The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-04-16
A Rice County Boy Writes Home
an Interesting Letter.
Buys Land Near Waimate, in
South Canterbury.
neutrality-suspicious.
Drunkenness and Crime Worst
Objection to the Country.
Practice a Regular System of
Rotation of Crops.

sterling, Kan, April 16.-The Bull
letin publishes another letter from
e. G. Walton, who is in New Zealand.
He is former Kansan who has pur-
chased a home there. He says of
the country in part:
After looking at the country sur
rounding Auckland, decided to
come back to Wellington and from
there see the South Island, taking in
the sights of Rotoma on the way.
Rotoma is the Yellowstone Park of
New Zealand. and the Mecca Of the
tourists, a place that I would far
| sooner visit than live in. AS soon as
you get off the train you are aware
that something is wrong, as the air
is full of sulphurated hydrogen which
smells just like bad eggs. This is
caused by the steam which is COM
ing out of the ground everywhere.
The crust Of the earth must be very
thin here, as geysers. steam jets, and
in evidence, while twenty years ago
the whole top of Mt. Tarawera near
by blew off, covering UP miles of
country with mud.
Arriving at Wellington again I took
! the boat for Nelson, just across the
straits in the South Island. This is
mostly a billy sheep country and
mining district, but there is good
land in the valleys and in the neigh
borhood of Motueka; a great deal Of
fruit and hops are grown here. Land
for this purpose they want about
an acre of bearing orchard could be
bought for $500, but they told me
that the profits are often $3.50 from
an acre.
Nelson has the finest climate of
any place in the country, few miles
here making all the difference in the
amount of rain and wind. The gar
dens, when / was there in Novem-
Der, being early summer, were the
most beautiful that I have ever seen.
Roses and geraniums were growing
everywhere in lodges and over the
houses. while such shrubs as azalias,
camelias and rhododendrons were in
full bloom and grew to be almost
trees.
Leaving here I went south to
christchurch by boat and from there
still further south to Pamaree, stop
ping at various places on the way
and looking at the land. This is the
Canterbury Plain containing some
1000, 900 acres of available land; it
extends about $50 miles north and
south and for 40 miles back from
the sea, and within which is prob
ably some of the best wheat growing
land in the world; the average yield
for wheat being about 80 bushels,
and OF oats 40 bushels to the acre,
while in some Of the best parts as
much as so and 70 bushels of the
former and 80 bushels of the latter
are obtained The best land is SELL
ing now for about 5000 an acre,
though there are many farms to be
bought that will average 80 bushels
of wheat for about $125 within reas-
enable distance of a town.
I may remark here that the way
they have of farming is different to
what is usual in Kansas, as they all
practice a regular system of rota-
ton of crops. The same land is
never put into wheat for more than
two years in succession, but it al
ternated with turnips, which are fed
Off with sheep and then laid down
In grass. The fact that they do this,
and perhaps with a slightly greater
rainfall cas- inches per annum) is the
only reason that I can see why they
get such large yields. for as far as
the land IS concerned it does not
nearly come up to Cow Creek valley
for instance. The price of wheat is
not regulated to a great extent by
the markets OF the world as the area
Ia which it is grown in New Zealand
Is not much more than enough to
supply the needs of the country, and
whatever surplus there may be for
export has to pay very little, if any