July 1867

Monday 1st  It was a fine day, the ground has dried up very much.  We were all working in the bush, Samuel & Tom splitting posts, I trimming & sawing them off to the right length, William boring the posts & Joe mortising  them.

Tuesday 2nd  We were all splitting, boring and morticing pouriri posts.

Wednesday 3rd  We got both pair of bullocks up in the morning,  Samuel finished ploughing the Wheat  ground, afterwards harrowed the ground.  Tom & I removed all the flowers to a piece of ground near the fowl yard.  It began to rain in the evening.

Thursday 4th  It was too wet to harrow the Wheat ground & sow the Wheat so we went on  splitting, boring and morticing pouriri posts.

Friday 5th  We continued to split, bore and mortice posts.  The weather continues very showery.

Saturday 6th  Finished morticing all the pouriri posts that are split.  Samuel & Tom fell a large pouriri tree that would fall on the projected fence, but they could not get it off its stump, when he does come down he will split a good many posts.  It was very showery all day.  Mr Wyatt has erected a flagstaff on his hill, it has also a vane with the four cardinal points of the compass.  The steamer “Enterprise No 2” called in this morning  on her way to Auckland, there were three passengers that went up in her, Mr Knagg’s brother also came in her from Mangapai,  I believe he has come to settle here and commence a nursery ground.

Sunday 7th  The weather continued showery.  I took a walk to Mr Anderson’s in the afternoon.  Samuel went to Pakiri in the morning, but did not come home at night.

Monday 8th  We had a few showers in the morning, but it cleared up in the afternoon.  We got the pouriri tree off of its stump at last, we sawed a log off and split some part of it up into posts.
Samuel came home in the evening from Pakiri and brought an 8ft cross cut saw home with him to saw up the large Kauri up.

Tuesday 9th  It was very showery all day, but we were able to split bore and mortice a few posts.  The tree splits very well.  Mr Dyer sent over to know if I could lend him my bullocks to haul out shingle blocks, but I refused to lend them to him.

Wednesday 10th  It was very showery all day.  We continued splitting, boring and morticing posts, we have nearly got the tree split up now and when it is finished we shall have enough posts to complete the fence.

Thursday 11th  It was a fine day.  we finished splitting the posts, Tom continued boring them, and Joe knocking the mortices out.  In the afternoon we dug up the ground in the paddock where the old whare stood.

Friday 12th  It was a beautiful morning and had every indication of a fine day; but it was too fine to last as we had several showers of rain before the day was out.
We commenced digging in the orchard between the fruit trees to prepare it for some early potatoes and cabbages.  William & Joe finished boring and morticing the posts.

Saturday 13th  It was a fine day.  We continued digging in the orchard, we are getting a great deal of fern root out.

Sunday 14th  It was a fine day.  I went down to Mr Andersons in the afternoon.  Willie & Joe Greenwood staid all night.  We soaked the Wheat in blue stone ready for sowing tomorrow, 1 lb of blue stone to 2½ bushels of Wheat.

Monday 15th  It was a very dark morning & rather showery; but we were determined to sow the Wheat, we got the two pair of bullocks up intending to harrow the ground, but when we had them up we found the ground was so wet that we could not take them on to the ground as they would maul the ground very much.  The extent of the ground to be sown in Wheat is 2½ acres, about ¾ of an acre was in Potatoes last season, a small piece in Oats and a small piece was fallow having been ploughed up by McKenzie, the remainder was newly broken up ground ploughed twice.  We sowed 18 bushels of stone lime on the new ground, also 2½ Cwt of Bone dust, the potatoe ground having had 5 Cwt of Bone dust last year, we did not put any tillage of any kind on it.  We sowed 2½  bushels of Adelaide White Wheat, the seed was a very fine sample, as we had hand picked it and removed all the Drake, Barley & Oats.
Joe Wyatt came to work today.
We picked great deal of fern root out of the Wheat ground.

