FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1921, Page 8

FARM AND DAIRY.

CHAIN-HARROWING THE PASTURES.

Writes our Urenui correspondent:— A practice that might be more generally used with advantage by farmers is that of chain-harrowing or tripoding the pastures during the wet seasons. At this time of the year there is very rarely a surplus of grass to consider, and if there should uappen to be such • a growth it should be fed off before the I harrows are used. The paddocks will well warrant attention and the owner will be handsomely repaid by a greater ; growth of grass, which will be increased > if the stock are kept off even for a short period. There is a good demand for Jersey | weaner heifers at present, sales of good ‘ lines having been reported up to £6 per head, and the better the quality the higher the price will be. The record prices attained by the purebred stock submitted by Mr. Griffiths at Hamilton last week go to prove that the higher class breeding is a paying proposition, and it is pleasing to note that several of the lots found their way to Taranaki. UNTOLD WEALTH. ON MAIN TRUNK LINE. That there is untold wealth in the land around Karioi and Waiouru when it is cut into smaller holdings and scientifically developed is the opinion of Mr. Carl Anderson, a former settler of Rongotea, who is now farming at Karioi on the Main Trunk line. Mr. Anderson told a Manawatu Standard representative that the pumice lands around Waiuru even now grew good crops of clover and grasses such as Italian rye. Lucerne should be a payable crop. At present they are mainly used for sheep, but as time goes on will be more largely developed for agricultural purposes. “In its natural state it is absolutely a national waste,” said Mr. Anderson. ‘Tt isi not producing one-fiftieth jof what it will under smaller holdings. It is close to the railway so that there should be no trouble in getting manures. The land is deficient in two respects —Rme and humus. It is full of potash and nitrogen. By adding one ton of carbonate of lime to the acre and planting leguminous crops it can be built up to first-class quality land. The trouble at present is that the land is held in lafge holdings.” Speaking of farming at Karioi, Mr. Anderson said that the land there is fully 500 per cent, better than it was expected to be 10 years ago. Three tons of the best quality chaff have been taken off a single acre. Turnips and swedes —in fact all root crops—grow very well. One farmer is credited with having taken 40 tons of swedes to the acre. As an illustration of the advance of the district, Mr. Anderson said that in 1913 450 bales of wool were loaded at Karioi; last year the number was 1800. The land around Karioi comprises mostly flax swamp and bush country. “If the big blocks there are cut up,” he concluded, “there is a of untold wealth to the country. It is easier to work than the land in the King Country.”