COUNTRY NEWS AND NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13710, 18 April 1910, Page 5

COUNTRY NEWS AND NOTES.

CONDITIONS IN NORTH. CANTERBURY.

Our North Canterbury correspondent writes :—'The North Canterbury farmers are now taking advantage of the weather to break up the land intended for autumn sowing for tho nest season's ■wheatjcrop. It is anticipated that a ■wide area will be cultivated in this manner, since the prices for that grain are well maintained, and the growers, even with the last indifferent harvest, hate heen selling their wheat at good prices, considering the condition of tbo samples. The threshing from the stack; is proceeding actively, but from time to time dissatisfaci tion is expressed with the re- | suits as compared with what was ex- ; pected. The labour regulations allow i for very little consideration for the farI mer who has a large quantity, of straw j but only a small return of wheat; hence the grain-grower's cheque for the season's produce will barely cover the expenses of production, and those who are combining wheat-growing with sheep raising will have to trust to tho latter to assist the credit' balance. It is an anxious time with the farmers who planted large areas in potatoes, as the crops, with but few exceptions, aro torning out to he diseased. The cause of blight and the means for its prevention seem to be but little understood, and so far as can be ascertained, only a limited number of farmers have persevered with any spraying or other means for holding the disease in check. Even the careful removal of all diseased tubers and the destruction of them along with the haulms, is almost quite neglected, and hence the evil is certain to be soread instead of being stamped out. The mischief is also helped on by persons who purchase diseased potatoes, and who do not assist to destroy the infected ones. From these the spores are ,r?rodnced which go to infect another year's crop. Grass had- been very abundant, and the graziers and cowkeepers must have experienced a record year with their stock. Turnips have suffered from blight, and are not such a good crop as in some former seasons. There -is a large hulk of straw on hand for the winter, and all of it, if the British season is repeated at the antipodes, will # be required for the stock. A foretaste of the storms of the Old World may be said to have reached the Southern Hemisphere last week. The orchardtsts who had good cro.p's of apples and peais have lost fruit through the gales where their trees were exposed. It is clear that tho industry of fruit-producing is now increasing, and some of the nurserymen have made an ample preparation for the autumn and spring planting which j is expected to take place.