The Farm.

Otago Witness, Issue 1382, 25 May 1878, Page 20

The Farm.

OHATS WITH THE FARMERS. A Visit to Mr John Duncan's EbiATE,

Cherry Farm, Waikouaiti.

Mr John Duncan anived in Dunedin, from Scotland, with his brother Mr George Duncan, now in Oregon, in 1849. Business at that time was very dull — working-men's wages, when they could obtain employment, being 2a 6d to 3s per day. The prospect was most discouraging. It was evident that it would be impossible to make headway without hard work, great self-denial, and the most careful management. They wore young and atrong, however, and were endowed with a more than ordinary degree of energy and native wit. With brave hearts they went to work. For some time profits were small — very small — but by observing the maxims for making money — the chief one of which is to live within means — they made some progress. Their firßt great achievement was the erection of a mudhouse in a Bwamp, upon the site of the Albion Hotel, Maclaggan street. Their next was the building of a boat with their our hands, for the transportation, to Dunedin, of timber which they had sawn at .Anderson's Bay. In the course of ten years they accumulated a good sum of . jjaoney andMr Or. Duncan went on a visit t J

the old folks at Home. Mr John Duncan, in co-partnership with Mr Young, leased at the Water ot Leith a flour mill. At that time. Ofcago-grown wheat was considered only suitable for horse-feed, and the best bread was made of Adelaide flour. Messrs Duncan and Young therefore had great difficulty in finding a market for their flour. Bread at this time was -lsGd the 41b loaf. Some of the bakers mixed it with Adelaide, but others would have none of it at any price. Sooner than make use of it, they would pay £6 moro per ton for Adelaide ! Of course, the settlers:in early days were glad enough to have bread made of home-grown wheat, but probably the millers did not make the ftour quite so fine as the imported. At all events, the bread made from New Zealand wheat did not suit the Australian gold-seekers, who had been used to bread of the best quality, made from the finest eilk-dressed flour, which was not half so wholesome as that made in the rougher manner. Messrs Duncan and Young struggled on, until one of those floods came which periodically visit the Taieri. They had got a quantity of wheat which, in consequence of the flood, turned out badly in the mill. They were in an \infortunate predicament. A large Btock of flour was on hand, but there was no market. Their only alternative was to compete with the bakers. An oven was erected,. and they commenced manufacturing bread. It proved to be of good quality, and it met with a ready sale. Duncan's bread was the poor man's loaf, and there was a rush for it, at a reduced rate. A second oven was put up, and both were kept going day and night, Adelaide flour being, of course mixed with that from the Taieri wheat. New wheat came in, and the loaf improved in qaality. The bakers, seeing that Duncan and Young were making bread equal in quality to that from the Adelaide flour, began to think better of the home-made article which they had previously despised, and the consequence was that there was a run upon the mill for flour. Improved milling machinery had been introduced, and Messrs Duncan and Young did a good trade until 1868 in supplying the market with a first-class quality of flour from Otago-grown wheat. The result was that Adelaide flour was driven out of the market, and the bakers were enabled to supply as good a loaf for 6d as that for which they had previously charged three times the price. In 1869 Mr Duncan, in co-partnership with his brother, Mr George Duncan (who afterwards sold out), leased the Cherry Farm, Waikouaiti, for a term of twenty-one years, and soon afterwards purchased 30U0 acres of hill-land or grazing country close by. The farm consists of about 1000 acres of flat alluvial land, bounded on one side by the Waikouaiti river, and surrounded by hills. The river, no doubt, at one time made a bend in this basin, and gradually filled it up. The soil is a deep sandy loam, and the subsoil a a'undy clay, and as might be supposed it is remarkably fertile. It was a choice selection made by Mr Johnny Jones before the days of the Otago Company, and wat used by him as a grazing and agricultural farm. It was represented by the trustees of Mr Jones' estate as being under English grass. Messrs Duncan, before taking it over, examined it, and had it inspected by an experienced agriculturist. Upon taking possession, however, greatly to their horror and surprise, they discovered that the whole farm was overrun with couch-grass, and in its then condition waa absolutely unfit for cultivation. When Mr Oarmichael, of the Taieri, informed us of the disappointment \ihich he experienced through having imported worthless couchgrass seed, 'we told him that he might consider it a fortunate circumstance, as the grass, if once sown upon the embankments, would probably spread all over the farm' and monopolise the ground to the exclusion of everything else. Such had been the case on some of the plantations of Louisiana. It appears that Mr Jones had sown couch-grass among other English grass Beeds, and it took entire possession of the land. Tho leading authorities upon practical husbandry specify clearly tho kinds of grasses which should be sown for permanent pasture, and couch-grass most decidedly is not one of them. Tho process of destroying this grass is a tedious and expensive one, and we certainly think that Mr Duncan is equitably entitled to compensation. This couch-grass (Triticum repens) is also called twitch-grass, quick-grass, witch - grass, dog-grass, and creoping-wheat-^rass. It extends rapidly by means of creeping roots, forming a mat in the ground, and taking entire possession of the soil.

