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UPPER WAIKATO FARMING.

* ■-'£ PROSPECTS AT ABAPIXNI. . TALTJE OF PROPOSED _______ £ . & (From Out Own Correspondent.! ' • MORRINSVILLE, Tuesday. Incidental with the Arapuni hydro* electric scheme there is a great agricul" tural feature, the eighteen-mile lake, which will he formed in the Waikato River hy the dam, and which will give good water access to a large wea of now remote virgin country. Besides promising a display of giant vegetables, lucerne, ryegrass, maize and other crops, showing what the soil in the area could produce under proper management, Hr. E. J. Darby has detailed figures of the present production of the districts near I Arapuni to indicate the great wealth in I produce that in due time should come from that territory. Along the shores of the lake at Puketurua there are 14 settlers occupying 8200 acres, and from their local factory this year they will send away about 110 tons of cheese. From the Putaruru railway station last year cream to the value of £14,000 was despatched, as well as 900 fat pigs and over 1000 head of fat cattle. This gives a little idea of how much a year the lake would be the medium of contribute ing to the national wealth through the development of the large areas bordering it, and it is a factor which should not be lost sight of in assessing the value of the Arapuni scheme. LANDS FOR SETTLEMENT. The Auckland Land Board has already" I opened for selection sections in that area, on the western side, specifying that access would be given by the lake, and settlers have already acquired holdings with this understanding. Further up the river, several miles above the projected lake, the Land Board is engaged roading another large block for settlement, comprising a large tract of country between the river opposite Ongaroto and Mokai. This area is served by the Taupo Totara Timber Company's railway, and no doubt the prospective transfer of this line to public ownership, with better consideration for the requirements of settlement, has had a great deal to do with the Land Board's decison to make this country available for settlement. Thus is the march of progress in the Waikato steadily and surely making its way up country to the source of this great river at Taupo, presaging the time when the million acres of now idle country along its upper reaches will, like the lower country, be a land o? green meadow and crop supporting % very large population. The practice of mixed cropping, especially for fodder, is coming more intr» vogue in these parts. The growing of new grass with soft turnips sown late in spring or the first halt of summer, is particularly common, «nd seems to "ivs satisfactory results. Turnips as a quick striking plant rarely seem to be hindered much by the grass, especially if a special turnip mixture is used as a manure. After the turnips have been used, the grass, with top-dressing, has in many cases given a better yield than in the case of new grass sown by itself. Visitors to Arapuni have seen a very satisfactory result in mixed cropping at Mr. Darby's farm. An area of 1_ acres of January gown maize already stands two feet high, displaying a thick crop of succulent green fodder. Also, Mr. B. G. Goebel, of Puketuru, has had excellent results from a sowing this vcar of 12 acres of kale and millet ' for autumn feed for his cows. Red clover is also included in the crop to provide a stand after the kale and millet have been grazed out.

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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19230228.2.17

Bibliographic details

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 3

Word Count
595

UPPER WAIKATO FARMING. Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 3

UPPER WAIKATO FARMING. Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 3