a supply of

water for his stock he lets a contract to a bore sinker, who is also a waterdiviner. The finding of water was often ridiculed, but the men who took the contracts took no pay for sinking the boi* unless water was struck. These men walk along with a forked stick in their hands and when directly over the Subterranean stream the stick bends over.