NOTES ABOUT CROPS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 146, 14 March 1908, Page 3

NOTES ABOUT CROPS.

Chi tho Maungapakeha- Road I saw (writes our travelling correspondent),, the'remains of what had been a .magnificent cropj, of thou- ■ sarid-lieaded. kalo. Mr; owner, told: mo it-was. his-first experience of it, and that ho was thoroughly- satisfied with, tho result./ He had fattened on it a largo'number of sheep, which' were then ready for the drover.- Certainly , they looked in firstclass condition. •i-Thero'will.'bo another'good sccond crop, as'from the base of.,each leaf a young sprout-was growing. The kale was, growing on an- alluvial flat in the' Valley. Coming, into so -dry' a district-, I was' much surprised , to; 1 see the splendid crops of rapo in the . 'Wharcama Valley, on tho way to Tonui. There .-are some rich- alluvial 'flats formed by washings from - papa hills, and the rape at .Flag Creek' would be very hard to boat. When the lambs'.were turned in they cpuld just be seen. There aro-farmers and farmers; some good and some—:?. Several rape crops I .had seen wero much'.infested with docks,' but a little fiirthor on I saw somo rape paddocks from'which every dock had been pulled. Tlie contrast' was very 'great. Further on still, I noticed a turnip paddock, which presented a strange appearance. Part of the laird had been ploughed six weeks, before the remainder. ~ After the whole had been turned over, it was worked and sown'. When the seodcame up, the part which had been longer exposed ,to • weather made a splendid show and has now a real good crop. , On tho other portion hardly a seed had germinated. It shows that the "weathering" which one part received was what tho. land required and that for lack of it tho other part was a failure. .