John Cameron, the manager of Spylaw, for the Schlotel brothers, became a D. P. selector in July 1875, obtaining section 12 Block VII Crookston and he then purchased in February 1876 the adjoining section 11 Block VII, on the road between Matheson's Corner and Heriot.
John Cameron named his farm Drimnisallie after the place he was born and grew up in Invernessshire Scotland. He came to Otago on the Hannah from London in 1861 and was engaged as manager for Greig and Turnbull�s Station, Maniototo for four years. For about the same length of time he then became manager for Douglas, Alderson and Co at Edendale. It was after this he was employed by Dalgety, Nichols and Co to manage Spylaw under the Schlotel brothers. His job there ceased within seven years in 1876-77 to concentrate on his own property that amounted to about 600 acres by 1880. His second section 11 cost him �5 per acre but he was lucky to obtain the third for only �1 per acre under the open application system.
Drimnisallie was divided into ten paddocks, each with posts of black pine and four wires, with bank and ditches in accordance with the Fencing Ordinance and sown in live fences of gorse and Scotch broom. Many settlers planted these for stock shelter from prevailing winter winds. His farm on one side of the road had a gradual decline and drainage was easy to control. He cut three large ditches four feet deep, four feet wide at the top, and two feet at the bottom, with a length of three and one half miles costing 8 shillings per chain. With water running summer and winter he was able to water his stock without problems. Running three lines from front to the back of his property, he was then able to fence off a paddock of any size at any time. The ring fence was approximately five miles in length.
For the first four years Cameron managed an average yield per acre of wheat 40 bushels, oats 70 bushels and barley 44 bushels. At harvest in December he ran a wagon six miles to the Kelso railway twice a day with oats, exporting to England.
Cameron�s homestead was a two-storied wooden building with brick chimneys; the kitchen chimney had a brick oven attached. There was a store out-building and at the rear a six-stall stable with loft. His granary was spacious to hold 6,000 bushels of grain and like other buildings was timber with shingled roof. The homestead had seven acres of gardens, plantation and orchard with 150 large fruit trees such as apple, apricot, plum and pear trees. There were also an abundance of small berries, red and black currents, gooseberries with enough vegetables etc. The plantation carried 1,200 forest trees between two and four years of age in 1880.
A lot of timber was found in the land under soil, to a depth of eight to ten inches and all in good order. As this was swampy he had difficulties when trying to break up the ground and much expense with broken ploughs. The timber was mainly Totara, one measuring 37 feet long and about 2 feet in diameter. The forty loads cleared from the swamps he used as fuel.
When breaking the land Cameron believed in waiting until the third crop of turnips before sowing in grass, as the feeding off turnips also destroyed the silver tussock which was extremely hard to eradicate. He did not like to sow too much in oats, as they did not pay well. When planting grass he sowed Ryegrass, Timothy, White Clover, Alsike and Cow Grass in equal quantities and only sowed turnips with drills if the ground was thoroughly in order first.
The cost of purchasing seed in the early 1880�s was White Clover, Alsike Clover, Cow Grass, and Red Clover 10d per pound, Trefoil or Yellow Clover eight pence per pound.
The stock held amounted to approximately 800 merino ewes and lambs with 400 crossbred ewes and wethers. His crossbreeding was the produce of merino ewes by Leicester ewes and Romney Marsh rams. On a paddock of thirty acres laid down in grass the previous year he ran ten sheep per acre during the winter and sixteen head per acre after September 1st. His bull was purebred Ayrshire he purchased from McKellar, out of his prize bull, and the cattle numbered about twenty-five head of mixed Hereford and Ayrshire breeds. Cameron also had a large piggery of 70 Berkshire�s all ages and sizes. The forty he fattened in 1879, when killed weighed between 150 and 400lb each. His draught horses numbered seven in 1880, constantly used on the farm for working implements.
A 90-gallon boiler near the piggery constantly worked boiling feed of damaged wheat, barley and grain seconds as well as turnips and carrots making his piggery pay well. The farm implements were only the best brands and all nearly new. These consisted of a McCormack reaper and binder, a seed sower, turnip drill sower, two Reid and Gray double-furrow ploughs, a Reid and Gray roller, Reid and Gray three leaf and a four leaf harrow set, as well as a three leaf harrow set made by William Price in Tapanui, which he believed was a superior implement. He also owned two drays and a wagon, which was built by the Waggon Building Company in Milton.
From 1872 Cameron also leased the 200-acre farm of Mr Thompson across the road in 1880. This he had under cultivation except for 40 acres. He put down Red Straw and Velvet wheat, grass and turnips.
He was involved with the community in many ways. In December 1885 a paddock on his property became the location of the annual picnic for the Swift Creek School.
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