MOKAI TO WAIKAKEI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13768, 5 June 1908, Page 7

MOKAI TO WAIKAKEI.

INCIDENTS ON THE WAY. THE BROADLANDS ESTATE. . FARMING PUMICE SOIL. ; : f BY OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER., , Jlokai is supposed to be connected by road :■'.-" with Wairakei, and thus with the main Ilotoiua-Taupo Road. In fact, a Govern- - -. ment grant of £500 was expended on this "■ work, but unfortunately, like many other Government undertakings, the road was .never finished. It ends about three miles from ' Mokai, and it' one wants to reach the main .' highway one must have a conveyance sent '•■s■>::. in from Wairakei to what is termed "the i .siding," or where the new road touches the • ■■ '■» Taupe Totara Timber Company's railway. One can then go down to the siding by the :... company's locomotive and wait until the .vi-Vtrap appears. This is the course I pursued and I had the pleasure of riding down the . inclines behind several heavily-laden trucks ', i : when the ground was white with hoar frost ' and the rails slippery with ice. We slid '~' /'.'-. round curves to the scream of hard pressed . brakes, but I did not realise the full meaning of. it until I saw a man scrambling over • the frosted trucks screwing up the levers as We rushed through the biting air. Then I found it exciting enough.to stand by ready tor emergencies.

VIA ORUANUI.

The road between the siding and Wairakei is by no means a bad one, and is only about a dozen miles in length. It takes one through open country, mostly in tussock. Light land, of course, but good enough to offer promise to anyone who will work it, and plentifully supplied with rabbits and pheasants. We passed through historic Oruanui, once a famous Maori village, now a milling centre for flax and timber. Where the flax or timber conies from is difficult to say, for there is no sign of either to be. seen from the road. . With the exception of,Oruanui there is no other evidence of set-. tlcment or human enterprise of any kind until one sees the pine trees surrounding : Wairakei. I Spent an afternoon looking at the wonders of the Geyser Valley, and the next morning proceeded northwards by coach, my intention being to drop off at the Wain bridge, and see something of the attempts now being made to utilise; the pumice country of the Kaingaroa Plains for sheepfarming. ■ AX ESCAPED PRISONER.

When some distance from Waiotapu the coach was stopped by a man on horseback, who put "some questions to the driver.

"Have you seen anything of a. man on the road riding a gray .horse?" "Yes, there was a. fellow on the road last night; he went' on to Taupo."

"How was he dressed?" '• Oh,' he had a Chesterfield coat on." "What sort of pants':" . " Gray, I think, turned up at the bottom.*'

There- were lots more questions, of course, and then the trooper explained that the man in the Chesterfield coat was an escaped prisoner from the Waiotapu camp. , , ~.

"He came up to the roadman at, the bridge," went on the trooper, "and told him; he was a warder, ami- said he was. after a prisoner, and that his horse was knocked , up. The roadman lent him horse, saddle, 'and bridle, and the man rode off."

.The driver laughed. "That's one up against Deny, " Jie chuckled,., "and ;■., he , : a warder himself not long ago. Gosh, I'll bait him when I see him. I'll tell him the man sold his horse at Taupo." ■. ,

We met Deny a little later, and the driver had his little joke, which Deny took in very good style. .•-,

THE BROADLANDS ESTATE.

I was deposited at the Mihi, bag and baggage, arid proceeded to Broadktnds.' Broad , lands is an estate of 55.000 acres, recently acquired by Mr. Katie Vuile, of Auckland. It fringe? tiie east'bank of the Waikato River, stretching from the Terepatutahi River to Luke Rolokaiyh, and is all pumice country.,

The name of the estate is thoroughly apt, it is indeed, broadlands, a great Hat stretching north and south further than the eye can measure, and running back eastward to' a broad slope that looks like a plain accidentally tilted at a low angle..

It is a portion of the Kaingaroa country, incorrectly described in our geographies arid on our maps us the Kaingaroa Plains. In reality it is an undulating tableland with an elevation of clot* on 2000 ft, bounded on the west by Lake Taupo and the Waikato River, and on the east by the .Rangitaiki. The Kaingaroa district covers an area of over 250,000 acres,, a/rid forms the extreme eastern portion of the great Taupo pumice region, which here stretches almost unbroken from Galatea to Lichfield, a distance. vi fullv 60 miles.

A BIG PROBLEM. The problem of how to utilise this immense area of pumice land is one 1 that might well engage the attention of the State, Thelaboratories of our university colleges might ■'deal.'with its chemistry, the Agricultural Depart should experiment with its soils.Even under a low average production this region might yield some millions of pounds annually to the wealth of the nation, and, more important still, it might be made to carry a healthy and vigorous population.

