THE PLAINS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XXIV, Issue 2127, 12 February 1897, Page 2

THE PLAINS.

(By Viatob.)

Having recetrt'y journeyed from Little ttiver to Amherley by way of Tai Tapu, Cbrisrohnrch and the North road, I had a capital opportunity to see and compare the various groin, grass end root crops of the several districts through which I passed— districts comprising soil of every variety and grade of productiveness, and *hich specially showed tbeir capabilities of withstanding the drought of an exceptionally trying season eneb as we are at present fisperienoing ; and by way of preface let | me Say that the whole of the country (ravereod, heavy and light alike, ie. so to speak, gaping for rain, rai", rain 1 With the exception of a few low-lying fields favoured by the proximity of flawing drains or uader-ground ourrentp, such as may be toend in and around Tai Tapn, K*iapoi or W.oodend on the Mnori pab side, the graHh ie litWally burnt up—deed, -fi li aft)i field, mile after mile, pre renting never a green blada te rtli» Vβ the monotonous brown. Especially so is t\m the case in euoh well known grazing dutricle ac lie round Belfast, between Koiapoi and the Ashley River, elong the Leithfieid Terrace, and right on to and f*r beyond Amberley. No where in fact alcng the liutf of country in question—-and it certainly conoprieee come of t!ie very best land in Catitarbory—lβ the grass anything like so flouri-tbinsf ac i is on the Eistern die of the Pet iosule. What surprisee one most is the aplenrfil ecndition in wlich all kinds of ttock may be pep« while the dairy cows ere little failed in their supplies considering the season. Tha etste of the pasture otily rrqmrsß tv be teen to enable one t> nnder<t*nd the extensive, rpinoua and fierce nature of the nutneroue fires when once |°iven ft star', j Neither ryegrass aor clover wi * thic eeapon be up t> the average of previous years as regards either quantity or qua ity. much of the former that hae already been threshed being very light indeed. In all nay journry I oil not see a roa»'y good clovar crop, every «ne without exception being more «r lese thin, irrpgujhr or paiohy, whi « i<l, addition, etpecially about i'ei T'iipn. Bevernl enclosures were very much mixed wi'h various other growt c

Of the grain cr >pc I caw some very good onea, several very feir, butt'ie inft ] >rity very ceidtt iag or poor, especially oats>, wbich hno b*«n unable, more to than the wbefc, t" (We eaaeon'e drought, while in almost every ciee iba nutuinn eown wheat looks more proraismg that the spring cown crnpn.. Borne capital looking fialds of this ccret.l may he eeen in the rich <»£ Tai Tapo, X iapni and Woodeud, where also, eepoiiilly in the firft-named dißiii-fc are eonae cxoellenl crops of bsiley gi»ing every indication of large yialde and veiy fair namplee. Whili the culling, emefeing and, in not a few casee, the th re thing may be eeid to be almoßt over in the drier and earlier districtjj, it bad as I passed along Fcaroely eoauiienced in the jiiher parle.

Appearinoae are, they eny. often mi"leading. and especially i< tbii co thie year in the case of the p«t«toe crops, for whereas the tope give by thdr healthy appearance promise of handsome roturne, the tubers are small and backward in evey reepect : that is epsaking generally of course, an some rea'ly protni-itig crops gr#win£ on the richer damper bottoms may be seen. The onion crops so far,are looking well in the houite in Halewell, Papanui and Marehland, the two latter eepeoiaily, where cuoDeroue foreigners, chiefly Danes and have taken up \eeoaons of email area for root cultivation. The turnip oropp, however, are a general failord nofe a fi>H of any extent being seen with an even, saisfactory crop growing upon it. If a timilar condition prevails throughout Canterbury, winter iproepecta will ho very questionable so far •as our pheep &t are concerned. Ou the whole, the part of the country through wbicb 1 pacKed preeente a very different outlook compared with what I have at this lime of the year formerly seen, when, if tha prices were not co good, yet the faces of the farmers revealed a ooraenled, «ati look, arising from the convicion that their year's labour was abouf to be rewarded by the utmost efEoits of their mother earth.