HOW CATLINS HAS FARED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2758, 23 January 1907, Page 23

HOW CATLINS HAS FARED.

EXTENSIVE BUSH FIRES. (From Ovr Own Reporters.) The Catlins district appears to have s-tood the drought much better than other places in the country, and has by no mean 6 come off scatheless. To the ordinary individual who is not well versed in agriculture the crops, grain, tuinips, and potatoes are looking well along the railway line between Balclutha and Owaka. In places the oat« appear to be a bit light and short in the straw, but several good paddecks ate to oe seen. Turnips do not appe-ar to be doingbadly, but would of course be greatly benefited by rain. The most notieeabJe effect ot the drought, ac the train movo-s along is that the pasture on the high, r lands has a somewhat dricd-up appeaiame, but it r= not so bad as might be expected —Bash Fius — On ne?iing Owaka on Wednesday morning it was found that fxtoiiMvc bu-h fires were raging, and thr> distant but-htlad hilK weie scarcely dis-oornable for ?mok<\ which. carried along by the stiong houth wo>,t wind that had sprung up m th<* eaily morning-, led the train tiav^llor to suppo-e the condition of things was moft seriout-. Den-<> volumes of smoke obscured tho view m all direction-, paiticularly towards Ratanui an>l up the Owaka Valley, and on alighting from the tiain at Owaka Station the reporter made it hi* fir^t business to inquire as to the cau-e and the consequences of the outbreak. It would appear that many of the settleis had taken advantage of the phenomenally dry season to clear th^ir land of timber — presumably timber fall* v in years past— by burning, and that thp wind had extended the fires veiy much beyond the intended limit*. Several of tlif settlers ar<? reported to havo had narrowescapes of having their hou^s burned down, even before tho wind sprang up, and tlu« danger is now much incroa^-1 j Mr Pullar. of Woodlands, is reported to have hid a very anxious time recently, and was. with some four or five men occupi^cf the whole of one night in a strenuous ■effort to ward off the impending danger, and was fouuuatoly -jucce^ful. Two slnd-> were, however burned Mr Tho-. Cook, up the Owaka Valley, is a!'o sa d to have had a Similar unpleasant i xpoi .r-nco a we<*k or two back On that occasion tho wind shifted round suiUknh aid ail hand-* were kept busily employed hanging wet blankets about tlio hoii-o to pioroct it from ihe myriads, of .sparkt, that w<>io fh ms about. In another ca^e a Mr Ardei-on's house was threa^'ied witli d<-nio'uion owing to sparks being earned a<'C--> tlu- n\«'i ami, like Mr Pullar. Mr And. -<=on am! tho-e assisting him were up all night exerting themselves to sai r- the placo anJ hpio sue , cc=sful in their often is. It i = not ih-it the bush fires hay« caused damage to am extend so far. but they have crrateil a flreat danger, and that danger has Locomo mcreaised by reason cf the hi^h wind i.t • prceiit blowing. —Tho Crop- — As to the ciops about Owal.a Mr R. 11. ['ld.ppeiton ?a\s turnips are looking r<> maik.iblv well, and that Mr BiadSeld's a'-o siowing so ouioklv that they cannot be ilunned fast eiiougii Othei tattlers in the

