CHATS WITH THE FARMERS. [By our Travelling Reporter.]

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1448, 13 October 1881, Page 4

CHATS WIT H THE FARMERS. [By our Travelling Reporter.]

*> i No. VI. Storey's Estate. On the road from Rangiaolua te Te Rabu 4 there lies a wide tract of dead '"level ifcnd- ©Wending 'for 'five or six miles to Pukemnu and to Ohaupo, thit a few years.ago wa!j an impenetrable swamp; in winter a stagnantiake of stinking water and decayed vegetable matter, and in ,<<Utt%mer 'a^des&rt of very poor titree xcrub, scrubby reeds, or ranfc flax bushes. Hero Mr Storey owns an estate of 1,400 acres that a^joina ,the large, estate owned by Messrs Griee' and Parker. Some 800 acres of Mr Storey's property arc of this swampy character and m combination wit,h/nxs neighbours he has undertaken •the fcood task, and by no moans an uapiofibablo one when, commenced with requisite capital, of draining all this five flat and converting it into the richest of deep alluvial pastuie land. A''depth of peat and rich black vegetable soil that cannot be bottomed is worth a few pounds per acre for draining and a few years waiting for the subsidence and sweetening of the upper crust, and any men who, like Mr Storey, will tackle 'Some of these great New Zealand swamps 'in earnest and skilfully, will leave a rich inheritance to their successors, at all 'events, if they do not reap the harvest in their own lives. About 600 acres of Mr Storey's tjstate of Woodstock have been broken up and laid in grass, the paddocks sheltered here and there by belts of bush of about 50 acres, looking in first-rate condition, the land being of a light, though exceedingly rich quality, easily worked, and very productive for barley, oats, turnips, and all root crops, though not perhaps of the finest description for the growth of wheat. One little piece of 26 acres in particular attracted my attention from the fact that after having been seveial years in grass it was broken up last season for turnips. With the turnip seed, which, in consequence of the long- continued drought last autumn, failed, was sown about half -a - bushel of Italian ryegrass to the acre, and this fortunately proved a complete success, and though the paddock has had cattle and bheep on it all the winter it is now in first-rate condition, and will carry a greater number of stock per aero than befoie it waa bioken up. Another little piece was pointed out to me as having carried over 10 tons to the acre of potatoes last season without manure, the land having only boon once broken up when originally sown with grass before, the sample produced havin»; been mentioned to me elsewhere 1 may say, as one of the best grown in tho district. Twenty acres have been sown with a description of wheat, namely, tho English red, this season that will be a novelty about here at all events, andfiom the quality of the soil may probably prove a success. A goad sample of red wheat may often be got off light lands that will not carry the finest white, and from the* full, oompact grain, ' carrying a greater weight per bushel, it will fetch as high a price in the market as any. Immense crops of red wheat are grown in the Eastern and some of the Northern counties of England, aud in the Baltic provinces of Russia, on comparatively light lands, and it would nob surprise me to hear that it will prove better adapted to the soil of the Waikato than the white. But it is of the reclamation of swamp lands and the works undertaken with that object, that a visitor to Mr Storey's estate mu 4 more particularly take notice, and to see tha effect, in all directions upon the lands themselves, and tho gigantic drains of between six and seven miles in length altogether, costing on an average rather more than £3 per chain, cutting through the peat, stiff clay, or submerged iorestg alike, to depths of from 7 to 14 feet, and «J foot wide, cannot fail to imprest one far more than the quiet daily couiic of events, with tho tiemendou-. Htudes ahead tho colony is making, iind the value of labour. It is only by a visit to Piako, -ji to a place of the same kind on a small.. * t,cale, hko thi^, and tho lecolleotiun of w'lat either wis Borne seven or eig-bt years <iifo, that what another peiiod of tea ye.irs will biingcan bo realised, and the best antidote administered to the .sham faulting hts of pessimists wJio want to fughten people in order to make ,a selfish luivest out of a panic. As an instance of what has been done, I may mention that I crossed one paddock now covered «ibh very fair grab!>. and in tolerably level firm condition, carrying a reasonable percentage of stock, that a neighbour remembers having punted over after wild geese only a few years back. To sec what is beiri<* done, it is only necessary to pass alone some of the magnificent diians even at the present moistest season of the year, and mark the hunch eds of acres of rich vegetable land on either side, all dry or nearly so, and subsiding giadually to a firm solid bottom, where tour years ago a man or a bullock could not have set foot without being engulfed. Tho torrent of daid red or black water sweeping down at the bottom of the dram, and the fact that some of the land l.as sunk sixfeet since the drains were cut, and in other places even a> much as 10 feet, speak for the powei of the woik to reclaim the land. Although in places it is fatill rather rotten, and apt to lot a pedestrian in up to his hips, there is a bottom formed where formcily it could not bo found, find tho jrra&s springing all over the flats in patches, where a little seed has been scattered heio and theic, and wherever it is showing, ih is doing 1 so with wonderful luxriance. The biggest drain I saw, of 14 feet x 9 n a splendid piece of work, and steady perseverance much of it having had to be cut with the axe through twisted knotted old roots and log-s. There are about 200 head of cattle on the place of mixed biceds, bought for feeding, but Mr Storey does not go in in for raising stock, though I saw some cows and a couple of young bulls that would well bear inspection. The sheep, of a very pure and handsome Lincoln breed, muster 600, the ewes having had a remarkably fine lambing season, with more than cent, per cent, return. Two of the rams that I saw were of James Wallace's breed, and prize-winners in Auckland, and the 30 pure-bred hoggets were worth a good figure. Some of thd members of this flock furnished fleeces of 171b., 181b., and 221b. last season, and were worthy of all praise for all the good points of the Lincoln breed. Among the horses, I had > the pleasure of seeing some very good specimens of ttie different breeds that pay best for rearing in these districts, one fine two-year-old by Kingfisher promising to be a dangerous rival of Mr W. Taylors young giant of the same breed, a three-year-old Lord Derby being a fine handsome powerful young draught, and a three-year-old " Merrylegs" colt presenting a striking appearance about his fore-quartbr. One colt by VXoxd Derby" that I should have liked to .have seen and" that I have heard of < in ■ the course of my perambulations amongst tbei settlements around was away at' Rotorangi at the time of my visit. The dwelling-house looks over a pleasant scene from a rising young plantation of pines and handsome cedars. I mußt mention too the outbuildings of the homestead, the dairy; -vrith ify? cool wire f blinds and double roof* the stables, 'ineds/ and' comfortable honses for the 'working men employed on the place, being thorough: ly in keeping teth all the 'other' ferftnrejs. of a settlement on whioh 'fib 1 much gdo3 sub- I f sfcantial English vrdsk 'has' been Adk&.'V.