NORTH ISLAND RURAL LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 16

NORTH ISLAND RURAL LETTER.

By John Sf-ess,

SPRING NOTES AND SPRIGHTLY REMARKS BY A TARANAKI MAN Any young wheat I have seen looks well, as also does oats. Earmers complain that grass is very backward, and though there is plenty of sheep feed, cattle on runs have all they can do to banquet themselves. The weather is all that can be desired for working land. Rape and some other fodder seeds are being sown. Several dairy farmers are preparing the ground for i mangels. As far as 1 can learn there will be a great increase in root and fodder crops this season. Narcissus and other spring-flowering bulbs are nearly over. Geraniums are beginning to flower, and rosea are showing their buds; some of the climbing varieties have a flower here and there. Blackbirds are in the floodtide of song. Thrushes are gradually relaxing their tuneful lvrics, chaffinches pipe their short, clear songs on the outskirts of the orchard, larks trill in the sunshine, while starlings chatter less and less, and seem more intent on domestic responsibilities* than on entertainment; sparrows, as the season advamces, air© less thievish of my fowls' wheat. It is not the turtle dove with its stainless innocence, loving devotion, and harmlessness which has been singled out to teach us the potential reality*.of Providence — "He marks the sparrow's fall.;' No; it's a prodigal, vagrant, and sundowner passerine.

The apricots are as big as marbles. Apple and pear trees are»in full blossom. European and Japanese plums have set their fruit. Quince blossom is falling fast. .Peach trees, though no longer brilliant and iridescent, give promise of an abundance of fruit. The buds of outdoor vines are swelling fast; those in cool glass houses have shoots 12 and 15 inches long; gooseberry bushes are flowering. In the kitchen garden, early dwarf peas are in flower, as also are broad beans. Potato lops are meeting in the rows. We find silver beet an excellent table vegetable for this season of the year. In the Old Country it is grown by sonic gardeners simply for the midrib of the leaf, which is considered by epicures to be equal to asparagus. Here, we are not quite so dainty, and dish up the whole of the leaf, accompanied by white sauce. Cauliflowers and cabbages are somewhat backward this spring., v Wuth all the rain we have had, the ground is dryer than usual for this time of the year. The subsoil has really never had a proper soaking. What rain has fallen has not penetrated to any great depth, and radiation is rapidly counteracting its beneficence. Already the digging of fence post-holes in some soils is a matter or difficulty. If there is going to h& another dry summer, bush burns will be early. The outlook is a dry one. Dairy farms continue to find purchasers at higher rates than were ever known. In not a few instances comparatively small deposits are put down. When the new purchaser has a growing family the • youngsters are pressed into the service of the nominal owner, and so for a few years cheap labour has.to make up for the shortage of capital. The . domestic servant question had not entered into the calculations of some biggish inland sheep and cattle men who have comparatively recently erected large dwelling-houses of 15 and even 20 rooms. I hear of one homestead where no less than three lady-helps assist the mistress. If a domestic wishes to be picked .up by a good, clean, decent, prospective landowner, I strongly advise her to go into the country and take service at a station. The white cap, the neat and tidy dress of a servant, girl has a magical influence over youthful back-block manhood. . I know of one irunholder who never has to write out a character for his maid-servants. Every two or three- years a. girl takes the wings of matrimony and flies to a home of ber own.

I have invariably found the (servant lassie to become a. model wife, and in one or two instances she even adorned her high position, notwithstanding the story of a young friend to the contrary. t He avers, even to the point of protestation, that on one occasion such a transformed woman requested a lapidary to engrave her entrails on a precious stone. Her husband has a combined smoking room and office', which he designates "the snuggery." Once when asked where her husband was, she replied: "You'll find him in the snobbery." My young friend has more wit than wisdom, and he is very unkind to boot, for he admits that this Mrs Malaprop's cooking: is facile princips. The automobile is becoming very popular with farmers. The younger generation of farmers look upon the motor as a horse without a constitution to upset, a stomach lo feed, or a leg to break. One young farmer actually tried to make his motor take a stiff ditch and bank fence. Another one, just for » mere experiment, affected to smash _ a telegraph post. f A third, ha vine acquired the art of driving in an incredibly short space of time, took out a bevy of passengers to show th© motor's paces and the driver's attainments. The spin along the smooth, level road, was voted upon by the majority as delightful. Curiosity, I think, prompted one of the occupants of the motor to ask for a demons-brat ion of how quickly the car could, bo hauled up, if occasion required, when going at top speed. "Will it jar

