TAIHAPE TO AUCKLAND.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9170, 13 June 1908, Page 7

TAIHAPE TO AUCKLAND.

VIA MAIN TRUNK LINE.

(Contributed.) 'Continned from yesterday. BEYOND TAUMARUNUL The journev is resinned at eight •o’clock on the following morning, the route passing through the King •Country. It is not possible to form -anything like an accurate opinion of the capabilities of the soil from the window of a railway carriage ‘ travelling at express speed, but it is •easy to discover that modern methods of farming have not yet "been introduced into the large tracts of country through which the railway passes. Fellow passengers ■ spoke highly of the qualities of the soil about Te Kuiti and onward, embracing the historic settlement of Te Awamutu. Sixteen miles farther on and Prauktou Junction is reached at noon. The journey was broken here- and a fewglays were spent in and around the Hamilton and Cambridge districts. ' THE WAIKATO. These are the two principal towns in Central Waikato, each situated on the hanks of the Waikato, about fifteen miles apart and connected by rail. Cambridge is a nicely situated and well laid out ’ borough. The streets are wide aud in most instances are planted with English ornamental trees which have a pleasing effect. At the extremity of the main street where the road crosses the river an ornamental'steel bridge has recently been erected and it forms one of the principal sights ■of the district. - The convenience of the residents has been considered by the installation of a water and gas supply and the town generally has a go-ahead appearance. The surrounding country is all level, the dairying industry forming the

principal occupation of the farmers. The soil is rather light with a porous subsoil. Of late years the grass has been greatly improved on many farms by top-dressing. It should also be a good district foi fattening sheep as rape and turnips •do well. The latter are grown in tfairly large quantities, but as far as •could be ascertained they are used :for winter feed for cows. T ie most improved farms are valued ia about •tweuty'pounds au acre and iis comparison with similar priced land in - the Rangitikei it is dear land. From the hill on which the Gov■ernment Consumption Sanatorium is •built a splendid view of the far- . •extending Waikato Plains is to be i -had. Only a small. proportion of this vast extent of territory lias . - Veen brought under Systematic culti- '■ ‘.Vation. The visitor’s first im'pressions of Hamilton are that a .'boom is on, and this view is con- ' ‘(irmed when he sees the numbers of lew buildings that are being built ' or have Just betm completed. Town •as well as country property is fre- ' quently changing hands at consider ably enhanced values. If a visitor were to announce at the railway Station that he was on the look-out .for land, ho would be immediately pounced upon by one or more of the -fifty laud age-uts; and from their descriptive abilities and optimism regarding the Waikato would be led to believe that that particular locality •was, if not the only place the rose upon, by far the fairest and dnosb fruitful. - - Taking advantage of an old friend’s Skindly,*pffer for a drive round the (district an unprejudiced, view of the '“district surrounding Hamilton was obtained. There is good land in the » 'Waikato and a lot of it, which has • Ibserc-brought under cultivation in a minor.degree. Root crops appear to do particularly well, some crops of Swedes that were seen from the roadside would be worth “a mint of money if it wore possible to transfer them to the Manawatu this year. They will be used, for fattening purposes where they are, and should return •handsome profits to the growers. The country in its natural state is covered with thick fern and scrub, mostly fern, and is easily brought under cultivation but as yet it does not appear to hold the grass. There are also some rich swamps which are being drained. This is considered the best land after the top layer of peaty formation has •been burned off. ‘ No doubt as modern methods of farming fare introduced the productiveness of the soil will be . greatly increased,—say in fifteen or twenty years’ time,— but at present the gentlemen with (the persuasive voice in the town is .getting the best innings. Excepting for those who got their land at the upset price, there do not appear to be many really safe investments at the prices ' that are at present ruling. That the whole district is being transformed (is apparent and no doubt the golden tinted descriptions of the land agents will, some day, he in a measure realised. » RUAEURA STATE FARM, i The State farm at Ruakura some two and a half miles ; from Hamilton is an object lesson to the Waikato farmers, showing the beneficial results of top dressing and thorough draining. Other arrangements did aiot permit a .very extensive or thorough examination of the farm to be made. In the absence of the manager, Mr Dibble, the party was ■shown over- the homestead by the head shepherd, Mr Evans, and the following information was obtained. The farm 'comprises eight hundred and eight acres, fie quality of|which varies considerably, some of it being fairly heavy and some indifferent, .and for this resou it is specially adapted for experimental purposes. Jt is on the whole fairly representative of the farming laud in the Waiikato district. When it was taken over seven years ago, it was in a very rough state, being practically uodrained and unfenced. . Since then it has been drained at a cost of .-about £IOOO per annum Deep drainage is practiced, three inch drain pipes being used, the cost of drainage being £7 lOs an acre. The farm is at present divided into paddocks ranging up to 70 acres. These are being gradually sub-divided, as experience has taught that better results are obtained on smaller paddocks. The farm is carrying 1100 sheep, 140 mixed cattle, and 50 Worses. This is the normal quantity of stock, but during the summer 600 head are added to this number. From the total area of the farm 850 acres are to be deducted for plantations, nurseries, and land used for grain growing. This leaves 558 ;acres for grazing, so it will be seen that scientific farming makes it possible to carry a considerable amount, of stock“per acre. Prom the appearance of the paddocks visited it could not be said that the place was overstocked, rather the reverse, as there seemed to be an abundance uf grass every whore, notwithstanding ..the fact that a very dry summer bad been .experienced. The grasses

