A COUNTRY RAMBLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 761, 31 October 1870, Page 3

A COUNTRY RAMBLE.

(bt a correspondent.) And so there is nothing to see and nothing to admire in a young country like this, U there ? Well, Ido not agree with you. Year by year, as I go my rounds along dusty roads and over bare brown plains, I see the face of nature changing more and more ; pleasant homesteads dotted here and there, and trees and fences shutting out the view, and well-tilled fields, and well-stocked pastures, and the busy hum of industry arises from places that but yesterday were silent as the grave, and the merry laughter of little children as they wend their way to school and the shout of the ploughman as he labours in the newly-broken tussock land or builds his modest dwelling on the soil that is his own at last. Sights and sounds like these 1 meet with in an ever-widening circle year by year ; sights and sounds like these I hope to meet with till the land is all rec'airned, and its mission accomplished in the provision of happy prosperous homes for thousands of the Old World's poverty-ridden denizens. In every north wind that comes sighing over the dull soft plains I hear a murmur " Come and till us ; come and trust our virgin strength to feed and clothe you ; come and give us noble work to do, and see how nobly we will do it, for our treasures are for the patient tillers of the ground, and woe be to those who keep the labourer from his work 1" Like a dark brown sandy beach when the tide is out, the long plains lie beneath the summer sun, untilled, uncarcd for ; like that same dull beach when the tide is in and the merry green wavelets ripple upon the sand, is the bright plain when the busy hand of industry has coaxed it into fertility. Now in the pleasant spring time, when luscious life and verdure abound on every side, and in the waving pastures the sleek cattle browse at ease, one sees many a pretty picture, framed as it were with its long gilt fences of gorse, and nature fighting with commerce along the road sides, and throwing her green mantle over the dusty tracks. The corn fields look rich with promise of the harvest, and have freshened wonderfully with the welcome rain. Here the wheat covers the ground, and is thriving mightily ; there in the swamp lands it is somewhat stunted and patchy, and in some low spots the water lies in stagnant pools, with here and there a wild duck swimming quietly upon it. The early oat crops have had almost too much rain, and the ground has caktd up- with the late warm sunshine, and the later crops are going in badly on the stiong lands, for the ground is very lumpy and will not harrow down satisfactorily, which is detrimental, especially for barley. I think the area under wheat will perhaps not be so large as last year, because in many places it could not be got in early enough, and I do not see in the older districts anything like so much lea land broken up as last year. Oats and barley are largely sown, and there is much of the latter to go in yet, although the price is not very encouraging. There must be a good many oats in the country yet, for the yield was large last year, and there has not been a heavy export, no place wanting much except Victoria. The home consumption cannot have been so great as in former years, for there was co much tail barley and damp wheat about that many of our farm horses have been fed almost entirely upon them. There is corn in Egypt yet, of all kinds, it strikes me, and we shall start next year with a heavy surplus. Judging from present appearances, I am inclined to think the young wheat is doing well. Neither oats nor barley are as yet forward enough to venture an opinion upon. I notice a good many foals about the country, a sign that the farmers are not breaking up much land for next year. Those in the settled districts want new country opened up for the employment of their teams badly. If the railway over the Rakaia were only commenced, there would bo a rush for land in that direction, for the farmers have any amount of plant to work it with. I notice almost everywhere a marked improvement in the breed of sheep in paddockß, and that much greater care is taken to keep the wool clean and well Borted at shearing time ; also, that the habit of burning instead of trimming gorse fences has obtained of late, and that there is great enquiry for small farms, but none in the market to be let ; also, that neat well - kept gardens are becoming more and more common, and that traps are increasing to a wonderful extent — all of which convinces me that farmers are becoming wedded to the country, and determined to make themselves comfortable. There are also plentiful crops of schools, and churches, and chapels, (especially Wesleyan) springing up, and there are a good many more public-houßes than there is any need for, and if their owners would put a little less water in their grog, and a little more on their floors, it would be a good deal pleasanter for their customers. I don't see many policemen along the roads, but I know of many unregistered dogs, and any number of stray cattle,

and the public-houses are not always closed at eleven o'clock, nor is the publican always at church of a Sunday. Although things might be better, they certainly might be worse, and there isn't much to complain about, which is a very unusual confession for a farmer to make. I shan't say a word about the thistles, because if I did I should perhaps be making rude remarks about their dear friend Mr Rolleston, and that is what I don't want to do, for he does his best. But he never will be called the farmers' friend unless he changes his opinion on this matter. 1 see these prickly pests growing and spreading in all directions, and we shall see more of them to our cost from year to year. I am perfectly sure of that.

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