WAIWEKA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2556, 11 March 1903, Page 31

WAIWEKA.

M.irch 6 —The weather lately has bc-er all that could be desired from a farmer's point >f view— warm days, with occasional showers, beinsr the general order; consequently crops of all de=cnpt'ons have very much impnvcd. The turnip particularly has made rapid growth this ast wpek or so. If we =hould happily be fa"our^d -n:th a Mt]p more good growing weather iitm I th:"k ihr inrmp crop will be nbout ar ,'vc-i one The grass seed throning is liici.iv \\<il! on and so fai as I can find out, tho \ie'd ha^ Ixen fairly tood, and al=o the c ampks. Ti- al 1 aj.i.eararte just now, however, the prices wll not rue so In;h as w.'s antiripptpd Tim is only anchor of the many disappointments rariiif 1]?1 ]? are subjec* to. The other gia.n crops hi", chalice 1 a good deal 100 T think lam c .i f e in '•itp-'cr, th<>t all are- fully shot, and in some p\ic?s ripen. ng fast. A few wee-ks fchcu'd °cc haivcV among us, with crops rather patchy, from light to fairly heavy. Feed generally is plentiful, and stock ia mos cases do-

' ing well. I notice "Agricola," in his notes, refers tc the great benefit of moulding up the young turnip plants. Now, I would propound the query: Which is the best thing to do with the young plants — mould them up, as "Agricola" suggests, or clear- away the soil from i around them, to let the bulb have more room Ito grow? In my upbringing with my parents on what was considered a fairly good farm in England, we were taught to clear the soil pretty well aTound the plant, said let sufficient stand to just hold the main root. Pursuing this, course, we never had a failure. I have seen in J this country many doing the thinning by hand, removing as little of the soil and manure as possible. When I first saw this it struck me as being a good plan. After carefully watching the results several times, however, I am inclined to the old-time method, the use of the hoe, etc. I think it a good thing to see the results of different experiences in all such mat V ters before definitely concluding on any given course. Upper Waiwera Ford.— l notice a start has been made repairing, or, rather, relaying, the ford at the Upper Waiwera, and I think from tho appearance of things and the parties engaged at the work, we are going to have a right good job done this time. It is now clear that it would have been much better from the first to have erected a good traffic bridge, which, having most of the material at hand, could have been done at a comparatively "small cost. However, we must be content with the next I best thing — a good ford.