NEW LAND VERSUS OLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18888, 22 December 1924, Page 9

NEW LAND VERSUS OLD.

LESSON TO YOUNG FARMERS. CHEAP IMPROVING COUNTRY. fBY XELEGBAPH.—OWN COBOaESPONDEOT ) HAMILTON. Saturday. A curious fact has been noted by Mr. W. R. Lowry, chairman of directors of the Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., in connection with the productive value of three farms he owns. The cows on one farm, situated at Piako, which has been cultivated for many years and is in first-class heart, have not done so well this year as cows milked on newly brought-in farms situated at Kiwitahi and To Awamutu. Land in the vicinity of the Piako farm sold at £99 per acre during the boom period. It is perfectly flat and low-lying, and always yields a prolific growth of grass. At a conservative estimate its value to-day would be from £40 to £50 per acre. It was well manured, the grass is as good as ever and the cattle are in first-class condition. Yet on the now farm at Kiwitahi, where the land is hilly to undulating and worth'" up to £20 per acre, the production per cow has been considerably greater than that of the Piako herd. The land at Kiwitahi is light, whereas that at Piako, which fringes the Hauraki Plains, is heavy. The new grass on the hills was well manured wken sown. The cattle on the two places are of the same breed, mixed Shorthorns.

The Te Awamutu land is valued at £5 per acre, being some distance from rail and somewhat rough. It has been recently brought in, and the cows there are doing well on the new grass. Mr. Lowry considered there was a lesson to be derived from his experiences, that it was better for a young man desiring to become a farmer to take up cheap, unimproved land than an expensive, old-established farm. The new land would become reasonably productive in a short time, and the farmer would not have the financial worries that usually attended the purchase of an improved farm.