No one nowadays need be "taught how to make good land yield good 'returns. The lesson has been learnt and learnt generally too well; for the so-called practical farmer lias in many cases used rich soil as if it were a never-ending income instead of a- fixed amount of capital. It is costing the United States millions of dollars yearly to make up for this kind of mistake. The Russian Government -is awakening to the impoverishment of its famous black soil belts, said to be once the richest grain lands in the world, and the Canadian Government will no doubt one day realise how the prairie (aimer is wasting the resources of the soil.

•' METHODS OF FARMING. "I Generally speaking, there are- only two ■ great distinct classes of farming. One which uses up the natural fertility of the ;•;-; foil, and another which maintains this fertility, or which makes soils- not naturally rich productive. No one need hesitate in deciding which class is of the greatest bene- ■'■■■{■ fit. to the community. Even if the new ' ' theory put forward by the American Bureau of Soils is correct, and soils never exhaust - their innate fertility, but become non-pro- , ' ductive through the accumulation of/toxic poisons, there is still the problem of mak- ..." ing poor lands productive. ;' Like many other great problems affecting national interests, the question of utilising pumice soils is being left almost entirely to private enterprise. The men who are now handling areas of the- Kaingaroa, Patetore, [",■'■■'. . Taupo, or Waimarino districts, are engaged , in most interesting work, and are carrying it out, not only without State assistance, but in the face of a good deal of adverse |o||];«ti'iticism. ; ' ' .■ ' .."...■•; ■,■■■:■', LEGUMES AND HOOT CROPS. As a matter of fact, the question as to whether pumice soils can be utilised has | '. - > already been answered. The few men en- \ ' gaged in th« work have proved two things. j >V'-': First, that the better portions, with & little

assistance, will grow a variety of useful grasses. Secondly, that under cultivation they will produce good root crop». ■;';: I confess that to the man who believes fanning consists entirely cf surface-sowing grasses and "grazing, pumice soils would prove unsatisfactory, but I am certain from what -I; : have already seen that under a modern system of farming piimaceoufl soils can be made to yield profitable results. la the first place the pumice lands- are lowpriced ; they can be obtained in some instances for a few shillings per acre, consequently there is room for a large margin of expenditure before they, reach, the value of what must be given for good soils. The pumice lands are light, easily worked, and remarkably healthy. Consisting as they do of some 60 to 75 per cent, of silica, and being low in nitrogen, iron, magnesia, and lime, they cannot be counted rich, but they contain a proportion of potash and phosphoric acid, and they are naturally adapted for the growth of legumes, as is proved beyond doubt by the spread of clovers and trefoils, wherever these plants have had the slightest opportunity of establishing themselves.

With the growth of the clovers and trefoils in these soils begins the accumulation of nitrogen, and, more than this, of humus, in which this land is sadly deficient. I do not know whether lucerne has been tried anywhere in the pumice country, but as clovers flourish there it is highly probable that lucerne would succeed, and even if it required the assistance of lime and additional phosphoric acid and potash it would undoubtedly prove a valuable factor in die improvement of these soils.

With the growth of root crops the renewal of pastures is a simple matter, and with their growth the question of winter feed is settled, so that after all the utilisation of the pumice soils does not depend upon overcoming natural difficulties, but becomes a pecuniary matter, and this, of come, rests upon returns versus expenditure. - ■•■..■■ • A SOLITARY HOMESTEAD.

The homestead of Broadlands at first sight appears to b» set well out in a greatlevel plain which is covered with a growth of tussock grass, fern, manawau, and manuka scrub. On closer view it is seen that the house is set on the edge of a great lagoon scooped out at no distant date by the Waikato River, which winds through the plain invisible until one is close upon. it. It is one of the most isolated houses in New Zealand, being seven miles from the nearest habitation, and having only this one house as company.

Mr. Turpin, who is managing Broad- ■ % ■ • •. lands for Mr. Vaile, is just the man for this class of work. He had many years' training at Longbeach under Mr. John Grigg. and he knows thoroughly well the principles of modern farming.

He lias a great task before him—the task of breaking in a huge block of country from the rough—and that he will succeed no one will doubt who sees the results already attained.

Broadlands, though apparently a great unbroken flat, is diversified by numerous swamps and low-lying river and creek lands. These, swamps for the most part are easily drained and carry a, fair depth of friable black or brown soil. There is no question about tills class of country being made productive, for it will come into grass whenever 'the water is carried away and the native growth cleared.

About the homestead is some of the poorest land on the estate and naturally it is here that work has first been*commenced,' localise.' of the necessity of establishing, handy .paddocks'"..' for the stock. I- saw where a' big stretch , of swedes* 'had been' '■' put hi where' the j soil was so' thin that the pure pumice was turned up with the ploughing. The crop had withstood the drought which played havoc with most of our roots during the lute summer, and would be counted a fair crop in almost any part of New Zealand. It had received 2cwt of superphosphate and blood and bones per acre. I saw also the oat crop grown on the freshly broken soil. It was light in the straw, as One could c.\|K:'-'t from a dry season from light soils, but clean and sweet and well beaded. The lute sown grass was .springing and looked well, but, of course, it was too early to judge of its real value.