Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Tales of Banks Peninsula

Cocksfoot On The Peninsula

page 346

Cocksfoot On The Peninsula.

Farm life on the Peninsula is intimately connected with the cocksfoot, or orchard grass, and a history of the introduction of the seed will come in well here. There is no doubt that Mr. E. Hay, senr, of Pigeon Bay, introduced the seed in 1853, buying it from Mr. W. Wilson, seed merchant, of Christchurch. Mr. Farr's statement that the whalers, or early settiers introduced it into French Farm previously is not upheld, and it is allowed the first crops were grown in Pigeon Bay and Port Levy in the year 1853. We give below a report of the cocksfoot industry given by Mr James Hay, son of Mr Ebenezer Hay, who himself worked at the cocksfoot harvest as early as 1855. The early settlers prized the cocksfoot very much and many of them would pay big prices for a small bag of seed gathered from crops round other settlers homes. Mr. George Armstrong remembers his father having a small plot of cocksfoot about the Mt. Vernon homestead, and seeing some of the farmers round about bringing up small bags to carry away the seed. They rubbed the seed out with their hands, and were quite prepared to pay a big price for a small amount. There is no doubt that the Peninsula soil is especially suited for the production of good cocksfoot seed, and that the grass does exceedingly well here. The following is Mr. Hay's account of cocksfoot in Pigeon Bay —an account that applies equally well to the other bays of the Peninsula: —

