CHRONICLES OF STRATH TAIERI

Evening Star, Issue 16559, 19 October 1917, Page 7

CHRONICLES OF STRATH TAIERI

[Special to the ' Stak.'] MIDDLEMARCH, October 18. The dainago dene to the grain crop by tho recent heavy floods has been considerable, but with moderately good weather after this a good harvest and return are still assured. Grass is very abundant, and tho amount of summer 'feed for all kinds of stock will be almost phenomenal. Perhaps the most serious damage caused by the recent floods will bo the curtailment of the area proposed to be laid down in grain. The work of sowing was so much retarded that it is probablo some other crop than grain will now be put down in many places, as tho season is so far advanced.

Soon tho shearing season will be in full swing, and it is possible the work may be got through with no greater difficulty than was experienced last year. The shearing of the paddock sheep has, indeed, commenced already, and general shearing will begin in a few weeks' time. There maj- be a difficulty, owing to tho shortage of shearers, but shed hands will be more- easily secured, and the enlistment of schoolboys from tho Dunedin Technical School will greatly help. More and more tho North Island is securing for itself the supreme place in the breeding and rearing of the well-known, Polled Angus breed of cattle. During the past few months scores of choice animal-? liavo TTecn shipped northwards from tho well-known Gladbrcok stud herd, and last Monday 10 fine bulls were sent from Dunedin. The animals were in fine condition, and are„ sure to spread wider still the credit oi the Gladbrook herd. There has been a great boom in this breed for some time, both at Home and in Australasia, and tho Gladbrook herd has been scarce able to fulfil the demands made upon it from the North Island and Australia. With tho subdivision of the estate, it is probable that the herd will bo dispersed to all points of tho compass-, and unless some other herd be formed the breed will become almost the monopoly of the North Island, for Gladbrook is now almost the only herd of any importance in the South Island.

The patriotic activities of tho Middlemarch ladies continue unabated. Steadily, without a single intermission, the work goes forward week after week, month after month, and at present they are concentrating upon a great sale of work to bo held next month for the purpose of augmenting their funds for the provision of tho necessary materials to provide comforts for tho soldiers. Last year a similar sale of work was held, and realised several hundreds of pounds, and, in spite of all the calls that have been mad-e upon them, the public of Strath Taieri are not likoly to turn a deaf car to the appeal from the ladies, whose good and great work throughout these years of stress is appreciated and honored bv all.

The proposed subdivision of Gladbrook still excites mush comment .ind debate, although the lack of reliable information as to tho Government's proposals prevents any authoritative criticism of details. Certainly the proposal to settle only 30 soldier-fanners is universally condemned. The almost unanimous opinion of farmers, the most competent judges, is that double or nearly double tliat number could be r-ettled on the property.