HAURAKI PLAINS STOCK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4375, 8 February 1922, Page 4

HAURAKI PLAINS STOCK.

QUARTERS FOR WINTER. KOMATA REEFS DISTRICT. I . SOME CASUAL COMMENTS. Hauraki Plains farmers are always , interested in adjacent hill country, on account of t/ie drawbacks of the swamp • country during winter, when foot-rot and other cattle troubles caused by wetness are prevalent. Those who can afford to do so buy small areas Of hill country for winteri ing the stock on. For this purpose the Komata Reefs district appears to be admirably suited, being high and dry, having abundant bush for shelter, and most. ofi. it being good grass I country. . Looking towards the Komata Reefs district from the main Paerpa-Hiku-taia road, the stranger might think that the district, was a poor one beyond the flats forming the main foothills. but a trip up the road gives a far better impression; in fact, on most of the farms the best, parts are hidden from view, and bne has to go right in beyond the hometseads to see the, pick of the land on each farm. SUCCESSFUL., LUCERNE GROWING. I Mr W. L. Thorburn’s farm of 145 acres contains flats, fronting the rbad , which certainly look inviting. Off I one fertile patch Mr Thorburn has already taken three cuttings of lucerne this season, and expects to run | the scythe oyer twice more before . winter. On (another small area the | lucerne, though sown only last De-’ | cember, is in places up to sixteen j inches in height.

Mr Thorburn is one of the adapt-' able tlpe of Britisher whp is never bowled out by a sudden change in conditions. Eleven years ago he secured his present farm; at that time he was employed at a battery, mining then being carried on at Komata Reefs. He kept on at the battery, spending as much money as he could spare meanwhile to pay contractors to /fell the bush, until he ultimately took up farming altogether when the mining petered out. Judging by the maize, lucerne, mangolds, hay, and other crops he' has grown, for hand feed for his twenty cows, Mr Thorburn has made a success of farming. The homestead, which also serves as a local post office, faces a very pretty bay in the hills,'around which runs the Komata stream. The view from the front verandah is certainly very pleasing indeed, with the native bushclad hill, the varieties including tawa, cedar, rimu, toikau palms and giant punga ferns, and also a few dead but still standing, Kauris, the one-time monarch and pride of New Zealand’s forests. There is also, singularly enough, a lone karaka tree but in a paddock. Mr Thorburn says he knows of.no other karaka tree in Ohinemuri, although he would not go so far as to say there were no othersIt is a "tidy little farm,” cast in a pleasant, mould of Nature’s designing. A BONNIE FARM. For hill country for winter grazing Mr R. Patterson’s 100 acres would be hard to beat. As one goes along the cutting made to iorpi a vehicle .way to the homestead, onlp can notice that there is a depth of fi;om nine to twelve inches of good spil, and the vegetable garden is. a picture. On this property (which is announce! in Mr Jas. Couper’s advertisement space as being for sale) there are no fewer than four streams running through ; there is good milling timber. probably 150,000 feet, also enough totara for 2000 posts, besides an enormous quantity of firewood. A fine orchard and many useful, outbuildings add to the value of- this well-sheltered farm The place is set in a circle of hills, lying wholly to the sun from morn till eve, and comes as a surprise after noting the uncultivated hill next to the road. All along tire Komata Reefs road there are good wintering places, a few acres of which, with the main holding on the Hauraki Plains, would give a man possession of the ideal combined hill and flat country.