A KAIRANGA FARM

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 147, 23 June 1915, Page 12

A KAIRANGA FARM

HOME OF MR. R. TANNER A PLACE MADE. BEAUTIFUL Reference has been made to the beautification of certain farmers' homes in the Manawatu. One of the most striking examples of this is the family residence of Mr. Robert Tanner^ of Lower Kairanga, five miles from Palmerston North. Mr. Tanner, a member of an old and well-known Manawatu family, holds 650 acres of the most favoured portion of tho famous Kairanga lands, of which he has been in possesesion since 1880. He conceived the idea of its improvement on some definite scheme about fifteen years ago, but it is only reentry that he has been able to perfect his intentions in regard to the residence itself. Attention in the past has, been chiefly devoted to the broad acres, to the work of developing their productive powers to the full, and to the addition of improvements in buildings, drains, machinery, etc., such as the best equipped farms require. The land required a lot of ( attention, for though the quality is now unsurpassed, it was not, in its crude state, free from tho imperfections of areas adjacent to swamps. Now, however, the ' whole place, thpugh. well watered, is dry. and highly ' productive, with - luxuriant yields of pasture ; while few more con-veniently-appointed and^ better-equipped farms will be found in the district. A HOME BEAUTIFUL. But it is the house and surrounding grounds, and particularly the latter and their scheme of landscape ornamentation, 'which particularly appeal to the visitor or the passer-by. The extensive area in the front of the large, useful-looking wooden residence, sloping down to the road, is imost artistically laid out on an elaborate scheme of lawns and gardens. Immediately in front of the house, bordered, by beds of flowers and blossoming shrubs, and paths of sanded asphalt, is a large, carefully-prepared lawn, and

yield is less than 70 bushels ; of barley we have had 100 bushels to the acre, on the virgin ploughing. When I started to farm, tho place was just one forest of very heavy bush of white pine. There was so much water about that, while felling the bush, we used often to shoot wild duck. It has been hard work bringing it to its present state, clearing it, and draining it, but the soil now is dry, friable, and easily worked."

it yields just as much now as it did on the first occasion ; and Mr. Tanner asserts that not a ton of manure has been used on tho place. Great care has always been exercised in tho quality of the seed used, and in this way deleterious grows are avoided. The land is obviously very clean in that respect. The example is an excellent one, as the farm itself shows. Another up-to date innovation is the use of concrete fencing posts, strainers, and hangers, and drain pipes. All of these are manufactured on the farm, a work that keeps the men employed in wet weather. The fencing posts, Mr. Tanner has found, can be made for tho same price as he call obtain the ordinary wooden ones, and they are practically everlasting. Concrete water-boxes for stock, he states, can bo turned out as cheaply as one wooden one.

to him. The plea of the settlers would certainly have to be considered. At that same gathering, Mr. E. Newman, M.P., said that settlers from the Manawatu River to northwards of each side of Marton, were interested in getting the lines connected. In 1910, he said, a Select Committee of Enquiry had gone into the matter, and had referred it to the House of Representatives with a recommendation for favourable consideration. Sir James Wilson, County Chairman, who has been identified with tho lino from its inception, at the gathering, gave a little back history. Ho said that 27 years ago, when. th& people- on the eastern side of the railway wanted metal for the roads the first length of tho line was laid down. As settlement advanced the settlers had found the line very useful, and gradually it had become a very important factor in the development of the district. There seems little doubt, that eventually the line will be connected through. ,The Railway Department, of course, has had to carefully consider whether the through connection would affect its revenue by the diversion of traffic from its main lines, though the settlers have argued that this cannot possibly happen; that rather would the line act as a feeder to the State line. When the connection does take place the rails will require to be carried Sacross the Rangitikei River, but this need not necessarily entail any particularly heavy expense. Bulls also expects to be linked up, which will mean a very considerable Slip for the little town, even if it only, because it will receive and send supplies all the way by rail.