HARVEST PROSPECTS IN CANTERBURY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1021, 10 January 1911, Page 8

HARVEST PROSPECTS IN CANTERBURY.

A GOOD RECOVERY,: ... The-following extracts as; to'" the pros-' pects for next Harvest in Canterbury, are - taken from an exhaustive' renew published in a.-Christdiurch journal. it states that under favourable meteor'olo-, . gicar conditions for,- tho ingathering oi .the crops tho harvest in North Canterbury p.romires Ho, .bo in some respects,more satisfactory than last year's;- ■although the average, yield of cereals will ibe.a Jittle under vtnb''l9lo 'return* rt-Jii •casttol glance ever' the - fields' gives- au l 'Uipressiou • that the : wheat' is entirely •satisfactory, but a close ' inspection ' re-veals-that there are fewer heads'to the ■square foot than usual. The oats suffered most from the dry spring,- and the,crop will be-a light one. in most parts -of the Ashley County,, and in many cases • the return will only, fill-the farmers' own requirements for -feed. Barley is very 'little-grown, but the. few t : rops to' bo .seen aro of-good colour",and promise to yield satisfactorily. Potatoes aro in a • flourishing • condition,. - arid. up -to the present there , are; no; sighs . of "blight. Caterpillars- have again ■-made : their ap--pearance in- some localities,' but as yfit have not done-any- serious amount' of ■damage, .their attention-: having been chiefly . bestowed oh the - grass seed and wheat. It is questionable,whether wheat will yield thirfy bushels per acre, twentyeight -being perhaps the safest figure to giye; and oats can hardly be expected to Teturn, more, than twenty-six bushels, the ■bulk of the crop being stunted and light in the heads. In tho Courtenay district the prospects for ah average harvest have greatly din-, proved during, the'last two' months, the Tain -.'which fell in . November, although ■too late for the early oat crops, having done, an immense amount of good to the later crops. ' Oats which were drilled late in ,the spring appeared at one time to bo worthless,-but since the rains they have 'made a wonderful recovery and mil now yield well.. Wheat suffered-less from the dry weather. . On the heavy land thero will be yields of wheat as high as- 50 bushels per acre, while on the light land the yield will probably in some cases -bo as low as 10 bushels per acre. There have been complaints from farmers of an insect which has cut the' oats stems just above the, ground. Late rape and mangels" have been , eaten off in the samo way. Caterpillars are also reported to bo- making their appearance in- some lo'calities;-- ' - . ■In the Tcmuka .district in respect of acreage, failing" definite •-information, it is 1 generally ,cousidered that the area under cereals is very nearly, equal to that-of the previous season. Of this area tho greater part is devoted to wheat,-oats not having been grown as extensively ns usual. Tho area under barley is probably about tho same as for. several years.'. There can bo no doubt that some wheat crops will yield particularly well this year, but some will certainly not thresh according to the 'appearance they •'present to-tho casual observer.. It will .bo disappointing if the average yield of wheat all oyer the district reviewed is less than 36-bushels pel- acre. Oats will probably yield between 50 and CO bushels. In tlie . Cheviot district' farmers are now busy reaping, and as far as present prospects go, tho yields .will bo equal to last year. - Tho area, under crop is not quite as great,' but some farmers, consider they have never had better crops.' Signs -are not wanting that the present'is one of tho earliest seasons experienced in S6uth Canterbury for maiiy years'."'.-At' Lambrook near Fairlie; a pad<lock of Tuscan wheat,' - sown in .April, was cut on December 31, -and on Mr. Irving's farm .at. Albury, a crop was cut on Boxing Day. Mr. F. R. Gillingham has a paddock of Bordier wheat which he expccts to yield 50 bushels, and tlio general average for the. district in both .wheat and oats he puts down at 30 bushels per acre.