OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3241, 10 June 1911, Page 10

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

“PRIME CANTERBURY.”

SETTLED, EXTENSIVE AND PRO-

GRESSIVE

(By R. J. Fames)

It may he as well to 1 remind readers that this series of articles is the product of impressions, wayside inquiry, and 6ueb general observation and investigation as are possible in a more or less painstaking cycling survey of the Dominion. But limitations of time, ox opportunity and* cf season, rendered an exhaustive and detailed examination impossible when the extensive province of Canterbury was encountered. tor instance, if one traversed all the roads m this land district lie would have travelled no fewer than 10.000 miles! If he took all -the available railway journeys (one way only) his ticket account would be for over 500* miles; while the seaboard, which is skirted daily by _ important ferry and intercolonial services, has a length of seme 300 miles. _ There are numerous rivers which distribute their life-giving waters over many valleys and plains,* the various lengths of the streams being 100, SO, 85, 74, 60 and a lesser number of miles. In the whole district there are 9,604,045 acres, which land is officially divided into 2,046,071 acres of first-class land, 5,207,173 acres of second-class land, and 2,350,801 acres of third-class land, the last-named being “barren laud 1 and land of small value." A trip across the Plains, either by road or by rail, provides a vivid impression of extensiveness. Miles upon end may be travelled over roads which are as level as a table. It is a big district —big in accomplishment and'big in possibility. There is no otlipr “flat” in New Zealand which in point of size and agricultural productivity can compare with that huge plain, two l and a-half millions of acres in extent, which fronts the ocean and occupies' the area between the Ashley and the Opihi rivers. It is upon this sweeping plain that the city of Christchurch is situated. Of the 94 millions of acres of land in the district, only a little over 500,000 acres are in forest, but on the plains the plantations of imported trees lend themsel\vs attractively to- the landscape. Back on the hills; and high up, the ploughs go and a clump of trees is the mark of a homestead. One cannot hut feel that a real need of the district is a. good hedge. For this purpose gorse is largely used, but gorse. unless very carefully tended, invariably becomes scraggy and unsightly. In this regard l it niay be said that nowhere in New Zealand are there so many fine farm hedges as in South Taranaki, -where boxthorn grows in massy walls of sombre green, affording, splendid protection for the stock. In Canterbury, on account of the heavy winds experienced, shelter hedges are essential and the- gorse is serviceable, although .it has the disadvantage of spreading rather badly. In the flowering season these hundreds of miles of gorse lend l a golden glory to the view, giving color to the belts of pines and gums and other ■ trees —plantations which give to Canterbury a most distinctive appearance.

A GREAT GRAIN CENTRE

If one .takes the onap of Canterbury it will be noticed that along the eastern portion, from the iHurunni river to the south of Timaru, thei'e is a line of railway which forms the main artery of commerce. At regular intervals branch lines strike into the interior of the province, draining the produce to the commercial centres. It is along the east coast that the great plains lay; inland, from mere hills the country develops into mountains, rough, rugged and grand. But from the point of view of utility .it is the hills which lend themselves so gdmirably to sheep farming, and even to the plough, which command most attention. In one sense Canterbury must be regarded as fully occupied. Practically no pioneering remains to be done, although the province has yet to experience extensive changes in the way of farming and cat-tle-grazing settlement. It is upon the Canterbury plains themselves that we have the great wheat-growing centre of the South Island. These plains alone would furnish a multitude of examples of up-to-date agricultural husbandry for the whole of New Zealand. Much of the cropping is done ini a very big way, but that is not to be wondered at when it is considered that the arable area has a length of some 1-50 miles and a breadth, from the sea coast inland, of about 40 miles. It is a great thing to be able to say that on a plain of 3,000,000 acres, by much the greater part is admirably adapted to the growth of grain, barley and oats, besides cultivated grasses and forage plants. In point of quality there is range from soil which looks more like a river-bed than ploughable land, to land of excellent quality. Probably the heaviest land is to the north of Christchurch, near Rangiora. In this locality up to £6O per acre is paid, for land for mixed farming.; The mention of price reminds one of the extraordinary differences in value, even upon the plain itself. In such territories as Banks Peninsula, rich country broken in the. making into ridges and gullies, and round about Timaru, where ifc'is rather hilly, one expects variations in price, but on the even surface over which one may travel for, say, 100 miles in a straight line 'without meeting a rise of any kind 1 the visitor is surprised at the richness and poverty of soil in proximity. One hear s of sales at £BO and £9O. but there is plenty of land available at £7 to £lO per acre. Extending from Cheviot to Waitaki there are some splendid tracts of plain and down lands, and. the granary of the south is in the rich alluvial soil centres about Cheviot, Rangiora, Ellesmere, Temuka, Waimate, and other .places. Interspersed on the plain are many light and stony patches, some still in tussock (which looks odd when the age of settlement is remembered) and these inferior lands are used l for pastoral purposes. The native grasses which abound have been found to be most suitable for the aristocratic merino. Not only the rich flats, but the downs and the lower hills are cultivated. The splendid draught stock to be seen, the fine sheep and. cattle, and the useful and highly ornamental plantations and l shelter clumps give a convincing atmosphere of prosperity to this modern cornucopia. Clover and grass-seed flourish their crops; rye, peas, beans, potatoes, carrots. beet and; mangolds thrive, but the chief crops are of wheat, oats, barley, turnips and rape. In wheat growing Canterbury is easily the most important district in New Zealand, for more than two-thirds of the total wheat area of the Dominion are embraced -within its borders In 1909-10 the area in Canterbury under crop for threshing, was 210,000 acres. Besides growing 70 bushels out of every 100 bushels of wheat grown in New Zealand, Canterbury produces 45 per cent.-of the oats, and 35 per cent of the barley which all the Dominion produces. Throughout the district, by road or by railway, one is impressed by the up-to-date agricultural machinery and the commodious storehouses which .tell eloquently of the greatness of this grain centre.