NOTES FROM SEAFIELD.

Ashburton Herald, Volume II, Issue 521, 9 December 1879, Page 3

NOTES FROM SEAFIELD.

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. In my last I promised you that I would give further information about the crops in this district, and I will now attempt to inform your readers as to the progress on the plains. The weather has been so extraordinarily favorable to the light land in this district, I will venture to say that, taking into consideration the high value set on land in other districts, and the low estimation in which the farms on the plains has been held, our crops will astonish some of the proprietors of land valued at from L2O to LSO per aero, since our pro rata yield, according to cost of production, will be enormously beyond anything in Canterbury. About Seafield proper, the wheat is looking remarkably well, but is in most cases late. This, I think, is in its favor, as we have a saying in the old country, “A late harvest, a full barn." I noticed one peculiarity about some of the farms here which I should like some of the proprietors on whose crops it shows most to explain. Some fields have yellow patches and strips, and this will occur where the surrounding crop is quite green. lam quile at a loss to account for it, and would be obliged to some of my friends to render a reason therefor.

Some of the barley and oat crops are looking first-class, and I will notice them more particularly in my next, letter. There are some fields of self-sown corn which look a deal better than the first crop did last year. The hay harvest has already commenced, but I think some are cutting it rather early for seed. The Kyle farmers are all in good spirits in the hope of an abundant harvest, and they have first-rate prospects at present. About the Wakanui creek, on the rich land, everything is looking first-class ; but the farmers here could do with a good deal less rain than they have had. I.will not venture in this letter to give you an estimate of the yield per acre, as last year’s judgment on my part completely threw my old English notions into the shade, but as the crop comes out in ear I will then make a guess at the number of bushels per acre throughout the plains. I may here mention that there is a large area in potatoes this year, and the tops look very promising. I was also glad to notice, as a sign of renewed confidence, that the plough is at work on the tussocks again, getting new land ready for next year’s crop. A few years and a tussock will be a thing of the past in Seafield, unless grown as a curiosity.