us muoh?" was a question put by one of the more sedate of the party. "Not at all,''' cheerily responded the novice driver. Another stretch of straight, level road lay before them. The automobile was once more put full steam ahead, and while so running the brake was jammed hard down The driver, dither ignorant or forgetful of the fact that when you jam down the brake on a motor going full speed, the car, instead of quietly and quickly slowing down, usually rears up in the air like a horse under the influence of the bucking spirit. Such was the experience on this particular occasion. It was a scattered and peeled humanity which subsequently picked themselves up. . '. , f Orre farmer I know, with a fair share of economy and utilitarianism in his competition, fixed his motor up in such a position so as to work his chaffcutter. lam inclined to think he learned a lesson that a. motor is simply a motor, and not a stationary engine. Catch her! Hold her I Stop her! Wo lassie 1 I have not seen that farmer out with his automobile since. One must not go into particulars. . There are farmers up here who use their motors as motors—eannily .and gently, as was the manner of the Laird of Cockpen, and it is wonderful what a lot of pleasurethey get out of them, at a comparatively small cost for upkeep. So there are people amongst us wrdi glimmerings of sense. Sam© of the Natives have taken to motors, and I may as well add one Or two have given them up. An acquaintance of mine recently asked a Maori as to how he was getting on with his motor. On the question being put the Native suddenly became excited, and, waving his arms, snouted: 1 make a 'mash I I make a mash! When i see buggy, he drive a horse; when I see train, he drive an engine; but when I see motor, "he drive nothing. By gorry! 1 think ho dibble, so I make a 'mash. When in Taranaki last Easter I ran up against an elderly dairy farmer who spent the first few years of his colonial experience as. a ploughman in Southland. Like not a few - Scots, he had quite an original oast of mind. In! parting from him I gave him my address, and in a casual manner suggested that he might from time to time drop me a line when, he had an item of interest or of farming news. He writes: —I have not been able to send you a scrap of a pen, let alone a scratching of hews, for what with short days and cold nights and fencing and feeding of cows, and last, but not the least of my troubles, keeping the old woman up to the scratch, my lite since I saw you has been one of hard work in the daytime and sound sleep in the darkness. , I regret to say Mary is not as smart on her pins as formerly. She says she's got an income in her feet. She has still, however, 'as much outcome-from her tongue. It is a mercy that she does not fail at all points at the same time. Our minds here are entirely taken up with politics, so I am not going to write on creameries, cows, or calves. Wonders will never cease. The Hon. Tom Mackenzie is leavinig his bed of down in the south and coming up here to lay his bones among the briars and thorns and septic tanks. Has he seen a ghost in Otago, do* you think? This morning at the creamery, two men nearly came to blows over Tom. The outlook is good in butterfat, but it's immensely better in the way of fights and bleeding noses. My neighbour's wife, in • expectation, is washing all her old linen nags. Last week the cemetery trustees held a meeting, and to-day they are engaged in cleaning up the graveyard. Mary has let some hints fall that she's going to vote for To>m. I hope the income in her feet will get worse. I'll willingly spend five bob on the doctor. Jimmy Tosh, the- blacksmith at the orcss roads, is a sore trial to me, for as old Otago man 1 had great hopes support the freehold. He has a freehold bush place. 1 went up to see him yesterday. The smiddy door was open, the fire was black out, and ■there was no sign of Jimmy. Sometimes Jimmy takes fits. I went round and rapped at the door of his house. His wife came to the door, and in answer to my question as to how her man was, she shook her head and said that Jimmy had. a new kind of fit, and that he was ben the house writing a; political "speech with whisky. "Good gracious,'' said I, "has he ran short of ink?" Jimmy heard my voice, so he cried out to me to come in and give him a hand with his speech. "Let me," I began, "congratulate you, Jimmy—Mr Tosh, I mean. We'll put you course going to oppose Tom. We'll put you in Parliament, Jimmy, as sure as cats is oats and dugs is dugs." When Jimmy spoke he floored me and knocked every bit of spunk out of me." It's not for myself I'm writing the STieeoh, it's for Tarn. You see, Alic, Tarn's new to the north and is ignorant of the'wants of butter-ratters and skim-milkers, his eddioation on their interests has been sorely neerlected. I'm going to prime him up and kind o' make him a fatted calf. Now, hold your tongue, Alic! Tarn's Scotch and you're Scotch, and A'm Scotch. Scotch blood's thicker than water, so we'll have to put him in at the top o' the poll. It's no a question o'leaseholder freehold; it's simply and purely a question.o' guid thick Scotch blood." I thought of asking Jimmy where his conscience was, but I remembered that Jimmy has no conscience, so I let that pass. Says I, "Jimmy, listen to me'! Why should Tom come up here to the land of small farmers and cow spankers? We have got plenty of population in the north and any amount of small farms. Why doesn't he stay in tfhe south and tackle the question of settlement and population and breaking up of the big estates? . . .." Jimmy stopped me short by - repeating himself, "Ain't I telling ye that his eddioation's been sadly neglected, and that he's coming up here to learn how it's done. Mercy me, man, will ye no give the man a chance'to redeem himself and get out o' long clothes. Robbie Burns even gave the doi! a chance. You see, Alic,'if Southland raised a baronet on oats, there's no saying what Taranaki soor-dook may do for Tam." "But,". 1 "Tom's dry, is he not, Jimmy?" "0 aye, he's dry enough," replied Jimmy, and then pointing to the whisky bottle on the table added, "But ye can see I'm doing my level best to make Kim wet."