INTEREST IN N.Z. MAINTAINED

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27676, 4 June 1955, Page 5

INTEREST IN N.Z. MAINTAINED

FARMER’S VISIT TO LORD BLEDISLOE

Lord Bledisloe is still keenly interested in news of New Zealand, reports Mr T. Rowlands,.of Kaiapoi, who recently returned from a trip to Great Britain, during which he visited Lord Bledisloe. The extensive farming activities on Lord Bledisloe’s estate in Wales are described by Mr Rowlands in this article. Lord Bledisloe’s estate, Old Park, lies on the west banks of the Severn, near Lydney Town, rising from the heavy dairy pastures and river flats through rolling country up to the timbered ridges facing the ancient Forest of Dean. It was my good fortune to be invited to visit Old Park during my trip to Britain last year, and we, my mother and I, were shown over the estate by Mr W. Sherston, the agent and manager, and later entertained at tea by Lord and Lady Bledisloe at their residence, Redhill. Three Sections The Lydney Park Estate Company farms 4000 acres in three main sections, the dairy farm and pedigree herd, the market garden and finally the piggery section. The extensive woodlands of 1100 acres have been the particular care of the Bathurst family for oyer 200 years, and under the direction of Mr Sherston, who is a graduate in agriculture and forestry, there are a forester and six assistants. These men replant about 25 acres annually and completely rabbit-fence each area. The felled timber is sawn up and seasoned in the large estate sawmill, and the thinnings from the woods are sold for railings and pit props. We toured this area by car, and were shown, on the tops of the ridges, in amongst the woods, the remains of the old Roman iron ore mines, with deep shafts dug down and fantastic tunnels and caves from which the Romans dug out the precious iron ore. The dairy pastures are on the lowlying river flats. The herd of 38 pedigree Red Poll cows is milked in a modern cow house, one of many fine concrete buildings designed for maximum. efficiency. Like most farms in Britain, the cattle are housed for six months or more, the young cattle until they are 12 to 18 months old, and the new concrete covered yards were most impressive. With a raised central race for carting in fodder to drop into the feed racks each side, roomy pens with heavy steel pipe dividing railings and wide gateways from one pen to another right through the length of the building, tractors were able to make light work of clearing the huge accumulation of straw muck using loaders and buckrakes. A large amount of hay and silage is made each year, and beans are grown extensively to provide the protein supplement for concentrate feeding, replacing the dried grass or dried lucerne and coksfoot used so extensively on farms in North Wales.

The market garden section is centred m the old walled garden of 2J acres, where lettuces, strawberries, tomatoes and chrysanthemums are grown. The key to the high production here was P se “^ u t c h glasses,” glass sheets sft long and 3ft wide set in a sturdy wooden frame and used as cold frames over the lettuces first, then moved across to the long strawberry beds. They can also be bolted together to form the sides and roof of a greenhouse, and in one corner of the garden there was one such greenhouse 100 ft by 100 ft full of young tomato plants for the main crop. The early tomato crop was being gathered from the two large heated greenhouses along the side walls of the garden. These houses when cleared of tomatoes in four weeks’ time, would be filled with thousands of potted chrysanthemums to provide the early blooms for the Sheffield markets where they have a ready sale. The main crop of blooms was to come from the newly planted patch in the garden, 180 ft long and 90ft wide, each plant staked and one foot apart. There was a modern packing shed for the produce, and a packing room for the flowers with special crates and containers. Main Field Crop Black currants are the main field crop in the market garden section, the fruit going to a fruit juice factory to be made into a vitamin C extract. We saw several large areas of currants, some of young plants and five acres in full production. Land destined for currants is first sown down to kale and fed off to cattle in strip grazing with the electric ‘fence, ploughed over, and “muck” worked in before planting the young currant shoots. The bushes are heavily mulched and inter-cultivated, and harvested for six to seven seasons, the fruit being picked by casual labour, mainly women from the village. Looking over the estate, there Is Lydney Hall ton a high ridge close to

the woodlands, with Redhill about half a mile away closer to the road. Metalled roadways give access to the various fields of black currants, hay silage and fodder crops, while large fields of beans, 3 to sft high, in flower, add colour to a wonderful picture of the English countryside. Most of the buildings are concentrated at the southern end, with farm offices and Concrete or brick cottages for the permanent employees. Trees are everywhere, along the roadways and across the fields.

Lord Bledisloe met us at the gate of Redhill with a presentation of a Lord Bledisloe apple, a new export variety, and from the first case sent to him as a presentation. This grand old man of British agriculture was then 87, remarkably active and keenly interested in news of New Zealand. He and Lady Bledisloe were very charming and we had a very gay tea together for they are both humorous. Lord Bledisloe insisted on showing us his New Zealand corner in the garden where he has all named varieties of dahlias sent from New Zealand. He said that New Zealand women were famous for two things—growing and arranging flowers, and their ability to cook and make cakes. It was with regret that we said goodbye to these two very gracious personages who have surely made a name for thqmselves here in New Zealand as they* have done in Britain.