CROPS RUINED

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12257, 22 February 1937, Page 3

CROPS RUINED

COLD, wet season Dunodiu, Feb. 20. The potato yield in Otago and Southland this year will be well below the average, notwithstanding that a greater acreage was planted. The, crop has suffered severely as a result of the unseasonable weather experienced this summer, and in some cases, on low-lying country, the crops have been totally destroyed by water. Also blight has been severe on the King Edward variety in most localities. The prospects are for half crops, compared with those of normal years. Some concern is being caused to farmers as to the provision of fodder for stock during the coming winter. Root crops generally are very backward owing to the wet spring, which delayed sowings, .and to the present cold weather, which hAs retarded growth. The club root disease is taking heavy toll of swede crops, and on the Taieri some crops have been ploughed under. In other cases they are being fed off because of the ravages of the disease. The trouble is general throughout Otago and Southland. Farm work has been retarded for the past week by adverse weather, and much fruit has been blown from the trees. Patches of green oats and wheat have been knocked down, and some of the later cut hay remains in coils owing to the unsuitability of the conditions for stacking.