ABOUT THE WAIPA. [By our Travelling Reporter.] No. IV.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1429, 30 August 1881, Page 2

ABOUT THE WAIPA. [By our Travelling Reporter.] No. IV.

Leaving Te Awamutu and passing Mr Itmes's brewery I bowl away at a brisk pace through the fern, and over the meadows, up the hiils and sometimes taking a bend down one of the gentle slopes almost to the banks of the Puniu. Here I find a piece of land being broken up to admire, and something to say to a gentlemen "wiring in" at trimming hia hedges; there a few highly respectable matronly ewes graciously allow me to stand and admire their little blesoiDgs, that are skipping about without more than a momentary suspicion that I maybe that old butcher that mamma solemnly warns them with deep " baas" to "beware of ; then a score of young calves will come capering round, exhibiting their air* and graces for my envy and admiration, and some confiding young .heifers, of a sentimental turn of mind may be, even, going so far as offering me a kiss with their wet noses if they feel quite satisfied that I am of a staid and reverend disposition. I made my way to the farms beyond those described in my last letter on the road to Kihikihi. Here Mr Blacked farms a small piece of land of 100 acres. He ia a

Yorkshire farmer, atid abides by the laws and ruins of the old country. All his land is in grass, except 18 acres of the much admired wiite Tuscan wheat, that is just springing with a particularly healthy losk. He got '3o bushels to the acre last season', and with fair luck will make more by this crop. Like nil ,old country 1 farprtfrshe behoves in grain and roots, ahd means by degTees to get his land all ' in crop.' i No doubt he is right, and about this district there will be a largely in- ' creased growth of grain, for the grass lands about are, as the farmers nay, " run out, " and will have to be broken up and cropped to a much greater extent than hitherto. On the other Hide of the high road lies the land of Mr Bridgrman, cousisting of 100 acres. The pleasant garden and orchard and the stately young pines of some twelve or fourteen years growth surrounding the house, form one of the features of the landscape along this road. Mr Bridgman has 10 acres of his land in wheat, and is breaking up some more, 10 acres of which will be planted with potatoes, and 17 with turnips in the season. There haro been crops of 53 bushels of wheat to the acre, grown on this farm; and 10 tons of potatoes to the acre have be taken off another piece. Tbafe facts will rather contradict the statements of some interested good folks an to the poor quality of the land in these parts. It will only be rare spois of extraordinarily fine quality here and there that will rival these small f arms of the Waipa district in my opinion, and I have seen all the sometimes overrated show blocks in other parts that have been so puffed and so extravagantly charged for. In the orchard, a shaded warm nook of .about two acres, the plums especially attracted my notice by their healthy look, and among them were to be found the Golden Drop, the old Greengage, and the Orleans ; and the apples, all looking healthy and free from blight, include the famous old English Ribstone and Golden Pippins, and all American varieties. Some pears too are grown here and peaches of all kinds. I saw some fine well-grown young oaks, walnuts, and other deciduous trees in the garden that are a groat source of -pride to their owner, who is a man who delights in his garden. At a short distance across country, towards the river Puniu, Mr J. Short owns a nice little property of 200 acres, of the same excellent quality as that of the surrounding farms. He has grown 47 and 50 bushels of wheat to the acre, equally good ciops of turnips, and as many as 15 tons of potatoes per acre several times. The pleasant cottage is surrounded with the usual dark belt of gums and tall pines that give such a pleasant air of seclusion and cosiness to the homesteads about here, and the garden and orchard, filled with well-grown flowers, shrubs, and fruits of every kind, look bright and charming to anyone requiring either beauty, fragrance, or delicious flavour, to gratify his senses. The other sense of healing is unfortunately denied its share of the pleasures of country life in these parts, and the music of the blackbird and tlio thrush, or the nightingale, to lull the soul to rest, is wanting to the residents in the open cultivated lands, the constant full of the lark being the only audible note oi Nature's music over all these slopes and vallies. Away in the remote bush one may be gratified with a burst now and then of the deep mellow notes of the tin. or very rarely with the still more beautiful song of the bell-bird or the mocking-bird, but we want