PAST FIELD AND TREE CLUMP

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 513, 21 May 1909, Page 8

PAST FIELD AND TREE CLUMP

SOME FARMERS' HOMESTEADS.' ■■'■:.■"':']".' ■':] A SKETCH;:;.';. ; ; :;' ;,: '; As:one. rides'out from Rongotea;towards tie Carnarvon district, somo very'fine pastures are seen; and some well-planted farms. Most kinds 'of ornamental and shelter- trees seem : to find a : congenial home hereabouts,' says'out travelling ;correspondent. \Vhiit.a wonderful; difference it makes in, the "look of a'property when trees havo been judiciously planted ui'bygoho days and how.'form a beautiful sotting for tho homestead. "But too many- planted their trees in tho earlier days much too closo to their dwellings, With the result'that to-day they are almost.hidden and buried in timber that shuts" out the air and sunlight. '-.:'" ' : ■■-,; -There is a gradual' riso, soon 1 after leaving Borigotoa, and when tho tram lino is crossed it is much more marked. Then one gets, into, more sandy country. There aro sand ridges running all through the district, "and as thb land falls away all round, one gets some magnificont views. On tho day I pass'ed along I heard tho hum of a.threshing mill, so I got off, my horso and went up tho ridge. There—l should say a mile and a half away— I 'could see tho mill, but could hardly distinguish tho men in the distance. Yet tho air was so calm that the mill seemed almost utmyfeot...-.'. . '.'•' -. When one gets to Carnarvon tho aspect is that of a flourishing littlo settlement—a vory' different Carnarvon to what it was when it was one largo shocp run. It has been cut up,; and cut up again, and lots of people now draw tho wherewithal of.', life from it. "Hokianga," tho cosy-looking .homestead .of Mr.' R. B. M'Kenzie, nestling among lino trees, is a centre round which other dwollings are'springing up. One of his sons has already pnt up a vory nico house,, and, if rnmour is not the lying jade she is often supposed to bo, another of his sons is likely to start an establishment of his own.' . Then close by there is a creamery and a, public, hall, and a littlo further on. wo como to "Clydesdale," the residonco of Air. T. M'Keazio, another auaint, old-fashioned but.

vory cosjMooking place—here is the telephone and post office, and soveral of the neighbouring sottlors have put up their own wires and aro connected at Clydesdale. Thoro is one thing they can grow hero, and that is turnips, though the weather was dry at tho.time of my visit. I saw roots as good as I.havo seen anywhere. Of course, largo quantities of manure are used by the farmers for their crops, but even on other soils which aro not sandy HUo tho Carnarvon land, manures aro one of the essential needs of successful root growing.. Presontly, as one advances from one scene to another, tho road takes a' sharp turn to tho left, and then one notes tho fino rcsi;-' donco of Mr. J. M'Kofvio gradually being uplifted against a background of sky. _ It is perched ;on one.of tho highest points in tho district, and commands a truly magnificent view; the grounds and plantations aro kept in'splendid order,' and, in fact, it is an ideal homo. , .