PUNI.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 5, 19 January 1915, Page 1

PUNI.

The enterprising farmers who have recently purchased propei ties in the Puni district are commandeering " Father Time " on every possible occasion in their endeavours to bring about changes on their newlyacquired holdings, in accordance with their ambitions of getting into line with the highly-cultivated properties of the distriet. Some noticeable improvements have been carried out on the property of 84 acres purchased by Messrs Gibson Bros,, late of Tuakau, from Mr F. Schlaepfer. Three large living rooms have been built on to the old dwelling situated on the property and the entire building has been painted. A patch, on the farm, of five acres of oats is doing well and has improved considerably since the recent showers of rain that fell in the district. Two acres of potatoes, growing in another paddock, have also freshened up since the " rainy day" and are coming on apace. The herd of milking cows, which are a healthy looking lot, should give good results. Improvements are also being effected on the 1300 acre property in the south-west portion of the district, purchased from Mr R. Pilkington by Mr Maurice Coughlan, late of Epsom, a pioneer farmer of the South Island, who started farming in the South over 30 years past. The new owner has some thirteen nren working on the farm stumping, ploughing, etc., and reconstructing the dwelling house. The acetylene lighting plant installed in the homestead is to be replaced by an electric plant, which will be used for both lighting purposes and for driving the various machines that are to be installed. The new owner anticipates harnessing the power of three watertails on the property, which have dtops of sixy feet, forty feet and twenty feet respectively, for power to drive the electric plant. It is Mr Coughlan's intention to specialise in sheep, and his idea is to purchase some 4000 ewes. In addition to two teams of horses there are 125 dry stock, a herd of 25 milking cows and a fen hack horses running on the property. With the tdea of paying a fair amount of attention to cropping on the farm Mr Coughlan has purchased the many agricultural machines necessary on a property of such dimensions, and already a large paddock is being laid down in turnips, three hundredweight of bonedust being spread over the field to assist the producing effects of the soil. The property is well watered with numerous spiings of clean, wholesome water that abound in the various paddocks of the farm. Shelter for the cattle is also well provided for by the pii<us insignus and native bush that are glowing luxuriantly. At the northern end of the farm a quarry, from which the Franklin County Council has taken some thousand feet of blue metal for works in the district, runs into the side of the hill. Tram lines for the laying down of a 300 yards tram line are already on the .property, and the Franklin County Council crusher will shortly be brought to the quarry, when crushing operations will start. Improvements in the way of painting the Puni public school and repairing the inner fittings of same are to be made shortly. A coal shed is also to be built, adjoining the shelter shed, and a new four hundred gallon tank will replace the present two hundred gallon tank, which is inadequate for the requirements of the school. The number of children on the school roll is fifty-three, which number will be increased by seven children of new settlers in the district after the Christmas vacation is over and the pupils have returned to their studies. Mr J. Preece has been fortunate with his potato crop, having dug two acres of "Stars" that yielded eight ton to the acre. An acre of onions growing on the same farm, although only planted in July, is in a tit condition to be harvested, and a crop of lucerne, which by the way is seldom seen in this district, ia doing remarkably well. The last crop of lucerne which was the second crop cut bv Mr Preece of the same patch that the present ' crop is growing on, was only cut four weekß past and alreadv the present crop is ready for cutting.