A TRIP TO WAIAU.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 44, 15 November 1912, Page 1

A TRIP TO WAIAU.

Through Good Country. \ (By Ol'r Travelling Representative.) * Having received instructions to e proceed to this part of the district, j I decided to make an early start, s as I knew it ueant an extensive £ trip fjr ene day, so I trotted out of { Mauku about 8 a.m., passed tnrough j Fatumabce and made for the short- ( est route to the Dury-Waiuku read, j This load is the divide" j between Mauku and Waiau, and in j th: early days was the main reed ; to Auckland and the conceding liak ( between Waiuku and Dtury. | TAILOR BKUS. > Mj first call was at Messrs Taylor j Bios., who own a farm of some 1250 acres, and make sheep-farming their special feature. Over 1000 choice fheep are being cared for at piesent, but the pasture shows that J there is plenty of room for expan- J sion. Mr Ta> lor was in good spirits > at the time of my visit, having , just sold a large consignment of j aged ewes for 23 Gd per head and ' hoggets at 19s 6d; the average ' weight of th se would be about 751b f-ach. This and other successes ] induced Mr Taylor to say that sheep ' farming in Waiiu was a really pro- J Stable undtrtakirg. N. (J. LITCHFIELD'S. J From here I passed on to Mr N. , (J. Litchfi Id's, the adjoining farm. Some 200 ewes and lambs are in j eviderce in the pink of condition, | the lambi r g percentage this having been ever 100 per cent. 1 j Mr Litchfield carries i-n a consider- j able amount of cropping, rnd very kindly took me through a splendid . crop of Western Wolths grass. , Over 50 acre 9of this row famous grass been sown; the portion gone over had been down nine weeks and was nine inches high. Less than a bushd of teed had been sown per acre, and super, guano and lolbs of potash, at the rate of 3 cvt. per acre, show.d this splen- | did result. A paddock of 8 acres of this grass liadcarrkl 200 sheep for two months, and then .with a fortnight's rest fed 200 sheep and lambs for another month and is now showing abundance of fted. .Ninety prime lambs have been marketed and averaged Us per head. Thirty acres of oata in another paddock is looking Al, and proves the capabilities of the farm. YATES AND CO. I Pushing on I make for Messrs Yates and Co.'s seed farm some two miles further. Unfortunately, the manager. Mr Case, was away and 1 am obliged >o forgo a look over the place till some future date. Mrs Case kindly points out where the principal work is in progress, and 18 men are at work. The view from the manager's house is superb, overlooking as it does the Manukau and surrounding country; intact, all . the Waiau homesteads are worth £5 an acre extra for the splendid views jf harbour and creeks they command. A. MOORE. ' Taking a short cut, as advised by Mr Litchfield, 1 uaja through portions of Mr Hog wood's and Mr A Mooie's property. Mr Moore, I may say, is busy at road formation on Sutton's Creek road, and with 4 hard?, 11 hjrses and a grader is making roads "while you wait." Here there is 150 acres of land in fallow on Mr Moore's new selection, and a belt of wattles one chain wide has been planted on the southerly side, which in a few years will be a valuable asset and make a splendid break-wir.d. THE SCHOOL. I run out on to the road again cLse to the Waiau school, a small building with a roll number of 28, wncre all classes are making good progress under Miss Maloney's skilful care. Close by are the farms of Messrs Davy and Hunt:r, which I puss by to make tor the Waiau wharf end. As time is pressing 1 content myself with a visit to Messrs G. Learning's and Koper Bros. At the former 1 find an up-to-date milking machine, 35 cows are being milked and more arc coming. At the latter 1 am invited to a sumptuous k'nch, which was duly appreciate.

H. DELL. I have now to retrace my sUps till I get to Mr Dell's, "Taha Moara," where I call in to see the manager, Mr Barclay, who is milking 46 cows and supplying 15001bs ot milk per day to the factory. A choice farm of 500 odd acres, which is just being brought into order and in a few years will give some good results. I wake a fly in* call to Mr Adarrson'p, whose place was originally a portion of Mr DellN, and again take a short cut for the factory. The manager, Mr Reay, informs me he is i.nly receiving about 700 gallons of milk at present and sending away close on 50 gallons of cream, but as most of the farms are iiew yet, the supply is by no means up to top, and next season, when everything is properly established, some g( )d records will be available. CLARK'S POINT. I am now getting down to Clark's Point, where Messrs R. Clark, senior and junior, Messrs J. Clark and John Schlaepfer have four excellent farms. White clover six inches high is seen in abundance, acres and acres of tip top feed. Mr Schlaepfer has a milking machine installed, so have Messrs J. Clark and R. Clark. 1 visited the two latter sheds as milking was in ptogrers. and was pleased tc examine the race style of shed, an excellent plan where the maximum amount of result? are obtained at the minimum cost ; sheds of this style doing work equal to the best bail style and .inly costing half the monfy to erect. The Clarks are the oldest settlers in these parts, and have some pretty, homely dwellings overlooking the harbour, where fruit and vegetables grow in abundance. The land being a rich, sandy loam all crops show excellent results.

MILK AND HONEY, On my home tiip I call at Mr Suter's, whose farm is veritably a lard of milk and honey. The milk was in the pail sb I arrived, and 40 hives uf bees were just retiring for the night. Mr buter extracts over a ton of honey a year, and consider thee is a splendid living fo:' anyone it the honey business in these par:?, as white clever grows so proiifically and from this the veiy choicest heney is obtained. A good trade is also dons here in strawberry plants; over 20,000 were marketed last yea.' a d 50,000 plants will be available for next year. Almost everyone in Waiau grows strawberries, not for fruii, but for the sale of plants, the Auckland krowers prefening these to any others, and at 12s 6d per 1000 some gtod cheques are taken off quite small patches (f lard. OIHEK FAHMS. Al this stage of my trip darkmss was too close to visit 'urthtr, and I was oblig-d to pass the iarms of Mrssrs Dillon. McLarin, He. ry Millan and other;. On Mr Mman's I was just able to see a 70 acre crop of cats, which would gladden the heart of any farmer, and again shows the possibilities of the district.

Thtre are still (notwithstanding the rapid prcgres3 made the last two years) large areas of' unproductive land, nd l am sr-e as soon as people realise the amount of moi ey that is lying dormant in these parts, quite an active *ettlfment policy will be indulged in, and with scientific farming astonishing results will be forthcoming, the water carriage is at present a great drawback, some farmer- i ufferine serious losi by the delay in getting their produce away, but now the railway is looming up and will be within reasonable distance, these troubles will then be over. At present some attention needs to be given to the wharf, as it is in a bad state of repair ami those responsible should take means of preventing its again getting in such a neglected state.