THE EDENDALE SETTLEMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 3510, 21 June 1921, Page 47

THE EDENDALE SETTLEMENT

A SUCCESSFUL SUBDIVISION. (From a Settler Correspondent.) It is about 17 years since the Edendule j Estate was cut up for settlement. It was 1 a. great surprise to northern people to find ] that not move than half the sections were ; taken up at the ballot. It was still more 1 surprising that very few local men applied j for sections, and those who aid so took up j the poorer kind, which has proved to be by far the dearest. Why there were not more applicants at the time of the ballot is a mystery. As soon as it was known that j quite a large number of sections were not i taken up many northern farmers came and i inspected the property, and I believe I am safe in saying they all took up sections. It . was only a matter of about two months when nearly all the sections were taken, two or three of the poorer sections being left for some time. It was a common saying among the new settlers that the land would be. worth double the price inskle ten years. This has proved to be the case. The price has gone up not only to twice hut to four times the original price. The Government price at the time of the ballot was £ls for the best sections. This land could not now be bought for less than £6O. Such an increase hr value has caused some poop'e to shake their heads and say, “ Too : dear, too dear!” It is certainly the highest priced land in Southland. I have heard many a farmer from other parts of Southland say. they cannot understand Edendale land felling at such prices when their own , land, which is better than Edendale, can ; be bought for half the money, and others j from other parts of the South Island wonder if the land is what it is “cracked up” to be. While I quite believe that there are many, places in the South Island wh ch arc richer land, I fee! quite safe in saying that Edendale comes second to none when a number of years are taken together. Old residents sav there was never known to be a failure here. There certainly has not been one. since the settlement was opened. Some years have not beer, as good, as others, but the land lias always been profitable. One reason for this is. that floods have no bad effects on the estate as it stands too ; high to be . affected, and as it has a very ! open subsoil the water soon disappears. Apart from this, I have never seen better crops of oats anywhere. A crop is not considered to he of the average unless it yields 60 bushels to the acre, while it is common to secure.loo and up to 120 bushels, the yield, according-to the straw, is much > better than I have seen in other districts. Of course, however, it is not the cropping that makes Edendale land so valuable, but the milk that is taken from it. At a gathering given by the old settlers by way of welcome lo the new settlors, 17 years a ff°- Mr J- Mitchell, who was one of the principal speakers, gave the new settlers good adv.ee. “ Stick to the cow,” he said, “ and she will stick to you.” And so it has proved. Every one who “ stuck to the cow ” closely came out. on top. while others who went into other things were not j so successful. I remember being- told that sheep could not be fattened here, that I potatoes would bo no good even if tlicv j did grow, and that on no account should ! wheat growing be attempted. Whether j the climate has changed or not. this I know, that I never saw fatter sheep than at Edendale. and it is quite common to have lambs weighing 60ib up to 8 - 01 bat four or five ! months’ old. First class potatoes can bo ! got with a yield up to 20 tons to the acre; j and some of the old critics would be surprised j to see the paddocks of wheat that were I grown this year, none yielding under 50 i bus nets, and some a little over ’ 0 bushels of first class gram. We all know, how- ! ever. . that Edendale will not stand much cropping. It is unusual to take two crops in succession, but there is no need to crop ■ and farmers put crop in only so as to get some straw for the cows and to renew the grass. It was an old saying in Ireland that the j pig paid the rent, but it is the cow that j does it here. Any farm of 100 acres on i what is known as the best of Edendale will i cany 35 cows and a few sheep (about 20), i will grow enough turnips to feed the stock i through winter, and thrash and take £IOO I worth of oats at pre-war price. On the I basis of £2O per cow this means about ! £BOO or £8 per. acre for the whole of the ! 103 acres. this is quite proof ( nough of j tlie value of the land, and as there are ' no failure years through want of rain, this : moans this return every year or very close to it.. There have been two or three years that have not been as good as the average, j but even then half the amount could be I taken off the farm. I Edendale could do a great deal better j than this if the cow were bett.r looked i after, and if the land were fed as well as the cows. This is illustrated in the case of some of the small sections known as the twenty-acre sections, which have been well manured. I know of one at least that carries 14 cows and a horse and grows a little oafs and turnips. The takings from these cows were above the average of the takings of the larger farms, and the cattle were all kept in the pink of condition. This means that if 20 acres could carry 14 cows 100 acres could carry 70, or twice what they carry now. if the land was well fed and worked properly. There is no part of Southland that uses as much lime as Edendale. It is seldom that several drays a.ro not to be seen carting lime from the railway station. Tins is one of tl-.o secrets of the enrichment of Edendale. lot wc all know that lime will very soon impoverish land which is well fed by other means, and one of the best of these feeders is the cow herself, but it requires more than that, and it is to be hoped that the farmers will not neglect to keep up the value cf the land. Manv who v sit Edendale arc disappointed to see such a small township. As it is on the main line and surrounded bv such good land, one would expect the town to have grown to twice its size at least during the last 17 years. Up to a year nr so ago there was verv lift lo improvement. but of late sonic of the old shops hare be en pulled doom or removed, and new ones have been built, but there is plenty ol room for others to start. A hat is urgently required is another accommodation house, another blacksmith’s and wheclr'ght’s combined business, and a shoemaker, and, perhaps. n third general store could do well. Every house is occupied, and if there were 20 more they would soon find tenants. It was thought that when the Town Board was formed a big improvement Y.v-’d soon be observed, but so far there .As not beer, the progress that was anticipated. ;