i locality, Mr Clapperton says, have good crop=. This is of considerable importance to the di^tric-t, a« not much outside dairyfarming is done, and a failure of tho turnip crop would be disastrous in its consequences. Xext in importance comes the grass. This, Mr Clapperton says ha-s been very scarce all through the summer, and the want of moisture seems to have affected the milk supply to the creameries -\crv largely. The opinion expressed is that the milk supply is only half what it is in a normal season. At Owaka, which is a growing district, they naturally look for an increase year by 'sear, but in the present instance there has been a very decided falling off in the milk supply instead, and this is put down 6olely to the want of moisture. The oat crop is fairly good. The growth i>< short, but the crop is, generally speaking, looking well and green. -Cattle.The drought and want of grass has made store cattle — a main feature of farming as carried on in Owaka — very cheap. The drought has affected the price of these very much, for the simple reason that there ie a lot being offered for sale owing to want of grass, and no one is in a position to buy them for the same reason. —The Outlook.— Though there is a shortage of feed, it is not for a moment considered that farmers are in any serious trouble so far, but the leavinprs of feed in .the paddocks for winter time has become very limited, or ha 6 entirely gone, and unless the facmer is lucky enough to have a good supply of hay his position will be an awkward one later on. i — A Large Farmer's Opinion. — Mr F. Bradfield, with whom the reporter had a couple of minutes conversation, said the land up the flat (Owaka Valley) was dry-looking aod very poor, but the turnips were gcod. Oats, he thought, would be very light. A«ked as to how the winter was to be faced, Mr Bradfield said if rain came quickly the settlers would be fairly well off for wintrr feed, and if there was two or three days' rain the grass would be right enough. The grass was the only serious trouble ahead so far. — Matters About Glenomaru. — Speaking of the farms lying between Owaka and Romahapa, a fairly large tract of country, an Ahuriri Flat settler says turnips are very fair, with the exception of swedes, but unless they were early sown they have not rome away, and are somewhat patchy. Early-sown oat 3 are fair, but anything late-sown is very poor, and the yield cannot be expected to be vcrr much 'l'hero a.vp, however, some very fair pirres of crop, and he mentioned that of Mr Park's as an instance of tins. Some of this i» in a lee paddock that has been limed, and some on turmp land. The prass is fairly good, and sertleis aboui that part of tho district are not badly off so far. In thf> open the settlor interviewed | says the gra^s is. very fairly good, but on hitfh or stony ground it is getting bio«n or burnt up He has never seen so ! little water about as during the pa^t ' few week» Crook* that have not been previousK known to go dry now «how ahsoluteh no Mfrn of moisture. Tho stock ir> all right, and th^re l* no difficulty in providing feed for it. Reverting to th^ Kra«b again, he thinks those outeide a"» bettor off than the farmers m Owaka a^ far as that i.> concerned. Tho=^ engaged in dany farminsr in the part of the district under consideration haw experienced a very falhnfr-off in the milk, and the creameries aio consequently short. At this time of jear. however, there i, always a fallin?off in th^ milk «upply though not to the extent now b< ing experienced. Theie it- really nothing 1/ii- fanner fnvs , to maUo very loud complaint about in h:e jiart of the distuct. though the gra'- hafailed a Lit and tho crops an- ihortoi, tak< n all lounil, than they u-u<ill\ a'< Nn one, he ?a\ -. ii \<t in ti'i\ . a' difi' clilm . — Jot imp- — A nice «howor ft 11 ai Owaka <>n Tue--dav. but it was alto^<'thor 100 lni<f to <lo much good. Vojy little i.twi hap fallen here for months Mr O. Oiborno. it l- M-a'^d. h<ts turned his cow- into his hay paddock on account nf the failuie of grass on other j>ait« of Ins f ai m | Mr M Phon who got three of hay | off one padunrk last year does not expect to eet one this voar Messrs Smith Bro*.. of Woodlands, are in the foitunato position of having plontv of gras-. which is explainable by the fnrt that they let it get well ahead in tl" 1 Springtime, and it ha-s kept tho damp about tho roots They have had 75 hold of catlle on 160 acr<"s of gra" all the sj minor, and the grasi^-i^iiot am thmc like oaten down Oiie result, not alfojrot h<v of ihr divue-hf of the last couple of mo>,th». but of the abf-onco of rain sufficient to flood lowlvuiL' lnnd-. extending over a long ppi lod. i-> ti-at liibbits* are extiemely numeiou" about Catling and, indeed, over mopt of the C'lutha C<>anty Thousandt. of rabbits are u-u.illv drowned evciv year in their Imrrowh, Imt have escaped this time, and this accounts for the great increase in their number Judging from repoit. there is a hanc£t awaiting the rabbitet

] _Mr A C. Saunder* mentions that at Jvatea, wheip dan\ farming is principally carried on. thero ie roalK *no grass, and the crop i<= not \eiv good. It is shoit and stunteci /or want of moisture. Ono sawmill up the Owaka Valley, though not stopped for want of water, has had broken time. They are now sinking for water for the engine. Mr M. O'Connell, a Purekireki settler, informed mo that the gra«s was very parched up there There were a few patches of veiv fair crop, but the rest was poor. Taken all round, tho turnip crop at the top of the Owaka Valley is, from Mr O'ConnelTs account, a failure, but there ar^ some exceedingly good fields. Mr O'Connell is milking 37" cow*, and he says they aie ghing nothing compared with what the\ used to. It was calculated ■ by Mr O'Connell that one farmer in the I locality of Purekireki had 20 acres under turnips, and ho would not get half an acre of turnips out of the lot. Potatoes up there seem to be doing pretty well. As ihe train left Owaka at 3 o'clock on Thursday there were indications of rain, and the general impression seemed ito be that it would fall that evening. A 1 few drops fell at midday.