A QUICK HARVEST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 104, 12 February 1940, Page 6

A QUICK HARVEST

INCkESSED USE OF HEADERS. ESTIM ATE D DOM INI ON Y l ELD. • :v- ■ /, >-•••.:. 1. • " TOTAL *OE- ; /Per Press Association). ;; CHRISTCHURCH, ;This Day. The, increased use -or header harvesters "mthamlling^fhA Canterburywheat crop this season.has' deprived many men of tliokj .usual, seasonal' occupation. More \ than 500 headers ploughed through'the rich wheat lands of the province -.and brought in this season’s harvest in wlmt must be record time. The unbroken spoil of fine weather means that the harvest was virtually over in a. month from start to finish. Men who normally visit Canterbury at tliis season to find employment on the threshing mills and on farms have been disappointed. A big.' contingent came from the North Island and others from the south. They found little work, however, for the farmer and his son can operate a header, which does the work of cutting, threshing and bagging on one operation.

Based on the official estimate of 33 bushels to the acre, New Zealand’s wheat harvest this season may yield nearly 9;000,000 'bushels—enough to meet domestic requirements for a year. A great increase in area has made this, possible, for last season’s crop yielded only 5,1)64,136 bushels, with' an average of 29.4 to the acre. According to the Government statistician, the New Zealand average of 33 bushels to the acre will produce some 8,547,000 bushels off th-e estimated area of 259,000 acres. Many observers believe that the'area will actually prove to be very much greater, probably about 270,000 acres. It is pointed out that a great deal of wheat was sown in September ancl even later as a result of the appeal by the Minister of supply (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan).