The Farmstead

Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 18, 4 August 1900, Page 6

The Farmstead

'(Contributed.) There is less labour and risk in sheep-farming than in grain-growing, and land remote from railways is specially adapted for stock. The Otahu Estate, when purchased by the Government, was subdivided into allotments suitable for sheep farms. The road to Manapouri runs through the estate, and on the west of the road the land is light and shingly. On the east side the land is better, and towards the terraces it is of superior quality. This rich land was wet, but a flood channel has been cut, and when the land is properly drained and cultivated it will grow .heavy crops of oats, and probably barley, also root crops, and luxuriant pastures of the finer grasses and clovers. Some opinions of a disparaging nature were expressed regarding the shingly land, but a test has been made that shows the lig-ht land is better than some expected. One of the Grown tenants, Mr Darley, sowed a considerable area of his moat inferior land, on the west of the road, with turnips. Having to cart his artificial manure about 25 miles from Otautau, he therefore rsjd less than is usually given to turnips, and yet he had a capital crop, which is heavily stocked with sheep. Of course land where a good crop of turnips can be grown with a small quantity of manure can easily be kept in a state of fertility. At one time rabbits were very numerous in this locality, but they have been greatly thinned. During the trapping season a light waggon takes trapped rabbits to Otautau regularly from places many miles beyond Otautau.