WAIMUNGA STATE FARM

Hokitika Guardian, 9 October 1923, Page 3

WAIMUNGA STATE FARM

(Christ elm fell “Press.”)

The best grass to be seen at present on the West Coast is probably that growing on the State Farm at \Yaiiiiitnga. The pasture is beginning to show a tine spring growth, and even a paddock feeding a mob of wethers has an appearance pleasing to tile eye ol the dairyman. Further back there is a field of red clover which also does excellently. The one urgent need of the soil appears to he lime. The farmers m this part believe in light and frequent applications rather than in heavy dressings at longer intervals. To demonstrate the great and immediate effect of lime on the land, a strip about a chain wide in one paddock ol grass on tlie Slate Farm was left unbilled, and this shows up from a long way off. being as bare a- the palm of the band. Superphosphates arc not favoured in the disiiict. Basic slag is much more suitable, as it is not in a powdery form, and the strength giving elements it contains arc available only gradually. It is scaricly possible that tlie laud will ever be suited lor super-phos-phates in view of the rainfall, hut old residents who have kept an eye on the annual figures declare that with the clearing ol the bush a remarkable drop lias become apparent. About 15 cwt. of lime i- the usual anplii alion per acre. During the last, few years it lias become cheaper, ami this development lias rendered iis use more general. When it is stated that the land worth fanning between GrcyinouLli and Reefton is generally to be lound in riverbed flats, it is well to remember that streams abound, and there are many evidences that in the oast many more rivers than now exist flowed through the countryside. Thus large areas arc tipienl river-bed fiats, ideal dairying country. Bracken, Ifinekberry. reeds, scrub, and swamp still claim a large portion, and it is difficult to see how s.iiiTi land can over lie brought into ihe sphere of production without a greater sul'divisnon. The farms are al the present too large, considering that th" land cannot yet he said to lie properly broken in. Main' no In an area ol ibO acres contain less than (19 acres which Have been sown down, so that it can easily lie realised what prospects the future has in store. Some of the farmers at tie l present time are sowing grass and nuts, and s-wer.il report a good strike in that already sown. They consider they are well served by ihe Railway Department, and the stock sales which are held at limiigahua .Junction and occasionally at [nlara Elm are frequent enough for the t r sat is fact ion.

The great demand in the Ikamiit.ua and Ahatira districts is that the \\ a.imiiuga Stale Farm should he couverteo into a model dairv farm. It is 'considered useless lor experiments to lie conducted in dr\ stock, lor the only

animals kept on the larni arc bullocks and wethers. It is thought that an up-to-date dairy establishment would greatly benefit ’ the producers ill the district. Several breeds ol cows could 1 . kept, and records obtained of Gut - t ,■-] a I yield-, enabling farmers to determine tin- bc-t breeds to keep, and il good class hulls wore bred, these could he sold with advantage hut It to the dairvinun and the State. In view "1 t lie 'fact that the laud in the StabFarm is termed light by those in tne district, the grass grown spunks volumes for ihe grunt pivducl i\:ty ot t..