Land Values in the Manawatu.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 May 1910, Page 2

Land Values in the Manawatu.

UP TO £40 PER ACRE

Coming .along the road from i'a.l- - (writes a. correspondent of the .banners' Union Advocate) 1 met a friend, who know the values of the land in tho neighbourhood, well, he said ho had just sold his farm to Mr Hugh Gillies at £39 an acre, and had bought in near tho A-wnhuri Dairy Factory for £40. He only retained a small piece of it himself, and let the resit of it at £2 10s per acre for milking. Several pieces he showed me had brought £50 an acre, and one does not wonder so much at these prices, seeing that they are paying out lid for butter-fat, and tba!t tbo land carries cows so well. Provided a littlesummer feed is grown and that cows could ho wintered, much of this land would carry >a cow to the acre, and you can figure up what ItUio land is worth! it runs into big figures. There is no doubt the quality of the cows could ba improved. The dairy folk do not seem to riso beyond tugging at the iteats, taking the milk to the factory, and bringing back the skim-milk to feed tho pigs. The constant toil, Itlhe long hours, and the monotony of tho job makes it inevitable that they leave enterprise io the men of. more leisure. The man who mn»kes progress is not often the man who works, but the man who thinks; and after such monotonous work a.s milking a, man doesn't want to 'think about cows. But when butterfat falls, then the dairyman must sharpen his wits and improve his herd. Few of these dairy farmers belong to the Union; if they did. and came to the meetings it would add some interest to their jives, and thev would soon take to improving their herds by systematic! testing and weighing of individual cow's milk.

I hear that turnips which were thought to have recovered from the blight are very disapointinp. In th?' Abordeens nuit« half of them ire useless. The Imperial Green Globe has fared hatter, and. there is nerbn-ns an eighth of them spoilt. Tin's will leave only half n crop, which will +b« winter- few! verv e™w l ena<blv. Th* ontoh bjqW. o.ii'l pirn buTbi. , !": "'fil, rr> +J , '" «-ill, "im axfavt. mrko up frv tho loss of the main crop.