THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN WHEAT CROP FOR THE CURRENT SEASON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2501, 8 January 1869, Page 3

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN WHEAT CROP FOR THE CURRENT SEASON.

(From S. A. Register, Dec, 15.)

According to the official statistics, the total yield of wheat for the province in 1866-7 was -6,561,451 bushels. Our estimate of the quantity, made many weeks before the appearance of these statistics, and based entirely upon the information supplied by farmers in reply to our circular, was six million and three-quarter bushels. In this case, the discrepancy amounted to only .200,000—a fact which proves how close an approximate estimate can be formed beforehand of the produce of an ordinary crop. In 1867-8 the red rust came and baffled all attempts at anything like an accurate calculation. The lowest estimate considerably exceeded what proved to be the actual fact. The farmers them ! elves evidently were puzzled, for Mr Boothby's returns cannot be altogether recon-

, died with the figures representing our actual. , lurplus for last season. In every respect it t> . was a memorable year—memorable to the ; ■ farmer and perplexing to the statist in the "' Arrangement of averages. • By the latter, it , , will have to be treated as an annum non. It "*tands in our statistical records without a and according to all appearance it • ' will form the connecting link between two Reasons of great prosperity. The harvest of '. 1866-7 was a very satisfactory one, and, so 1 f»r ascan be judged at present, that of 1868-9, , will &Ibo exceed the mean of the nine yearß . previous to and exclusive of 1867-8. From an analysis of nearly a hundred replies to circulars which have reached us during November and December we learn that the area under crop this year will certainly not fall materially below that for the year 1867, amounting in the aggregate to 810,734 acres. In the North there are many districts which eeem to have remained very nearly in statu quo. In spite of the excusable fear that the harsh experiences of the past season would cause many farms to go temporarily out of cultivation, we find that there is no notable instance of deficiency in this part of the country. The majority of our correspondents content themselves with stating, in general terms, that the amount of land under crop is about the tame as last year. Even within the district councils of Mudla Wirra (North and South;, Port Gawler, Stockport, Tanunda, Augaston, Light, and Nuriootpa, where the ravages of I the red rust were most bitterly felt, there is k no substantial decrease in the acreage. Any * falling off in these places is abundantly com- ;: pensated for by increases in the aress more I Tecently brought under the influences of I agriculture. Outside district councils, the I operations of farmers ar-.s being greatly t -extended. According to one account i the Hundred of Blyth will contribute \ 1000 extra acres. According to another that i and Hart together will have 10.000 acres more I under crop this year than last. Kupunda \ claims an increase of 20 per cent on tha t 17,000 acres which last year was put down to \ its credit. Clare, Upper Wakefield, and Port * Wakefield ore on the advancing scale. At the lowest computation, it may be taken that the increases in the northern part of the colony fully balance the decreases. In the NorthEast and Ea«t we are prepared to hear that tin area of l*st year is barely maintained. Gumeracha, South rthine, Woodside, Harrowgate, and some other tracts of country comprehended in Onbparinga, appear to have »een their best days. It is here that the «ystem of exhaustion has been carried to its farthest limits, and it is from these sources that the stream of emigrants for Albury and other places in the adjoining colonies is mainly fed. In the South there is not much change. .Rapid Bay furnishes a considerable excess to r go towards balancing the decline in Aldinga and Clarendon. Yankalilla, Port Elliott, Goolwa, Inman Valley, Strathalbvn, Maeelesfleld, Meadows, Willunga, and the districts along the South-road do not vary greatly I from their 1867 aggregate. The South-Bast, I or the Electoral Division of Victoria, will I exceed last year's total of 27,714 acres, but to (what extent it is hard to say. Probably the total may approximately be expressed in round numbers at 30,000. Near Adelaide there is not likely to be much alteration, -either one way or the other. On the whole,

then, it may be roughly estimated thatthei produce of 800,000 acres will be gathered in: during the present season, and that no special ! allowance will have to be made under the; head " area sown but not reaped," which formed ao prominent an item in the returns for 1867-8,

Coming now to the question of the wheat yield, we find that last year no less than 550, 456 acres were at seed-time appropriated to this particular description of crop, The quantity reaped w«s 494,740 aores; but whether in arriving at these figures the acreage sown for wheat, and cut down for hay, is taken into tho aoeount does not appear. Mr Boothby in his report speaks of the 55,716 acres as yielding no return, and we may with safety assume that the totals given are exclusive of the area cut down for hay, which was at the beginning of the season intended for wheat. Proceeding, then, on the analogy of 1867-8, it is probable that the wheat crops will this year monopolise 550,000 acres. This area comprises nearly 70 per cent, of the land uuder under cultivation —a close approximation to the percentage during several years past. The yield, on the authority of our correspondents, will slightly exceed the mean of nine years, exclusive of 1867 and 1865. This amounts to a trifle over 10J bushels. The lowest quantity set down is eight bushels, and as a general rule the estimates range from 11 to 15 bushels. In favoured situations, and on well kept farms in the North and South, the figures occasionally mount up to 20 or 25 bushels; and what is the exception in these parts is to be regarded as the rule in the case of the South-East. We may reasonably assume, in view of the occurrences of last season, that agriculturists would prefer underestimating to over-estimating the yield; and we have it on good authority that in places where farmers have done their thrashing the result has more than equalled their expectations. We shall perhaps fall below 14J, the general average of 1866-7, but if nothing unforeseen happens we may count upon at least 12 bushel). This will give an agregateof 6,600,000, or in round numbers six and a half million bushels, The surplus over and above our requirements will under such circumstances be about on a par with the surplus in 1867, which was to a large extent absorbed by the market so opportunely opsned in Great Britain,