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MOUMAHAKI UNDER LONSDALE MANAGEMENT.

WHERE THE STATE IS WORKING

FOR THE FARMER

EDUCATIVE EXPERIMENTS

Yesterday, with 'Mr J. W. Deem, fields super-visor, as guide, a representative of the "Chronicle" paid a, visit of inspection' to the Moumahaki State Farm. The manager, Mr T. W. Lonsdale, gave the visitors a cordial welcome, and, as the call.',of harvest made insistent demand troon his time and attention, he confided the task of showing the pressman "all that was worth seeing" to the genial supervisor, who happens to know Moumahaki as well as he knows his alphabet. It was a big task, fartoo big to be completed in th c short span of half a day, for not even a layman bent merely on a tour of casual observation could cover the ground in twice the time. Moumahaki is a tolerably big place. It covers a lot of ground, somewhere between six and eight hundred acres, and the visitor might us well look for a needle in the big haystack which was yesterday nearmg completion as seek'to discover an idle acre. From the moment one enters the long and well kept drive, with its neatly trimmed hedges, one feels that he is in a place where order and good government ar e the handmaidens " of knowledge and industry. Reason predominates. Much has been done, much is being done, and in all th« work accomplished there is evidence of a guiding reason. Th 6 very hedges bordering the drive exemplify the all-appareait fact, for white <ifc first glance they appear to he merely two long rows of evergreen, a- closer, acquaintance shows that each row is composed/of a variety of different plants, one section following another with orderly precision, each clearly named and accurately classified, . and providing a most instructive object lesson as to the value of the respective species. Out in the lucerne* fields the .same purpose manifetets itself. A paddock some eight or nine acres in extent, looked at from some little distance, presents the appearance of a large lawn—a sweep of emerald green as smooth as a billiard table." Once in the paddock, however, and you must needs walk not over closely cropped grass but through luxuriant fodder from a foot to fifteen inches high. Prolific stuff, this, for it is just a fortnight since the reapers finished cutting the first crop in this self-same paddock.' Hero again the lesson of th© hedges is repeated. This is all lucerne but by no means all the same. lucerne, l.rue, at first glance it all looks the same, just, as do the hedges, ,but it does not require ia very close inspectlon- *o detect the different varieties which go to make un the whole'patch, ihe lesson is emphasised in another place, where rows of the different kinds of lucerne are set out j'n competition against each other. Of the result there is no, room, for doubt; the colonial wins. -The" Maryborough" (NvZ.) and "Hunter River" (Australian) varieties etand out easily ahead of their European rivals with the "Peruvian" next m merit. Just as th e whole field demonstrates the growing quality and . fodder value of lucerne, so these rows or typical varieties serve to show which is the best suited to the soil and climatic conditions of the district. By the way, there is a hole on the estate It is a big hole; it goes down close on torty feet, perhaps more/and it was dug for the purpose of showing what lucerne can do in the way of rooting* Once; in there is literally no stopping them;,.down.and down they go, and thedrier 1$ w the deeper they delve, and • they will--keep going until" they strike moisture, even though they have to fof ß"*' for fifty %t- And so' it is with all things m which farmers are interested— or should be interestedr- wheth- ;' er it be grasses .or grain, fodder plants or vegetables, beautiful flowers or noxious weeds: all are arranged' and cJas&ified. with methodical precision and unimpeachable accuracy in a manner capable of being understood and ■appreciated by every observer of ordinary intelligence.* Take as another instance the big potato patch. Upwards of forty varieties of tubers are m process t of. cultivation, each row, or series of rows, being marked .by a clearlyjprmted description of the particular variety., together with a statement as to - what manure (if any) has been used, ■and, whether ■ or--not they have been sprayed. The result is, of; course, a valuable object lesson—valuable at the present stage, but destined to be still more so when the potatoes have been dug, tested and weighed. On present appearance 4he South Island keepers- bid fair to eclipse a]} others, although, curiously enough, the same variety* grown from local seed do not .look nearly so well. It is certainly worthy of note that the whole of this hne experimental, plot is conspicuously free from .any sign of blight. In the outfields all the growing crops 6f jwheat and oats look full of promise, while the early crops of mangolds look exceedingly well, and bear testimony to the wisdom and clean and careful cultivation. Indeed, the striking cleanliness of all the root crops make them resemble in appearance a model market garden, while the richness of the resultant growth drives home the truism that one acre well put down yields a far more profitable return than could be gleaned from three acres carelessly worked,, sown and tended. Mr Lomsdale's object is to achieve the best, so that tanners profiting by his? work may reap ?i noJ^ r reward for their labour, whether that labour be expended in the raking of sheep and cattle or in the cultivation of crops. , That -is why, in the course of an observant stroll, one comes across a great variety of selected -plants -silver beet, Buda kale, different kinds ■ol mangolds and turnips, grasses, etc. —that are being carefully nursed for seed, most of them closely screened in trom the all too hungry and shamefully birds. As for live stock, it is m- keeping with all else pertainmg to Moumahaki. The horses—in the care of a groom who loves them and abominates the spur—are in the pink of condition; the Ayrshires, the irieleus of a fine herd, are looking well? th e sheep, and especially the lambs, do tw Clw t£> *&;"* Pa? tures; while in the fattening paddock there is a group of bullocks which cannot fail to market ■well. For the rest, it need only be •said that Moumahaki is a place which it is -worth any man's while to visit— a place from which no farmer should stay away longer than he can help, and a place which is in every respect a credit to the manager, his capable lieutenants, and all who are associated with them in what is a truly valuable national work.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19121224.2.66

Bibliographic details

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12857, 24 December 1912, Page 5

Word Count
1,140

MOUMAHAKI UNDER LONSDALE MANAGEMENT. Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12857, 24 December 1912, Page 5

MOUMAHAKI UNDER LONSDALE MANAGEMENT. Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12857, 24 December 1912, Page 5

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