singing birds here in this North Island. Of couise there are plenty to grudge them their keep, and growl at them for the pretended damage they do, but the best pl.in for such people w ould be to select some part of the island for themselves, in which to do without birds at all, and delner themselves over to the full enjoyment of their slugs and crickets and woims. Mr Shoit, m one of his outbuildings, has a fine steam thrashing m.iclnne i\ ith a driving engine that must have cost somewhere about £400, two mow ing machines, and a reaper, besides sundry ploughs and harrows of the best make. It is a very good thing to see such capital implements beginning to make their appearance in the neighbourhood, and looks as if the farmers meant practically to establish the full value of the land. On one part of the property stands a, small watei-mill driven by a 15ft. •wheel, Mith one pair of stones and dressing machine, and all the appliances for gi mding giain. It is not being worked at pi ehent, but at this part of the district, on one of the creeks round Te A'wnmutn, would be the place for a juofitable flour-mill just now. There will l>c plenty of giain grown in the district henceforward, and a very nice trade might be done. Further on towards this pretty little, twisting, twining, rippling Puniu, there is a pretty plantation on a beautiful gently lining bright green slope just sufficiently high to command a view of tin- whole flats and slopes around to the river on one side, with Pirongia and Kakapuko behind, and away beyond the little bright settlements of Te Awamutu and Kihikihi on the other side. Here Mr J. Henderson has a comfortable homestead over-looking his property of 400 acie«. This has always been a very favourite site with the natives, and is known as " Kawananui," the land being, in their estimation, some of the finest in the whole district. Just across the river lies the land of Rewi, and the old settlers tell some fine stories of the jolly old times of panics, when, at a few houis notice, all the men in the district could be ordeiod into one of the surrounding redoubts to repel an expected attack of Maoris, thouprh it was generally understood so well that there was nothing to he feaied, that the wives and families weie left on the arms while paterfamilias went to earn tin honest day or two's pay of his grateful country. The .system #ot to bo worked very neatly, and I have been told that in some of the towns ciedit was given to storekeepeis to outlying settlers to be met by the proceeds of the next panic. Mr Henderson is not doing much cropping this season, but he has some remarkably fine grass, and one paddock in particular attracted my attention. Though it was only sown last February it is very fine, and the whole flat of 26 acres is as good as any to be met with in the Waikato, some of it having carried a beast per acre for 10 months, and made them fat upon it. There are about 90 head of cattle about the place of a nearly pure Hereford breed, a fine lot of young stock in one paddock, and a very good bull of Maclean's breed being above the usual run of merit in these parts. Mr Henderbou is a chese maker, and a year or two ago used to turn out as much as £160 worth, of cheese and butter in the season, 39cwt Of cheese having been aold as one yefer^s produce. This is very good on a aitl&H farm, and the quality I can vouch for as being very much like that of good dry Stilton. There is no accounting for tastes, and I am aware that many admirers of cheese think that perfection is only to be found in a good salt, soapy Dutch style of thing, and such certainly has its ■ merits, for it is economical, as no one can eat more a certain quantity without feeling sick; but for one who really likes a nice piece of dry Stilton, I rather think he should give the cheese I sneak of a trial, •friere are some very nice sheep on this form, and I saw about 150 of as nice cro^B-breeds between the Leicester and Luicpln as cpujd be easily met with. The lambing season is very favorable, and the fleece* fwM W fiFSt-raJte order. A good

deal of damage has been done to the flocks about here by some ferocious brutes of dogs from' Kihikihi worrying some of the ewes to death, and causing others to drop their lambs. I was very glad to hear that Mr Henderson had happened to come across a couple of the brutes with his double-barrelled gun. As they were valuable dogs, it may be a lesson to their owners to provide muzzles for their dogs, or chain them up when near sheep paddocks. Mr Henderson, junr., has 256 acres adjoining this farm, on which I saw some splendid specimens of mangolds, and a small piece being broken up for wheat and oats. The orchards and plantations round both these farms are magnicent, and deserve a more particular mention than my space will allow.