THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9326, 29 January 1896, Page 6

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.

.»■ Our Rakaia correspondent writes —We are having splendid weather here since last Saturday, and harvest operations are in fall Bwiug, With good weather very little of the grain will bo standing in a fortnight. Our Mai vera correspondent writes— Harvest h now in full swing all over the district, and a number of oat atacka are already up. In nearly all cases this gram is practically a dead lose, and the majority of stacks little more than straw; it certainly will not reach an average of ten bushels per acre, so well have the wind and hailstorms done their work. What oats remain for threshing will be a splendid sample when ripened. Wheat is rapidly coming under the machines. In some localities it hai not suffered to any great extent, but in others the owners contend that they have lost quite a third, and in some instances more, of a good crop. The last hailstorm was responsible for a great portion of this. Turnips, as a rule, are looking well, but the continued dry, hot weather is making the pasture land "go off" rapidly. The North Otago Times reports:—The crops throughout the district are looking well. The high north-west winds of last week ripened many paddocks of grain, especially on the lighter soils between Pukeuri and the river, rather too rapidly. (This will doubtless affect the yield somewhat. Barley crops have been cut, and there is a good deal of oat crop harvested for eeed and feed. The yield of barley and oats is everywhere above the average.