Tho first year 70 acres were cleared, at an expense of £8 per acre. Thirty acres per annum have been cleared since, and there are two or three years' work yet. The ground is ploughed in the autumn, and allowed to lie until winter, when it is cross-ploughed. After the roots have been exposed for a time, the ground is grubbed aud harrowed, mon following with forks and gathering the grass, which is carted off. This grubbing is repeated five times, and afterwards no less than seven times. A dead creek upon the estate contains hundreds of tons of the grass, which have been carted off the land. The first crop grown upon this reclaimed land is turnips or potatoes — the average yield of the former being 40 tons to the acre, and of ihe latter 12 tons. A crop of wheat ia then taken off, and it is sown down in rye-grass and clover.

Tho crops grown at Cherry Farm th.l 3 season are 220 acres of wher-.t, 120 of oate, 18 of turnips, and 12 of potatoes — the remainder being in English grass, There

are 200 horned cattle, 1000 sheep, and 60 horses, and on the hills 2500 sheep. The usual average quantity of wheat grown to the acre by Mr Duncan is 40 bushels, and of oats 50. This year the average product of wheat is 45 bushels, and the 12 acres plantod in potatoes have yielded 150 tons. Mr Duncan has tried red chaff, Tuscan, and red Btraw wheat, and that which has been found to produce the best crops is the red straw. Of oats he has tried several kinds, and prefers the Danish. Cherry Farm potatoes are well known for their fine quality, and always bring the best price. Decidedly one of the best paddocks of turnips, if not the finest, we have ever seen was at Cherry Farm. They were sown in drills. The roots are of onormous size, and the tops cover the ground completely. There was not a blank, and they were clean and well cultivated.

Mr Duncan, while having by the adoption of the system already described — first Eradicating the couch-grass plague, then sowing in turnips, takiug a white crop, laying down in grass for two or three years, and feeding stock — brought his land to a high state of productiveness, has not been unmindful of the importance of dealing only with the improved, breeds of animals. His herd of horned cattle represents some of the best Shorthorn strains in the Colony. He commenced with stock of Mr Murray's breed. At the sale by Mr Bell, of Waimea, he purchased two heifers which cost over 100 guineas each. He commenced with Mr Matthew Holmes' famous bull, Waterhouse, who has a stud-bonk pedigree. Ho was, when purchased by Mr Duncan, two years old, and valued at 250 guineas. He then bought from Mr Holmes seven of his pure Shorthorn heifers at large prices, Waterhouse took a first prize at Oamaru, and has since taken first honours at several Shows. Last year, he and two of his progeny took first and second prizes. Cows, heifers, and yearlings from the herd also took first and second prizep. There are now quite a number of purebred cowa, whose young meet with a ready sale. The steers are sold to the butcher at 30 months to three years. They run in paddocks all the year, being kept in good condition by most excellent pasturage, straw, and turnips. The straw is stacked in the grass paddocks not very far from the turnip field At certain Beasons Mr Duncan buys stores to fatten for market, but the margin of profit is so small, that he keeps as many cows as possible to rear calves from for fattening. There are on the farm twenty breeding mares, thirteen of which are Clydesdales, and having an interest in the Company's fine entire, Sir George Grey, Mr Duncan turns out some splendid young draught stock. Last year he had ten foals by him, and this year he expects to have twelve or thirteen. Before Sir George came out, mares were sent to Mr 3 Nimmo's. Sir George's two-year-olds were first and second at < 'amaru, and second and third at the Taieri. Several young things were sold lately at good prices.

