WAYSIDE NOTES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 7, 13 February 1914, Page 11

WAYSIDE NOTES.

(The Sun Correspondent.) M Yesterday your special motored to Methven, passing Prebbleton. Some very fine crops, potatoes are to be seen, one large dock belonging to Mr Jas Bailey loolf- % ing particularly wel and no sign blight. ' Mr F. Campion' was busy thresh wheatj; and his crops, as good, and should yield well. The wet weather has> not done-much harm.,-3$ to the grain, and a few: - weather in this district should'see of the grain stacked or- threshed. " • Passing on/through Brbadfields: the|§ 7 grass is -plentiful, even lightesl£li| land. Indeed, on this "class of land-3 years of good tillage coupled manure, and,chiefly, sheep feed instead®! Of, grain crops, are. tufning, if far superior class of land. Incia*i!tsll,v/'& it shows by yet another dwgamdnt howsdl ridiculous the single-taxer' and ity created value crank is when he "You cannot"ipake land."- . Ther<j,;is abundance of grass through-" out the Springston district, and dairy farmers, with good., feed prices, should have a prosperous year.' vi^ The stock throughout this district-are looking particularly well, though it wasn't noticeable all the way how " everyifl fariaer could carry much more stock if ;|1 it was procurable at reasonable pxices. man and , dray seems busyMt all"along the way piling up the the most of \eVery hour ~ sunshine.^~ ■; ■, •v, •: "While the rain has been trying to the >- grain harvester it has suited the rape and turnip crop. Several fine paddocks':"3 of rape were passed, and the turnip tS crops- are coming away very healthy looking and a nice even strike. ~f|| The Bakaia River showed evidence of, another heavy rain up in the hills the lr| previous night, and a. heavy body of - water was rolling under the bridge.-.. - As one jourrieys across the plain towards >Methven and;sees the large and.-VI small plantations of trees on nearly ' every farm the thought comes to us 3* that while our foresters are ttflling us >':§ we have only a few more year^ r cut- .:£§ ting in our forests, here on our are millions of feet of timber growing"'. V M near to our railways that in a few years -"J will furnish a very valuable timb* supply. . - ■ The pine or fir tree is proving a muck JJi-j better timber than was once thought, VJ and with age will become a very useful- 7! timber indeed. / r From Rakaia onwards- the grain shows more evidence of the recent wet\&| weather, and'evidently there has befen 1 heavier rain towards the- hills, the oats' especially being discoloured, though the'"--S wheat where it has been well set up seems very little the worse. -3 The bulk of the wheat in the Methven district was not cut before , the rain, and while in the standing cropan odd head is grown, if fine weather continues now all will be well. There are a few light crops out this district—some that show evi- ' *| dence of want of cultivation—but with ~*fthese exceptions the ops are the average. A. lafge percentage of the area is in oats, and the price for this cereal is ,so low that unquestion- r-i ably the farmer would have been better off if, instead of oats, he had grown fat lambs at sixpence a pound. ' - :-§ Fat. lambs arc not too plentiful as yet. They must have lieat and shine, and this is what the country; want 3 now to make a good season . a\'| certainty. . , , ■ % Mr Massey does not seem to have stopped the grass growing after all, as was anticipated by many. Qn the return we looked with longing eyes over the Selwyn Eiver, and wondered how long it Would be before'"]? a bridge would be flung across it jmd.'2| thus save the long journey, away round by Irwtll, which costs every motorist .'j§ 2/6 a trip, besides the loss of time, ".."it A toll gate for motors of this would more than pay the interest on I the bridge. i - ,£|