CROSS-COUNTRY JOTTINGS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 57, 30 November 1907, Page 3

CROSS-COUNTRY JOTTINGS.

I ON THE UPPER AV.AITOTARA ROAD. I set off the'other morning for the Upper Waitotara;-and what a morning it was— beautiful, clear sky, with here and there a fleecy cloud, everything looking at its best, and the distant hills forming a grand background to tho picture. But tho crowning object in all the landscape was "the Mountain," Egmont—we hardly ever hoar the people in these" parts call' it t anything but "the Mountain." On this particular morning it. rose up sheer from' tho flat country, snow,-clad, and- very beautiful in tho morning sun. Blue Papa Country. When I had passed Momohaki and got down'to the valley at Ngiitiiwera I found an entirely different class of soil. On tho tablelands it is a rich, light brown loam, but in the valleys running from tho • blue papa country, the soil is very much heavier, containing the constant washings from the papa, which is always slipping in wet weather. I noticed a paddock which had been ploughed, but was evidently too hard to work yet. No doubt a little rain would make all.tho; difference. -That this heavier soil is fertile is shown by the. crops growing in a garden near the post office. Never have I seen such leeks and .such big cabbages "arid'onions for the time of tlie vcar. And it is splendid grazing country, * and holds rve better than the lighter land. .The roads, being . chiefly papa, are' inches deep in white tlust, and with a following wind one has to ride at a walking- pace, or clso be smothered. In the Bush .District. The road, after traversing tho bottom of tho valley, begins to rise up to a spur, on which; it divides, ono' going to Upper Waitotara, the other leading down to tho Waitotara .Rivor. At the top, where tho road reaches a tableland, on looking. back ono seos a magnificent view of WavcrTcy and Momohaki. And now a different class of country altogether begins. It is much more broken and billy; the tablelands disappear, and in their place is the usual bush' hill country. A good deal of bush is standing ; still a deal has been foiled, and large areas are now ready for the burn. I was sorry to see foxglove flourishing in one section. The seed must have como in grass seed. In somo parts foxglove is becoming a perfect, nest, and once it gets a hold it is a difficult weed to cope with. An Expensive Road, Soon, after passing Mr. Ross!s farm, we entered the bush proper, xhe road has been made for cart traffic down to the rivor, but

is now quite impassable, and only just wide enough in dozens of places for horse traffic. Wherever the road has been cut through papa, there the slips have come down. One looks into gorges below the narrow ledge on which the liorso is travelling, hundreds of feet straight down. When the bush in this country is fellc<l— and I believe the. land.is mostly all taken up —the whole country must slip bodily down into the gullies. It must have been a very expensive piece of road to make, tho hills being so steep. There is a great deal of birch growing in tho ridges, which aro rc.il razor backs, hardly wide enough for n goat. What seemed to me .remarkable is that there are no' rimu trees in this bush—that is, so far as one can see from tho track—only tawa, hinau, birch, and rewarewa. It makes splendid sbeop country, tawa land being usually ft good indication of rich soil. Satisfied Farmers. What an immense difference there is here in the-value of land compared with only a few miles away. 1 lunched with a farmer whom 1 had known in the Taihape district. He has now an excellent section of good two-sheep land, with a good portion ploughable. Some has been ploughed, and he has still about 170 acres of standing bush. Even when this is down and in grass it will'only stand him about £7 per acre at the outside. Pfirther back, where^ the land is more broken, it is,'of course, cheaper still, but capital sheep country and very healthy.' This blue papa country grows real good sheep with good bone; there is a lot of lime, m Blue papa. Tho.. water .which comes out of the papa is very hard, just the same as out r>f limestone country, which shows'that it must be' a good soil for the sheep farmer. Stock do well, and'so do the farmers, as they all sodm to be satisfied.