We should have mentioned that Mr Duncan's three thousand acres of freehold hill land is bounded on one side by the Waikouaiti river, and that the remainder has a fence offposts, top-rails, and five wires. Here 2500 sheep, of a cross between the Lincoln and Leicester, are kept, and on the farm there are about 1000 Bheep — 400 of which are Leicester ewes, and the remainder are half and three-quarter bred Lincolns and Leicesters. The breed with which Mr Duncan commenced was the pure Leicester. They, as well as the Merinos were subject to foot-rot when kept upon the farm. He tried Romney Marsh, expecting that they would be free from attacks of that disease in wet seasons, but such was not the case. He then got some of Button's breed of Lincolns, which with the Leicesters make a splendid cross, showing a decided improvement in the quality of the wool, as well as in the weight and quality of the mutton. The half-breds are kept on the hilk, the aged being culled and fattened on the farm for market, while the young are sent from the low land to the hills. Mr Duncan remarked, that he thought a good deal of Mr Walter Miller's ideas in regard to sheep, as published in Tub Witness, knowing him to be an authority on wool-growing in New Zealand, and he hoped to profit by his advice. Mr Duncan has washed his sheep in cold water, for six or seven years, always before noon, and he gets from 30 to 33 per cent, moro for washed than he could obtain for greasy wool. It does not lose more than 20 per cent, in weight.

It would be unfair not to notice tho trophies won by Mr Duncan's stock at the various shows. Upon his side-board wo noticed a splendid silver cup, valued at 25 guineas, gained at Blueskiu in 1874, for excellency of stock, imported by Mr Hislop. Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co.'s silver cup, won at Palmerston in 1875, for the highest number of points in stock, was also there, as well as another cup for tho same year. Upon tho mantelpiece are two emu eggs, mounted by Mr Hislop in silver, in a most artistic stylo, valued at 20 guineas ; they wero gained at Blueskin, in 1875, for excellancy of stock. There were also quite a number of silver medals, which would have shown to greater advantago if they were in a more useful or ornamental shape.

Cherry Farm is well supplied with buildings and agricultural implements. The wool-shed has every convenience and accommodation for eight shearers. In tho steading there are stalls for thirty beasts. The barn is 60ft. by 30ft., aud a shed adj"ins f»r a nine-horse Roboy engine, which runs a thrashing machine, chaff-cutter, and oat-bruiser. Then there

are various other buildings, such as stables, carriage-house, blacksmiths' and carpenters' shops, and an implement shed 100 feet long. There is a fine comfortable house for the single men, and cottages for the married people who work on the estate.

We must remark in reference to the farm buildings, that they have not been erected in accordance with any well recognised plan. • Instead of being compactly arranged in a central position they are detached and scattered in a way that must be very inconvenient. There are three reaping machines, and four double-furrow D, and two or three swing ploughs are worked. The doublefurrow used are made by Jack, of Oamaru, and Beid and Gray, of Dunedin. There is a potato digger, seed- sower, horse-rake, various rollers, grubbers, harrows, &c. The potato digger, which is of Scotch make, has proved a great success. Lifting with the plough and bagging, costs, about Gs. per ton, and with the machine the cost is 45., and the work is done better, easier, and in a shorter time, besides leaving the ground better pulverised. It has been used three seasons. The sower is by Young, of Ayr, and works very satisfactorily. r| he grubber, which is made by Mackerras, of Ayrshire, is used in grubbing up the couch grass. It goes over the ground between every clearing. Twelve or thirteen men are employed permanently on the farm, six of whom are married.

There is a fine orchard and garden, and vegetable garden for the people employed. One thousand bags of wheat have been thrashed this season, and 50 acres have already been sown. One pound of bluestone is used for every bag of seed wheat.

Referring to the climate, Mr Duncan says, that if anything it is a little warmer and drier than that of the Taieri. There are some rabbits, and they would be troublesome if they were not kept down. There are no hares. Pheasants and partridges are increasing on the hills. Trout were put twice in the river, and some good specimens have been seen in various branches. Starlings are very numerous, and thousands of them roost at night in the blue gums surrounding the homestead. Sparrows are breeding in various nooks around the house.

We noticed that along one side of the farm where the Waikouaiti river is undermining the bank, and encroaching upon the road, the County Council are building a stone facing. The damage is done by the tide, and the walls being sffc. 6in M the water rises to within Gin. of the top. If the experiment succeeds, the walls canbe raised upon hereafter, the work being done by the surface men when their services are not required in repairing the road.