SNOW ON WHEAT CROPS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24742, 6 December 1945, Page 6

SNOW ON WHEAT CROPS

EFFECT ON AUTUMNSOWN SEED

. The belief that snow assists autumnsown wheat by improving soil fertility was referred to by Dr. O. H. Frankel, Director of the Wheat Research Institute, as "the snow fairy when the Wheat Research Committee was considering his report on this season's crop. "There a ? pe ,*K? , t0 be nothing in the belief at all," he said. Autumri-sown wheat on heavier L an • suffered from water-logging during toe winter, and many crops presented an unthrifty appearance in the spring especially in Mid-Canter-bury-and North Canterbury, Dr. Frankel said; "The appearance d! these crops does little to confirm Jhe often expressed belief that snow benefits the covers by improving soil fer-

To a suggestion that the belief came from Canada, where. a snow cover was necessary to protect wheat from frost, Dr Frankel said that such a cover was not necessary in New Zealand where instances of wheat being killed by frost were extremely rare. .Conditions in the early part of September, when a great deal of spring ™ a ™ wa £ s T OWn ' were g° od > he added J.he North Island experienced broken weather in August and September, but an acreage estimated to exceed thai of the previous year had been sown. Cold weather and a well-distributed rainS.L in - oct ° ber had provided excellent conditions for spring-sown wheat, but ™^ 0U i ab « le con ditions for early-sown before the rain came this ?£. * i h S drymg of the soil had been aggravated by strong northerly winds.