MAKURI NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3950, 28 October 1891, Page 2

MAKURI NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Possibly it may be interesting to our readers if I send, say once a veek, a few particulars of chis newest if new townships, and include, as in he "Makuri" district, a radius of ;oiue three miles. About two years igo the fir6t settler came iu. There , ire now a fair sprinkling at wojfls Makuri is 10} miles from Pabiapi is the crow flius, but from 15 to I/L. >yroad. There are. two roads Pahiatua; tbey meet, or .join, paccia's place; then you enter the amous Makuri'gorge, ride thrqugb, it, uid you are at' Makuri, close under be Puketoi ranges, and about 2Q niles from the East Coast, eay'froin \ohanga. "" It is a l)ad rpad from tp .ho gorgOj whichever way ypu cqme, )ne road is called the f'tirauroea" at "ar as Kaitawa; then it is oalled the •Te Aupapa." The other leaves the uain road about twj miles north of Pnhiatua, and is called the "Toretea" :oad as far an the Tiraumcft •iver, where one finds a ford md a cradle. From this point me rides up the " Makun Valley" .•oad. Neither road is completely "armed as far as the gorgo j aud there sno " metal" beyond Kaituwa and .he cradle respectively. Arrived by_ sithcr route, nt the gorgo, you have i mere bridle track. It is mudejy md about four, mites long, in oijo )laoe as much as 150 feet aboye tbo iver. The scjnery is imposing. At Makuri township one is Wprj;ed to find that thqugh jt Ojjcujnqs 100 acres, and has been completely urveyed for some time, none bag ieon sold. 50 acres have bepn fellpfl md grassed by fao Government, :onsequently things are a bit wi*ed, There is a slab wharo dignified by the name of the Kiverbank Hotel, whero you can drink beer, sleep in a tent, eat salt mo*t, and amuse yourself by botanising or eol fishing. There is 8 store (under canvas) and another not finished in a slab whare. All these buildings aro temporary, and will

have to be removed when the township is sold. There is also a whare wbe>e the District Surveyor live 3. You must not suppose we are dull. Scmetimes owners of land are up letting contracts ; sometimes trains of pack horses come in with supplies. About twelve considerable campsjfre at work ; and there ate also men engaged by the settlers doing fencing, etc. They all call at the township for their mails. The town consists of some 50 acres of perfectly flat alluvial land, and 250 acres of gentle slopes. Part of the alluvial is free from stumps and easily dug. it carries rich clover, but appears to be pure sand, or rather pulverised lime stole. I send a sample, and would like that excellent contributor of yours, who wrote gardening notes in 1889, to tell us what manure to put on it. You see we cannot dig the loamy slopes until we get a freehold, as they are full of slumps and so costly to work. This land can be dug cheaply, and very desirable to raise a few

potatoes, even if we are turned out it is sold. I have tried as an most crdioary vegetables. They were put in a month ••■.go, and grow well until about half an inch high- and then stop. Would nitrate of soda fetch thrm on, or blood manure ? From the abundance of powdered shells in the land I should imagine phosphates are not needed. If so a mixture of nitrate of soda and salt petre would do it. Try to get this question answered, and also how to apply the manure. Hoe it in between the drills ? If crops can be raised, the value of the alluvial flat for such gardens will' be immense, not as a source of revenue, but as enabling the poor settlers to have a few vegetables at once. This alluvial flat is interesting to the geologist as being of recent date. In many places dead totaras are found which grew on a lower level. Dig down three or i feet and you come to the " flange " of the tree. Hence, we suppose the site of the township was originally loam, covered with bush, but a slip in the gorge flooded it and caused silt to be deposited, killing the totara. In one place I found a dead maira and digging three feet down I came to loam, covered with dead rootf. I do not suppose that mdire was killed more than say 400 years ago; nor was it killed less, as pines growing on the top of the recent silt are some three or four feet thick. Next week I must give you a f§w notes about the principal settlers, and what they bare done.