MANGAKINO DISTRICT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6566, 15 September 1948, Page 3

MANGAKINO DISTRICT

VIRGIN LAND TO BE FARMED LARGE AREA INVOLVED Thei/e have been varying estimates of the extent of potential farm land west of the Waikato River and east of the Rangitoto Range, an area that is sure to command a great deal of attention in the next few years. One estimate exceeds 300,000 acres from a line south of Ngaroma and Arapuni and north of Lake Taupo, and a line generally extending toward Mangapehi on the Main Trunk Line. Motor transport nowadays, with good roads, has made dairy farming practicable where formerly there could have- been little encouragement. Opinions differ as to the relative advantages of sowing the Whakamaru and Mangakino country with grass seed in the autumn or spring, ■and perhaps there is a preponderance of opinion in favour of autumn sowing. This opinion is reached after a careful inspection of results already achieved, though there are sound practical farmers in the adjoining districts who have a preference for sowing grass in the spring-time. Need for Roads Reading is a factor m development work, and access at present is chiefly from Putaruru and Tokoroa. From the latter fast-developing township to the Whakamaru bridge is about 17 miles, and thereafter the farmingland extends for several miles. The country is light, with plenty of small pumice showing, and so far no permanent roads have been made, though tractors and graders have been used in places for easing some of the grades. These tracks will have to be gravelled or metalled before milk lorries or livestock trucks can operate effectively. As each farm is grassed and allotted to ex-servicemen further areas can be brought in and in doing so a community centre will be automatically created. Methods of disposing of the fairly heavy growth of manuka and fern may differ from that successful in other districts, but it can be claimed that several methods have been successful at Whakamaru. A si-ton water filled roller, Bft wide, and fitted with half-a-dozen 3-in. flanges of angle-iron, is hauled by a tractor through the manuka, crushing it down, and cutting or breaking it into 18-in lengths, which facilitate burning-off. The land is then ploughed to a depth of five or six inches, and the seed is sown, with a liberal dressing of fertiliser that has been cobaltised, for this latter is considered one of the main essentials to success. “Bush-sickness Overcome’’ For years this class of country was almost universally condemned until the use of cobalt was introduced. This mineral neutralises the condition that became known as' “bush-sickness”, and enables stock to be pastured without deleterious effects. Tokoroa farmers have made full use of cobalt, and so have some other districts in the volcanic belt that stretches from the Bay of Plenty to the Main Trunk Line. There is good reason to believe that cobalt treatment will be an equally successful factor in the development of the vast expanse on the western side of the Waikato River. Some of the land under review is Crown land, some Maori owned, and a little is owned by Europeans. Only the areas under the control of the Lands Department and the Maori Affairs Department are at present being made productive. But it seems the Rehabilitation Department will be taking a more and more active part in the development work.