DRUMMOND. KELSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 34

DRUMMOND. KELSE.

May 10.— With May we bare the first of winter, and the incessant rains we- have had for weeks, with ao much crop still ursecured, and scino even not cut. makes farming v. little disheartening meantime. I do not think there is so much in this immediate neighbourhood as in some othei districts. The rains have been much heavier than we have experienced for years. The ground is now so wet no one can form any idea when the reapei can be used for the uncut grain. One party who had a very heavy but green crop of oatri turned 160 head of cattle into it, and it will* Lot require further harvesting. The cropr> have been turning out fairly good in. quality, but meagre in quantity, and while the price may improve lo help the farmer, the millowners will suffer. The weather has als. been very unfavourable for the growth of turnips. To much wet at any time never suits the turnip growth, and for not a- few the prospect for winter feed is gloomy. The staple farm, product, here hitherto have been grain, grass seed, wool, and mutton. Dairying Industry. — Dairying as an industry has never taken hold, but I hear one or twoare inclined to patronise anyone who would be enterprising enough to commen-ce operations in that line. \Thether a co-operative factory would succeed or not is. if anything, doubtful. The distance from the railway is perhaps the greatest drawback we have for that or any other industry. It is-, in fact, retarding the expansion of the productive capabilities of this district to a- very great extent. Property Values. — Farmers have done fairly well here hitherto, and there are few who* have not at least been able to hold their own. However, any farms that have been disposed! of of late have been sold at a figure reallyi beyond their true value. "With the prices ruling for mutton and wool for the last few years, it may seem right enough, but it ia sailing too close lo the wind to value farming property at what can be taken out of it. Improvements are required, and besides interest for capital invested, a return of at least a fair proportion of the capital ghtfuld be expected besides paying all working expenses, household and other requirements. As the axea of new land for the extension of cultivation is getting limited, and is only of inferior quality, and further removed froms markets and centres, the price of what wellcultivated farms in favourable localities catt be bought at has gone very much too high. It may be good 1 enough for those who purchased' partly-cultivated properties a few years ago, or even a decade or so or a little overi at from £5 to £& per acre selling now at fromj £10 to £16 per acre, but unless something that cannot either be foreseen or conceived transpires which will be altogether to their ad* vantage, I fail to see how purchasers at those figures can expect to get along. I may bd wrong, but it seems to roe land is beyond its commercial value productively. Farm Stock. — There is not quite so muchl inquiry for young first-claes draughts at present as there was some time ago, and will