MESSRS. FLEMING AND HEDLEY'S INCHOLME ESTATE AND STOCK.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1237, 5 April 1880, Page 2

MESSRS. FLEMING AND HEDLEY'S INCHOLME ESTATE AND STOCK.

We on Friday last had the pleasure of riding over Messrs. Fleming and Hedley's property at Incholme, and of viewing the grand draughts and Ayrshires depasturing thereon. No doubt many intending purchasers have satisfied themselves of the quality of the land and of the value of the numerous Clydesdales] and Ayrshires to be ?seen feeding on the Incholme pastures. Still, we cannot refrain from saying, a word or two on the land, and stating our opinion on the-stock. ' Well, then, as land is the mother of us all and of primary importance in sustaining life, we will treat of the land first. The Incholme property is about four miles from the Mah§no station, directly up the gakanui valley. It consists of 1849 acres of beautir full table land. A mere passer by the estate . could. ,fprm„ no.. concpptio.n .of_. its. formation or value; ' itidebd, the prospect from the road is not very enticing. But' let £hat prospect : nbt induce the : pur'chaser' to form too jiasty impressions; «Qnce on the top of the terrace that fronts the road you get a view that - effectually dissipates all your,; foregone.: conclusions. Stretching far inward lies a tract of level land such as would /gladden-the= heart,;of, the most prosy, and produce a thrill of pleasure in the breast of the enthusjastiq agriculturist. . The soil is excellent, and the formation very peculiar. It is not deep loam, heavy clay, nor tarry land j neither is it sandy. It is a sort of combir nation of all these, barring the " tar." But by whatever name the soil may be styled, we must pronounce it very choice. The surface--of -land, like a man's face, is the general index of character, - and 'if - wemay ' judge ; "of Incholme by its surface, the character is good indeed. The red'plovgr must have been 3ft. high. It.is now twisted and lying'on the ground partially' rotted. The after-growth- is 'now coming; and'-in another month-the. new feedwillbe-very. abundant,' We have,.no Jiesitatiqq.in stating that Incholme is equal to any tiling in the Oamaru district, not. excepting the far-famed 1000-acre paddock on Totara. The property is, subdivided into seotions to suit all buyers. We regret that " circuihstances" will no't allow. 6f ourselves becoming the happy possessors of a slice, but this will not hinder us;frqm -wishing, nor from congratulating, those who may be fortunate.enough tp or part of th|s magnificent -fariq.

STOCK. A word on the stock. It is an old-spy-ing with breeders that a great deal of the breeding goes in at the mouth. No doubt this is true to a certain extent, but, like all sayings, it' has a false §ic|g. " .TJnless an animal has breeding- ans comes of a true type, no amount of food will make that animal a well-bred-un in fact, as a rule, the more flesh you put- on a bad beast the more prominent will its'faults appear. For instance, _you must have plenty of bone in a draught, or the weight of the body when in full flesh will make the bone -- dppear no heavier than a coacher. It is also true, however, that a bad farm will soon " run'out- the breed \ therefore ft is necessary before you get

good stock to- nave a good place to pul - them on. Never in our experience, anc it is pretty varied, have we seen such a ; display of heavy draughts. One hundred and fifty Clydesdales in one paddock, ali pure brpd, is a sight that takes a little .time to comprehend. Yet this sight we saw at Incholme. Of course we acknowledge that this department of agriculture is not our particular forte, but any one may know when a good animal is put be- . fore him. If we were allowed to pick a dozen or a score from this- large mob we might leave better than we selected, still we would feel perfectly satisfied with our selection. The great beauty of this stud is its evenness. A good judge stand* ing. alongside our reporter was heard lo remark, "You might just stock-ride Fleming and Hedley's horses into the show-yard and you would be sure of the cup." We could scarcely agree with this burst of enthusiasm, but this peculiarity of the stud will strike strangers at first sight. One would almost suppose that they are the progeny of one animal 5 you wander among so many good ones that you begin to consider good only ordinary quality. Closer scrutiny of each animal demonstrates the fact that they are not only good, but very superior. We had the 1 pleasure of listening to the critique of ..two experts, and though a lot of the jargon was far above our ken, we took some notes of their authoritative opinions,

and now give all interested the benefit of thein. We heard a great deal of Miss Patterson and her progeny, of old Curly and' her numerous tribe, of Aikenhead's .Maggie Lauder and her great tribe, notably her great Banker declared to be a clinker, and which is expected to top the list. All this we fyeard, arid tlien an discussion oh the merits of Henderson's filly by the Prince of Wales, and two other fillies by Sir William Wallace. But as this dialogue was, conducted for the greater part in pure Doric, we sometimes missed the thread of the 'discourse. Joking aside, we sawsuph a sight as in all human probability never again will be witnessed in one paddock in New Zealand. AYRSHXRES. • There are about 50 pure-bred Ayrshire cows and heifera at Incholme, and about

1 30 all more or less pure. We can only say that they are all " beauties." Some may lean towards Herefords, others towards shorthorns, but all must confess Ijfhat for style and symmetry Fleming and Hedley's Ayrshires are justly celebrated as the acme of perfection. The vendors pride themselves on this class of stock, land we think they have good reason. Ayrshires have established themselves firm favorites in the Oamaru district. For dairy purposes they excel any other breed, and' they are very hardy and easily wintered. The vendors declare that a Leicester ewe will eat as m uch' as an" Ayrshire heifer. Be that as it may, they are the popular breed for dairying in America, ■an d .wi 11 y- i f we; are not:: greatly- mistaken } fast make their mark in this Colony. The more our attention is directed to -the dairy, the greater will be the demand for Ayrshires. We anticipate a keen competition for the Ayrshires, and no doubt some of the good " una" will reach figures that will surprise some of our great shorthorn breeders.. We have only given a short and very incomplete .description of the land and stock to be sold on account of Messrs. Fleming and • Hedley, but if we have raised . the curiosity of intending purchasers, and thereby indueed inspection, we shall feel .that our article has not been written in vain. QIIV advice to all is, Come and see • for' yourselves !