Tuesday 16th  In the morning we dug some water furrows in the Wheat ground to keep the ground is dry.  In the afternoon we planted som early potatoes in the orchard between the fruit trees, we planted the potatoes in trenches with a little stock yard manure and a little bone dust, the sorts we planted was 20 lbs Fluke Kidney, a few Pink Eyes, 20 lbs Ashleaf Kidney, & 20 lbs Wishart Earlies.

Wednesday 17th  It was very misty and we had several slight showers so that we could not go on planting potatoes.  Some of us picked over the seed potatoes and some of us mended sacks.
In the afternoon it had cleared up so that we could go on with planting.   We planted 40 lbs of White Hobarton Potatoes which planted 3½ rows, also 9 rows of the common Hobarton sort , we sowed a little bone dust in the trenches.  We also sowed some Oats below the potatoes next to the swamp for green food with a little bone dust.

Thursday 18th  I sent Samuel & Joe to Great Omaha to bring the bull I bought of Samuel but they came back without seeing him.  I also sent Joe Wyatt to John Meiklejohn for 1 lb of Onion Seed,  William, Tom & I went on digging in the orchard for Onion beds,  Mr Witten came in the morning and staid for dinner.  It was very showery all day.

Friday 19th  There was a few showers during the day.  I went to Mr Angus Matheson’s in the morning to see about Neil Campbell’s ground.  The men finished digging in the orchard and they formed the ground into Onion beds.

Saturday 20th  It was a fine day.  We emptied the tub & put the night soil onto the  Onion beds as far as it went, we also put some bone dust on the beds, we sowed 4 beds of Onions 1¼  Chains long & 5 ft broad in drills across the beds about 6 in apart.  We also sowed 2 beds of White Turnips & one bed of Althringham Carrots, all the things had bone dust & some of them also had some of the Wangarei Guano that Mr McQuarrie gave me.  We also planted some small beds of Early York Cabbage, Cauliflower, White Celery, Beetroot & Parsley.  I also planted cuttings between the Onion beds of Plums, 2 sorts of Peaches & Vines.
I sent William to Pakiri in the afternoon.

Sunday 21st  It was a fine day.  I went up to Mr Wyatt’s in the afternoon to have a look round.  William came home in the evening.

Monday 22nd  It was a beautiful day.  The Men went on at contract work today sawing up the big Kauri tree for rails.  I went over to Mr Knaggs in the afternoon, Mr Thomas Knaggs, Mr George Knaggs’ brother has married Margaret Kempt and has come up here to become a settler among us.
I commenced falling tea tree scrub on the top of the hill in the clearing.

Tuesday 23rd  It was a fine day.  Mr Witten & Mr McDonald brought home the beef I bought of him on my horse and his own mare.  The men blasted two kauri logs and split some rails out.

Wednesday 24th  Tom continued sharpening rails, the other men continued clearing the line of fence.  Joe got up the old pair of bullocks and laid some posts along the line of the projected fence.  I went down to Mrs Andersons in the afternoon.

Thursday 25th  Joe went out in the morning to get the bullocks up, but he came home without finding them.  Two of the men were clearing the line of fence and the other two were splitting and sharpening rails.
In the evening we all went down to the cove to bring up some things that came up by the Steamer for me.

Friday 26th  Joe got the old bullocks up in the morning and drew out rails on to the projected line of fence, he drew out 88 rails during the day.  The men were splitting & sharpening rails.
Mr Wright called in the morning with his new horse.

Saturday 27th  Joe got the young pair of  bullocks up in the morning and drew out 46 rails & 26 posts on to the line of fence.  The men were splitting & sharpening rails.  It was a fine day.

Sunday 28th   It was a splendid day.  I went down to Mrs Anderson’s in the afternoon to have a look round.

Monday 29th  Joe got the young  bullocks up early  in the morning and drew out 76 Rails & 13 Rails.  Tom & William continued slitting rails.  Samuel & Joe began putting up the fence, they are making a very good job of it and it looks very well what is put up.

Tuesday 30th  It was very showery all day, it was too wet to get the bullocks up.  The men could not do much work for themselves, so they sorted the potatoes in the shed for me.

Wednesday 31st   It was very showery all day,  The men could not do much work for themselves.