principally used are rye, cocksfoot, Chewing’s fescue, red and white clover, sweet vernal, timothy, and meadow foxtail. The value of top dressing as an artificial aid to nature has been amply demonstrated and basic slag has produced the best results. Compared with bouedust and superphosphates it gives a better crop and better herbage. The best results are obtained by dressing with 10 owt to the acre, once *in every three years, but if it is desired to dress it each year 3701bs should be used. Extensive experiments have also been made with oats and potatoes. Mr Evans was " very enthusiastic in pointing out the outstanding qualities of the animals that are under his personal supervision. He explained that English Leicesters and Southdowns were the best types of sheep for the Waikato district, the Southdowns doing the best. Mr Evans thinks a great drawback to the proper breeding of these classes of sheep is that there is no recognised fixed type each farmer producing any type that he likes. The results that can be obtained from careful attention to type is

shown by the splendid animals that have been bred on the farms where a fixed standard is one of the first considerations. Two splendid Shire stallions and their progeny werejalso exhibited, also a number of Shorthorn and Ayrshire fcattle, and they were all in first class condition. Considerable attention is given also to poultry and bee farming, but time did not permit of a visit being made to those departments. We were surprised to learn that the farmers in the locality did not visit theJfarm in any numbers, but we were informed that ’a branch of the Farmers’ Union were making arrangements for a number of farmers to pay Ruakura a visit at an early date. Our visit only lasted about two hours, consequently only a partial inspection was permitted, bat the time was well spent and every question was answered readily by our genial and well-informed guide. TE AROHA AND ROTORUA. A further deviation from the main line was made by taking a flying visit to Te Aroha and afterwards to Rotorua. The combined distance counted one way only ia about one hundred miles. Throughout the whole of the journey the same class of coutry is passed, but it is not settled to any extent, Morrinsville and a few places further along being the exceptions. There are still hundreds of thousands of acres in their natural state. It is all capable , of carrying stock and population. A great deal of i$ is hpW by land speculators waiting for a -rl?? value, but there must be large areas still open for selection. If this land is secured by legitimate farmers at a nominal cost and modern methods of farming are introduced, there is no reasan. why thousands of people should not be provided for.

On nearing Rotorua some valuable totara timber country is passed and a largo quantity of sawn timber is to be seen in the station yards waiting to be conveyed to the building centres. Several days were spent sight-seeing in and_ around Rotorua, the wonders of which have been made familiar by abler pens than mine. During the visit the opportunity was taken to visit the State nurseries where the seedlings are raised for the purposes of reforestation that is being carried out on a large scale in that locality It is surprising to observe the fertility of the soil that is within a stone’s throw of the boiling springs. Many acres are devoted to seed beds, for the various varieties, among which the beech appears to be the most common. The young trees are protected from the wind by hedgerows of different ornamental shrubs and the whole place has a well-kept appearance. A large field of Swedes was growing close by. These are used for winter feed for the horses. A large nurfiber of trees have already been planted by prison labour, and they appear to be thriving. Precautions have been taken to guard against fire by ploughing a fire belt, but there still seems a danger that a sweeping fire in fern country would do a lot of damage to the young trees. We often Jhear of the roadless North, and_if that expression refers to the Waikato it is a truism. 'The winter has not started, yet in many places, especially around Hamilton, .where there is heavy traffic, the roads were very bad. There does not appear to be much metal iu any part of the Waikato. In some places sandstone ia used as a substitute, with rather unsatisfactory results. From Franktou* Juuctiou ou to Auckland much the same class of country is encountered, but it has been broogbat more under cultivation; dairying is one of the chief pursuits of the inhabitants. In conclusion the writer had an extremely pleasant and instructive journey but he does not pose as an authority. He simply states his first impressions of a district new to him. These briefly stated are that generally speaking the country seemed better than was expected, though not quite so good as interested persons would lead the unwary to believe, and if 'the land was procured under advantageous terms it would be capable of supporting a large population and producing a great amount of wealth. As it is at present much of the territory is held by absentees for speculative purposes, and is providing a home for rabbits and other undesirable pests.