A MUPLESS MARCH-APRIL RUN

Northern Advocate, 6 May 1930, Page 6

A MUPLESS MARCH-APRIL RUN

AUCKLAND TO SPIRITS BAY. AND BACK TO WIT AN G. A RET. WITHOUT WETTING WHEELS. RURAL WAYSIDE NOTES. (By R. J. Eam.es.) i No. 5. In examining the conditions at Kaitaia what strikes an investigator mostis the lack of up-to-date methods in farming. Improvements are being made, but they are long overdue. In the past, the favourite method of “making hay’-’ was to slpit up an overgrown paspalum paddock. This duly dried up, still carrying snipe green undergrowth, and in the winter time the stock wore turned into it. A good many deaths from, impaction of tiie stomach resulted from this easy method of making hay. Even this season the haystac.ks that may bo seen are few and far between, but the indications' are that ensilage will bo the favnurie way of preparing win- j tor food, I FLOOD PREVENTION, The drainage scheme is very extensive, (1.1,430 acres (about 00 square miles) being embraced in the drainage area. For rating purposes the. lands have been classified, the first, second and third sections being subjected to differential rating, according to presumed benefits received, whilst the fourth class, the hilly and outlying country, is exempt. The combination of rates' is pressing very heavily upon Kaitaia. On one farm visited the total rates —Town Board, drainage rate and land fax—amounted to £2 per acre per annum! The drainage rate is causing widespread discontent, a number of farmers complaining that their properties have been benefited very little, if at all, as a result of the drainage operations. The cost of works on which tlio rates wore levied amounted to £125,000. No less than £02,696 has been written off as ‘ ‘ not recoverable, excess cost of works. ’' Of different types of dredgers (scrapers, draglines or buckets, as they may be called), no fewer than, forty aye employed. It must be. remembered that this- vast scheme is more in the nature of flood prevention than actual drainage. UNDEVELOPED COUNTRY. From Kaitaia to Awanui, nearly five miles, a splendid, view of the extensive flats is obtained, but no sooner are the flats, passed at Awanui, on the road to Kaingaroa, than one. encounters extensive hilly land of as poor quality as could be. found anyi whore else in the great Northern Peninsula. Hard pipe-clay,. carrying scrub toa.-troe. Isolated shacks appear at intervals over the undeveloped countryside. Except for the roadp, and the telegraph wires there is np; evidence of proximity to any civilised, centre,. Tiny valleys here and ,there , with their grass and other cultivations, show that the more favoured parrs have already been made sub,ject to the needs of man. About Lake Ohia. big arees of good swamp country await development. The costly gum-treating plants, for some time closed down, remain as pain (ml reminders of Vanished thousands of capital. By devious descent Mangouui—crushed down by hills to the water front—is reached. i

MORE EMPTY TERRITORY. From Mangonui onwards much desolate countryside is passed —land that is fully capable of being brought into profitably productive use. Arrived at Whnngaroa there was the glorious picture of this wonderful .harbour, but half-a.-do7,en giant swordfish hanging on the pulleys to rot, attracted chief attention from most of the visitors. It was freely mentioned that in certain parts- of the United vStates thisfish fetches 2/ and 2/(5 per lb. Tn Whangaroa, after a few steaks are cut for eating or for bait, the fish is carted. away for manure. THE KAEO CENTRE. The dairy factory at Kaoo is the chief industrial centre of the Whangaroa county. Before reaching TCaeo it was seen that a good deal of inai}grove swamp land is being reclaimed. One’s first impression on viewing the factory is a mild wonder as to where the butter-fat comes from to supply it. The Kaoo Valley is very narrow, hedged in by high .hills. But the problem was soon solved hy the discovery that dairy cows ran to the sky-line! Pome poor pipeclay hills were examined, and the results from some of the farms wore simply astonishing. Liming and surface fertilising are employed with excellent results.

The area, from which the Kaeo factory draws its supplies is approximately 42 miles longf and 84 miles wide! Twelve years ago it. made 8(1 tons of butter, last year Bdd tons, and this season it is expected that Mod ions will be produced. The haystacks are a pleasing feature of (lie farms which supply Kaeo. Most of them are provided with permanent, movable covers of corrugated iron. The stacks are from 14 to Vi feet square, the four corner poles being i(j to 27 feet clear of the ground. These uprights are mostly

totara saplings squared. Some have simple gable roofs; others have hip roofs. Usually the roofs arc nos lifted by pulleys but are shouldered up, one corner at a time, each corner being successfully fixed by thrusting in removable bolts. The numbers of these sheds to he seen indicate the importance with which the farmers of that district regard the provision of winter feed. Herds of 75, 70, and several about the forties and fifties supply this factory, Land values on the Kaoo fiats, for ordinary land in reasonably good heart, are quoted at £+o to £SO per acre. For winter feed

there isi 1 1 general- dependence upon ■liny, root crops not being’ grown. During the course of conversation, with Mr W. H. Lone, chairman of directors of the Whangaroa Dairy Company, the spirit of the dairy farmers in that district was revealed. Mr lame has a herd of 48 cows (including 9 heifers) which averaged .'l47lbs of butterfat per cow. Over 20 cows averaged •lUOlbs and the best cow, a grade Jersey, yielded n2dlbs. “My target, lie said, “is a herd of oil cows, averaging -lOdlbs of butter-fat, ou (in acres of bat land, with adjoining hill, land for a nm-off in the winter. “ That i? the spirit!