A GUIDE FOR SETTLERS.

Shannon News, 11 January 1927, Page 2

A GUIDE FOR SETTLERS.

I SHEEP-FARMING, FENCING, CON- i ORETING AND AXE-CRAFT. -Much thought and much practical ex- : perience have entered into the compiiation of a book by Mr A. McKenny, of ! Mount St. Mary’s, Greeumeadows, Hawkes Bay. To give it its lull title, j it is “Rome Practical Information on Sheep-farming, Fencing, Concrete Culverts, Axecraft, Etc.”: but it might with equal justice be called a settler s guide, for it contains the groundwork .if knowledge necessary for successfu. pioneering. Dairying is not included wit bin the purview of the work, but ’ nevertheless there arc very few pages that have not some interest to the far--1 mer, irrespective of whether he is the master of flocks or herds. The management of sheep is treated in a series L of succinct notes, many of which have j 1 a direct bearing on the beginnings of farming and are valuable to those v\ ho have to face mixed conditions For ox- >. ample, the author says: “Where the nib country is too rough to permit plougbl ing, the native grass grows abundantly during wet seasons. The spring growth gets ahead of the sheep. To purchase j enough sheep to keep it down would 1 often be impracticable financially, ovve ing to the fluctuations of the market and the keen demand for them at this g time, which is frequently followed by t a drop in value in mid-summer or autd umn. ’ * He goes on to show how, in danthonia country, as in rough bush country, it is profitable to rut: a -limit 1S ed number of cattle among the sheep. ,t. Such matters as shelter and water, if shearing, classing and pressing, dipping, •s clutching, and marketing are among the it many that 9,l'e dealt with in the section 1 devoted to sheep, the information being h given simply and with a brevity that n makes it incisive. ;s Of fencing the author nas made a •e special study, and his book will be found 0 to contain a collection of novel instrucip tions, and illustrations of devices which it could probably net be obtained as a whole from any other source. The siii gle-wire fence-anchor, concrete post Id moulds, and iron straining and gate a posts described by him are his own a* contrivances and .most of the devices e - mentioned in the volume have been well !11 tried.

The chapters on concreting strike the modern note very clearly, and contain directions which in themselves should be worth the price of the book to many settlers —for who can estimate the value of knowing how to do a thing expeditiously and economically ! Among other features which commend themselves are some rapid methods of computing areas and instructions regarding grass-seed saving by hand labour. The work concludes with a comprehensive chapter

entitled, “The Science of the Axe,” in which is embodied a wealth of experience in bush-craft. The'book is priced at 5/- (post free); and the author informs us that if any purchaser who gets the book direct from him is disappointed, the money will' be refunded, provided that the book is returned in good condition within six days. '