NOTES BY THE WAY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21717, 26 February 1936, Page 7

NOTES BY THE WAY

THE DAMAGE Estimates have been made of the damage caused to wheat crops bylast week’s disastrous floods. Any such estimate can be little more than guesswork. The amount of rain varied considerably throughout the province, and the saturation the stocked crops received varied correspondingly. Moreover it is too soon to estimate the result of the flood. The weather Of the nejft week will influence the condition of much of the wheat, and nobody would care to venture an opinion as to whether such will be cool with helpful winds or soft and muggy. Still further, the amount of Work put in by farmers will have a definite effect on the amount of damage. As far as can be ascertained from farmers who were within the worst affected areas, individual losses will be very severe, but in the aggregate they will not be nearly so heavy as was at first feared. In some of the earlier districts the bulk of the wheat been stacked, and the great proportion of the stocked crop Has been saturated with incipient sprouting and far from being irretrievably lost. The proportion coming under the latter heading is small in relation to the total wheat of the province. Experience has shown that a degree of sprouting does not necessarily destroy the milling quality of the wheat, and the weather for the next week and the amount of opening up of stocks and actual re-stook-ing will influence the amount of sprouting. The weather since the week-end has not been of the best for offsetting the damage done. There has been an almost total absence of winds, but. except in one or two districts the weather has been fairly cool. Leading-in was actually taking place yesterday where the ravages of the flood were very apparent. The re-stooking of crops, where such is required, will be a laborious task, on account of the tremendous weight of straw, and particularly if the re-stooking is done thoroughly—that is, dividing the stock into about six sheaves instead of the usual 10 or a dozen to facilitate the passage of the air. From observations that have been made, however, most farmers will content themselves with opening the stocks up. Headed Crops There is not so much experience to guide the farmer in the matter of crops that have been held for heading, and there is still a proportion of these. The fact that they are beaten down will not provide any obstacle, as the header will handle lodged crops as well as the reaper, but sprouted grain in the sack and immured from the air may become mouldy and practically worthless—at all events for milling. One farmer to whom tl e writer spoke is putting considerably less wheat in the sacks, so that every movement the latter receive should facilitate the conditioning process. In addition he is stacking the wheat in single tiers on the woolshed floor, so that all the air possible should get about the sacks. However, with all these precautions it is inevitable that there will be a great quantity of damaged grain, and that individual losses will be heavy. The time and the severity of. the floods have been singularly aggravating. In another month there would have been no

excuse for wheat standing stocked in the paddock. As a matter of fact had stocking beei less popular much of the wheat damaged would have been stacked. That does not necessarily mean, however, that it would have been “safely” stacked. The water is sure to have penetrated to a good depth in some of the stacks. Farmers who had already threshed secured the heaviest yields on record. A southern visitor to Christchurch a few days before the flood told the writer that it was 65 years since he started work in the harvest field in the Old Country, and 55 since he commenced in New Zealand, and he had never seen such crops as were visible from the Waitaki northwards. There will not be a great deal of damage to the oat crops. Most of these, except in the later heavy land districts, had been stacked before the wheat was ready, and as it was intended to carry the oats through into the winter the stacks were made to turn the rain. . Barley growers will suffer a severer loss than wheat growers. The sprouted grain will be useless ior, smiting,-and as the market for

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the cereal is not influenced much by whether the crop is a heavy or a light one. There is some fear that the saturation of the ground will encourage blight in the potato crops and on 1 the heavier land rotting. On the medium land the water got away quickly enough to remove this probability, but it is to be feared that on low-lying heavy land, where the' water lodged for some time, there will be some loss of crops. The rain will be beneficial to root crops and for putting the ground into good order for autumn tillage. These are the compensations from the visitation, the value of which in a general survey should not be entirely ignored. THE ELLESMERE DISTRICT Whilst the major damage in most districts was confined to the actual track of the flood waters there were others where the character of the soil rendered many square miles of country liable. ' The Ellesmere-Springs district was one of these. From the Selwyn river to near Southbridge, on the lake side of the Leeston road, there is a wide belt where cropping land was completely inundated. The heavy rainfall of a little less than three weeks, ago, approximating 4iin, gave wheat a saturation from which it had barely recovered when last week’s downfall followed. The total rainfall in the three weeks of this month approximated about Tin. The heavy character of the land makes the harvest later than in most districts, and when the flood came comparatively little of the wheat had been stacked. A visit yesterday by the writer to this area indicated that the flood has done much damage. The wheat is drying fairly well, although sprouting, mostly in ■an incipient stage, is revealed by an inspection of the stocks. In other cases the sprouting has developed to a green growth, particularly where the flood waters found a track. In cases the flood piled the sheaves up against the fences, but the bulk of the crops stood their ground. The debris brought down by the Selwyn is still clinging to the top wire of the fences, near the bridge, but it is mostly straw of threshed crops further up. One farmer near the lake rescued part of an exceptionally heavy crop of wheat from the road fences, and he had made use of the “long paddock” in putting it on its feet again. A good rousing wind would work wonders in the recovery of the crops, but even with the unhelpful weather that has prevailed since the flood some farmers are proposing to lead-in to-day, considering that the wheat will condition better in ■ stack. There will inevitably be much damaged wheat in the district, but farmers generally consider that the loss of wheat will be small compared to the estimate of the weekend. BARLEY GROWERS’ LOSSES The growers of barley will be much heavier losers than those of any other cereal. A fair quantity of the crop—probably between 25 and 30 per cent.—had been threshed before the flood, but it ig to be feared that there will not be a great deal of the remainder fit for malting. There is no recovery of the malting quality of once sprouted barley. As the Ellesmere-Springs counties grow more than half the

barley raised in the province, the loss sustained by the comparatively small circle of growers will be heavy. It was feared that the peas would be a total loss, but quite a number of farmers are pleased to find that a substantial proportion of their crops will be harvested with only moderate loss. The district is a substantial producer of both red and white clover —just on 3000 acres last year—and it is inevitable that much of this has been lost. Occasional fields of red clover are to be seen which have escaped the flood waters, but the prospects of more than a moderate salvage of white clover are not bright. Dog trial enthusiasts are notified that the 1934 result book is obtainable from Mr J. Trotter, Oamaru, and as the publication of the 1935 book depends on the support given to the last issue it is hoped that all interested will procure a copy. The book contains the 1934 South Island dog trial and the 1932, 1933, and 1934 South Island championship results, as well as other information of interest to owners.