"In 1849 or 1850 my father let a contrast to Jim Robinson and Joseph Rix to clear and stump a piece of bush land of about three acres close to the old Annandale home stead. The price for this work was at the rate of £40 per acre. It was trenched about one foot deep to get all the roots out below the plough depth. There was no heavy timber, it being nearly all moko. It was so expensive that my father did not get any more done. After the contract was finished, part was planted with potatoes, part in pumpkins, and the balance in wheat. These crops were enormous, especially the pumpkins. The wheat was cut page 347with the old reaphook, and threshed with the flail. In the autumn of 1852 this land was ploughed, this being the second piece of land ploughed in Pigeon Bay. It was all sown in wheat, and after it was harrowed two ridges were sown in cocksfoot and the balance in ryegrass. Then it got one stroke of the harrows to cover it. The cocksfoot to sow these two ridges was bought from Mr William Wilson, seed merchant and gardener, of Christchurch, in the autumn of 1852. Mr R. Fleming got some at the same time. Mr Wilson sold it to my father as orchard grass at 2s 6d per lh. He said it was the very grass for the rough bills of the Peninsula, which has been well proved. The wheat was reaped on this land in January, 1853 In a few weeks all the stubble was hidden with the cocksfoot and ryegrass. It made wonderful progress, and although Mr Wilson had imported this cocksfoot from England it all seemed to grow. This thoroughly established the cocksfoot in Pigeon Bay. In December, 1854, and January, 1855, these patches of cocksfoot were reaped with the hook, and it was like a crop of wheat. It was all tied in sheaves and stacked in small stacks in the old Scotch fashion. In 1854 my father imported a two horse power threshing mill from Scotland. In the winter of 1855 this mill was all ready for work. It threshed the wheat, oats, barley and ryegrass splendidly, but when the cocksfoot was tried it did not take out more than half of the seed. My father put the most of it through twice, but the result was not a success, and we were compelled to go back to the flail. I assisted in the cutting of cocksfoot and ryegrass. It was my first attempt at using the hook, and if my fingers could speak they would remember too. It was all tied in sheaves. There was enough cocksfoot got out of this lot to mix with other grasses to sow over thirty acres. At this stage—that is 1855—the most of the settlers in Pigeon Bay commenced to get a few heads, and many of them saved it in their gardens, and that is how it spread. In the early sixties we commenced to sell in very small lots, and in 1865 and 1866 large orders were coming in Up till this time it was all tied in sheaves and stacked in page 348the same way as grain; but in 1867 and 1868 we let a piece to the late Mr. Edward Goodwin and his two eldest sons, of Pigeon Bay. The seed was very ripe, and they cut it short and laid it on the stubble. It was fine weather, and it threshed out so well that the next season this method became universal, and this is how the present system of harvesting the cocksfoot was established and is continued all over the Peninsula and other parts of Canterbury to-day, where it is reaped with the hook. After this mode of harvesting was established; we went into cocksfoot growing properly. A man could nearly cut the double, and it was after this that the men made such good wages. We let a piece to four Russian Fins at 2½d per lb. It was the last piece we had, and it was a hard job to get them to take it. The seed was short, and we had just taken the cattle out a few days before it was ready to cut. These four men were just one month, and their cheques came to £56 each man clear of food for the month, and they each made good cheques helping others. We were cutting cocksfoot six or eight years before the other settlers in Pigeon Bay commenced to cut for sale. Cocksfoot seed is a very hardy seed, but it takes longer to grow than ryegrass. We had some Maoris cutting for us one year, and they cut 600 sacks We had it all stacked on a small wharf in one of the small bays waiting shipment It came on a gale of wind, and three sacks were blown off into the sea. They remained three days and three nights on the beach, soaked by every tide, We would have left them there, but the Maoris did not understand general average, so we had to take all the three sacks home and dry it so as to weigh with the other. We dried it on sheets, some blew away. Rain came on, and in a short time the seed began to sprout. We tried it in damp flannel; it all sprouted. We kept the three sacks, sowed it on a piece of new ground, and it grew as well as seed that had never been near salt water. If not not all the bays on the north side of the Peninsula, the most of them got the seed from Pigeon Bay. Mr. Alexander McIntosh and Mr. James Boleyn got seed from page 349from Pigeon Bay. In the early days of cocksfoot we found that anything over 4d per lb. was a very profitable crop In the early stages when men were good and did not mind working over eight hours they made from 10s, 15s, 20s to 25s per day We always found the Russian Fins splendid men with the hook, as that time in Finland all grains were cut with the [unclear: hook]. In the eighties we sent two tons to Glasgow, but it was not a profitable "spec," and we did not send any more, always sold in New Zealand. We used to allow the settlers to cut it wherever they liked among the cattle for their own use in the middle of the fifties. My father used to let anyone take it away in their pockets who liked it as a new grass. I remember the Frenchman Mr. Armstrong speaks about. I bought his seed one year at 6d per lb. to make up an order. It was delivered at Duvauchelle's Bay, and I had to take it over to Pigeon Bay in a bullock waggon. This was the first time a waggon was taken to Duvauchelle and back to Pigeon Bay. The crop was a very good one and extra clean. Ten acres was the size of the block. Port Levy in the fifties was not so well adapted for the spread of cocksfoot as Pigeon Bay, owing to so much fern, and the bush had not been felled for many years after, so it was a long time before the cocksfoot got a good hold in Port Levy. Now it produces a very large quantity. I have heard that Messrs Rhodes, of Purau, were the first to introduce cocksfoot on to the Peninsula, but I never had any dates given me. Most likely they could get it from Mr. Wilson at the same time as my father and Mr. Fleming, Mr. Wilson was a keen business man, and pushed the seed in a businesslike manner. He was the first peraons to introduce cocksfoot into Canterbury that I am aware of As I cannot give the dates when cocksfoot was introduced into other districts of the Peninsula, I will leave it for someone else to deal with—that is beyond the places I have mentioned. Mr. S. C. Farr told me that when he landed in Akaroa in 1850 cocksfoot was growing in Akaroa at that time and in orchards and on the road sides and in French Farm. As to this I can give an page 350opinion, but will not contradict. All I can say is that I never noticed it, either in Akaroa or French Farm. If it was there the people did not seem to know anything about its value, nor did they cultivate is for farther use. I will no attempt to contradict Mr. C. S. Farr's statement in any way. No doubt some of the old settlers in Akaroa would be able to throw more light on the Akaroa cocksfoot than I am able to do, and I would be very pleased if they would do so and could state how and where it came from. It would be most interesting to know if the French brought it, or the old whalers or some of the old settlers who came to Akaroa from Wellington in the forties. In 1874 we grew the largest crop we ever cut. We only shut up two paddocks. The rest we cut amongst the stock, shifting them while the seed was being harvested. We cut over seven thousand bushels, allowing 20lb. to the bushel. We had no rain, and got all the seed in bright. After it was harvested we could not sell a bushel, not even at 4d per lb. It was a very bad, dry autumn, and no sale, but it came an early spring and we were the only people that had cocksfoot in bulk in October. We commenced to sell at 6d per lb., and we quitted the last at 10d per lb. I think it averaged about 8d per lb., and it was all away before we were ready for shearing. Another year after this we could have sold up to eight thousand bushels if we could have harvested it. It was the year that Mr. Thomas McIntosh leased Miss Marshall's place in Pigeon Bay. He entered into partnership with us, and he supplied 4000 bushels and we did 4000 bushels, I consider this was our best season We had no rain, and we shipped the last of this seed on the 28th February, and on the 9th March we had all the money. It was weighed to the men and shipped. The following season we sold 4000 bushels. It was a fine season, no rain. It was weighed to the men and shipped. We got 6d. a lb, for these two season's seed. After that year seed came down to 4d. per lb, and we only grew for our best customers. Whenever it came below 4d. we gave it up. If we had any we sold it in the paddock standing as per agreement. We found that when it came below 4d. page 351we made more from cattle and sheep. We cut one paddock for thirteen years in succession. It got burned and we spelled it for a year, then cut it for for six years more, making nineteen years in all. We never noticed any difference in the last years' crops. They seemed as good as the first. I think that perhaps a few general remarks will not be out of place at this stage. There has been, and I suppose is still going on, a bad system on the Peninsula by which thousands of pounds sterling are lost every year through the farmers letting their seed on halves. Men take it who have no means of storing it; they have no money to pay their men, and when it is ready for the market they are forced to take the first offer, which is from a ½d to ld. per lb below the real market price. They are forced to take it, and this establishes the price for the opening of the season. The merchant always waits for the man on halves to come forward. I blame the farmers themselves, for they generally have storage, and by insuring the seed they can always orrow against the seed from the Farmers' Co operative Association or the merchants. Some people cannot understand why the seed is light some years compared to others The principal reason is this: When the seed is in flower and we get a few calm day, until the flower has done its duty and the season is at all favourable, the seed will be heavy; but if you get heavy rain, hail, or wind before the flower has done its duty, under all circumstances the seed will be light, I have seen some old time crops on the Peninsula this season, and it has been a very fine season for harvesting all the crop if there has been enough labour. There is not the slightest doubt that the cocksfoot has added very much to the prosperity of all the Peninsula for many years. For a good many years our labour bill has run from £500 to £1500 per year in connection with cocksfoot. The greatest trouble now in growing cocksfoot is the amount of unskilled labour who want the same as an experienced man. It takes a new chum hand about one season to lerrn all about the cutting and threshing of cock-foot."