A VACATION IN THE COUNTRY

Otago Witness, Issue 3277, 3 January 1917, Page 53

A VACATION IN THE COUNTRY

By U. E. Lakeside Station. Let mc open this little essay with a word of advice to any city youth who for any reason—ill-health or ennui, whether crossed in love or merely surfeited with the general cussedness of things—is contemplating what is generally supposed 'to be a cure for these ills of the flesh and spirit —namely, a change of scene and of occupation.* He can't do better than take a job as rouseabout on a good station. jNo experience is needed. Given only the avarage amount of intelligence and a pair of hands which he is not afraid to use nor ashamed to soil, he will receive a hearty welcome, will earn at least twenty, perhaps thirty-five, shillings a week and found, will learn a lot, gain much in health and strength, and have a good time into the bargain. It was under some such circumstances that the present writer pushed aside his office stool, packed up his most serviceable clothes, said good-bye to the boys, and. came out here to work, to breathe, to live. Into the space of a few weeks (how quickly have they flown !) he has crowded a variety of work and experience that would astonish a city toiler who does practically the same thing day after day. Fencing (oh no, with and wire, not with foils), irrigating, chaffcutting, potatoplanting, rabbiting, pig-killing, gardening, turnip thinning, planting clover, spraying fruit trees, sheep-shearing, he has done a share of them all. And now for the sake of convenience let me, spurning false modesty, drop""the third person and avert to the handy I, Egomet. Also, lest this should come under the eyes of anyone who, knowing that shearers are not made in a day, might regard my claims to having acted in that capacity with a degree of suspicion bordering on positive disbelief, let me hasten to explain that this was no part of my work, but happening to be about the shed one day I tackled the job by way of experiment. When his time to leave comes, one would like to have the satisfaction of feeling that he had tried his hand at everything. Talking of shearing, did you know that the blade-men are paid 25s >per 100, and that a good man will do from 100 up to 180. and in exceptional cases 200 a day? The wool-classers, whose duties arc very light, receives £1 per 100, so that when there are. for instance, four shearers on the hoard turning out 500 per day, the gentleman in question is making a dailv wage of £5. Consider this, ye miserable clerks with your 50s a Aveek. and don't forget that it is all to the good—the men are found in accommodation and abundance of wholesome tucker excellently cooked, if plainly served. And yet. on a neighbouring station where some 25.000 sheep are handled, the men in tho midst of the season struck for an extra halfcrown and got it. thus drawing 27s 6d per 100. But determined to keep up the best traditions of the service they have struck again, this time, so rumour doth aver because somebody's sauce was served at meals while thev insisted upon another fellow's. Improbable, you say. I can only reply with Browning: "So is the legend of my patron saint." As epraving fruit trees has been my latest job,'it is of that I shall now write. Tho care of the orchard should of course

•It is so obvious that this a-dvico is fulclrossod only to tho "ine!i£rib!e" that the writer thought it hardly necessary to mako the observation.

bo in the hands of a skilled man; but our expert was recently called away to fill trio gap caused by the departure of a relative for the front, so that, the summer spraying being due, two of us, selected on account of our ability to say "No" when confronted by a bed of ripe strawberries, were detailed to go out to carry on the good work at the orchard. As the distance thereto from the homestead—about two miles—would cause some inconvenience and loss of time in travelling to and from the scene of their labours, the Codlin Moths, as the orchardists, on account of their familiar dealings with the pest, are fitly niknamed, put up in a little wooden hut on the premises. Hence setting out in a dray loaded with our swags, provisions, pots and pans, and tools, we might have been mistaken for caravaners or, being two in number, the honevmooners.

The orchard in question is of some 40 acres, containing at a rough estimate 7000 trees. Of these the greater number are good apples, and in a less degree pears suitable for the export trade. Of the remainder plums form the greater proportion, next come .cherries, then peaches, with a sprinkling of prunes, and lastly an orange or two, rare birds, that have apparently been included by accident. Along two sides of the boundary runs a row of quinces; up the centre an avenue bordered on either hand with walnuts. AS this road, however, is not yet_ formed, and the trees, only three or four years old. so small as to be overtopped by the long grass, the effect is as yet not very inspiring. In some years' time, when all the trees are of sturdier growth, the sight should be a magnificent one. By that time, too, in place of the present oneroomed hut there will no doubt be a good residence for the manager and assistants who will be required to give constant care and attention to the property. I picture a bungalow with a broad verandah or out-door sitting room overlooking the orchard, commanding the road from the township, and giving a full view up the Rewi Valley, where the sun has a pretty habit of dressing the clouds that wait on his retiring in all manner of fine raiment, purple and gold, amethyst and turquoise. (One should not miss this sight, for men cannot live on bread alone, much less on fruit.) In one respect this particular orchard is not the most desirable to be engaged upon. It is so large that work which might otherwise be interesting and pleasing becomes rather strongly flavoured with the taste of dav labour. The spraying, for instance, occupied us for nine days. This means that for eight hours daily during that lapse of .time we were doine the same thing, driving the dray, which carries the pump, up the long runs —about 500 yards—then turning to come down another, doing 200 trees on each trip. And yet we were so fully occupied, one man driving the dray and pumping while the other handled the spray, that each working day passed with surprising quickness; but I would experience. I fear, a feeling of despair, a sinking of the stomach, were we now called upon to start from the beginning and spray those 7COO trees again. The spray used is a mixture of arsenate of lead "and lime sulphur (for apples and pears), the object being, as before hinted, to wipe out tlie codlin moth as completely as the Hun in his hate would like to wipe out those who have presumed to stand against him. This spraying, however, does not represent one tithe of the labour involved. One man, a permanent hand, is constantlv employed keeping down the weeds bv grubbing between the trees. Of course when T say grubbing I do not mean bv hand, but with a two-horse team. He works up all the rows for the full length of the section, and then repeats the performance in a direction at right angles to his first work. This being completed he has to hoe the little bit round the trees which the implement, on account of the foliage, could not reach. Allow one minute for each of 7000 trees. This gives 7000 minutes. 116 hours, 14£ working days for this iob alone, going at a very steady gait. This I think a conservative estimate. Anyway, by the time he has finished, it is time to* begin again. During these months of early summer an orchard in which the cultivator has been kept constantlv at work presents a very attractive sight. The trees, trained to a neat shape, and richly green, stand out consnicuouslv against the brown earth, while the rows being laid off with great exactness stretch away in a pleasing perspective and open of vistas in every direction from the observer's eye. Looked at from a slight elevation, the sight is even more agreeable. Add. to these operations (spraying and grubbing) pruning, irrigating, and a host of other odd iobs, then you will gain some idea of the work required in an orchard alone, and understand whv any man who decides 1o take such a vacation as I have suggested will not only be giving himself a cheap and profitable holiday, but also during the present shortage of labour have the satisfaction of knowing that though unable to do his little bit at the front he is still helping in a practical manner by lending a band where it is needed.