THE RIVERSDALE ESTATE.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9315, 16 January 1896, Page 2

THE RIVERSDALE ESTATE.

" Weekly Press and Referee." Of all the many productive bits of land in the Ashburton district there is none more pleasantly situated or more highly fertile than the greater part of Mr W. Strange's , Riversdale estate, a most oharming property j having a frontage to the south side of the i Ashburton river, and extending but to the j main road which leads down from Tinwald jto tho Waterton and Longbeach districts. I "Call in as you are passing one day," said Mr Williams, the manager, "and I will | show you a paddock of rape as good as you | ever saw at this time of the year." Gladly. i accepting the invitation, I rode put early on j Sunday morning, and after an hour's rest in ; a pleasantly cool room of a commodious, j brick built villa like residence, started on a j fresh steed in company with Mr Williams to j see this great crop of rape. There was a | lovely clear sky overhead, with a' gontle j breeze coming up off the sea, but not suffi- | cient to prevent the broiling hot sun causing I the perspiration to flow freely from every ! pore. Riding out of the farm yard and into the j first paddock the scene was at once delighti fully pleasing and refreshing, for we com- • menced to go over rich meadow-like pasture, with grass everywhere reaching to the [ j horses' knees, and the stock looking sleek, j healthy, and in the best of condition. Going j out of< this paddock we skirted round a crop iof tuscan wheat, standing up beautifully : straight and remarkably well headed. There I was a narrow strip along the road a bit thin, but a'little further in, and all over the remainder of eighty acres it presented a sight worth going a long way to see, blazing hot as the morning was. There are man} 1 * pretty sights on a well tilled farm, but none more pleasing to the eye than, a y; good clean crop of tuscan wheat in ear, every head ( standing well up, and the whole looking as even and level as a, billiard table. Near by the wheat was a splendid crop of mixed grasses [ and clover, which -was being saved for hay, i' while in an adjourning paddock was growing a magnificient crop of Canadian oats. They had been fed off several times with sheep, but in spite of this they were now standing nearly 6ft high all over a fifty acre paddock, splendidly headed, and promising fully al. seventy bushel crop. Mr Williams, in his modesty, puts them down at sixty, but with j', a continuance of the lovely weather we have \ been getting lately they will thresh out &>[ long way over sixty bushels por acre. For,' example, three seasons ago a thirty-five acre j paddock adjoining was down in oats, and j after they were harvested the threshing'" machine told the pleasing Btory of an average of ninety bushels per acre. Passing from the oats we went through several more grass paddocks, each one presenting a most J' luxuriantly verdant appearanco, and being j. clothed with heavy succulent crops of ] grasses as rich and fattening as. the best j English meadow pasture. "And. now we will just go through the , rape," said my escort. Running down one , side of a sixty-five acre enclosure was a splendid stream of clear rippling water, and growing right up to the very edge of thi and covering the whole of the sixty- ' five acres, was a crop of rape that any farmer ' might justly feel proud of. It was sown on the 20th of October. The heavy rains experienced in November and early in December had caused the water to lie about in several depressions, and this had interfered with the growth of the rape in • these particular spots, but with these two ' or three minor exceptions, it came away -i splendidly, and at the time of my visit the j, whole field presented one solid mass of great! i broad leaves of succulent mutton-producing j ( herbage. Scarcely a bare foot of ground • could be seen anywhere, except in the two or i. three hollows above referred to, and as we I rode through the rape, the strong, vigorous- • growing leaves swept the horses' bellies. A' i couple of thousand sheep were to be turned i into it in a few days, and it is expected they J will be ready for the freezing workß by the j ' they have eaten off the first feeding of : c the rape. I Riversdale, which is situated within about j f three miles of the Tinwald Saleyards, and! t five miles from the Ashburton Railway : Station, consists of 2,800 acres. A part of ! a this is what is known as river bed, but the ! c said river bed produces an astonishing ( amount of feed, and is a most useful part of \ the farm. A large part of the Riversdale ]l Estate, however,comprises land of a remark- t ably rich fertile nature. A lot of money has been spent in draining and bringing the land tinder good cultivation, but it has been well and judiciously expended, and the property is now one of the most productive, the most useful, and the most pleasantly and conveniently situated farms in Canterbury. In addition to growing grain, grazing a few cattle and horses, between 6000 and 7000 fat sheep are annually sent off the place,

: j and there is always an abundance of feed to I keep the stores in condition. Mr W. [ I Strange certainly made a good investment j when he bought Riversdale, and since then ihe has succeeded, with the loyal aid of lug trusty and capable manager, in converting j it into an exceedingly valuable and highly fertile property. It is more than probable it will eventually be the home of Mr Strange, junr.,and when it does he will have an estate that anyone could feel proud of, and take the greatest delight in working. ,