RURAL TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15511, 11 January 1911, Page 11

RURAL TOPICS.

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL. Air A. T. Maiden,, of Lauriston,. has just completed threshing a crop of Algerian oats, -which went-.-twenty-six bushels per acre. The dairying industry in Ashburton continues to make satisfactory progress and the supplies of cream to the main factory are being well maintained. A few days ago tho output for one day was a ton and a quarter of butter. A hot, nor’-west gale which raged at Springs ton on Saturday and Sunday was broken on Monday by heavy thunderstorms, accompanied -by lightning and Tain. Harvest operations were temporarily interfered with, but it is believed that only slight damage was done. The hailstorm on Monday afternoon was specially severe in the Fernside and Swannanoa districts, and did considerable damage to the crops. The wheat was badly threshed, out, some of the crops now hardly being worth cutting. The peas, potatoes and mangels were also much cut aboutThe Hon G. J. Smith and his two sons visited the Ashburton Central dairy factory yesterday for the purpose of inspection. Air Smith considers the building and the machinery the most up-to-date in Canterbury, and he intends erecting a factory on similar lines on his estate in the North Island. Several farina have changed hands in and around the Hinds district of late. One farm at Ealing was sold last week for £9 per acre, while sevr eral on the Raugitn ta-Hinds Bridge Road have realised from £7 to £9 10s per acre. Six new buyers have taken up blocks on the banks of the Hinds River, and new residences, are being erected on most of them.

A good de.ul of damage was done to the grain crops at Ivirweo by tho strong north-west winds on Saturday and Sunday. Oats which were quite green were broken and smashed. As much as five bushels an acre is estimated to have been lost in some crops, whilst in the ripe oats some farmers estimate their loss at ton bushels per acre. A thunderstorm passed oyer tho district on Monday, accompanied bv heavy rain showers, .32in of rain being registered.

The contractors for the new road through tho Clandoboye Sett lement, are making good progress/, and hope to hare the road finished shortly, the Road Board having finished all tho culverts over the .streams; People who saw the Clandeboye Settlement when it was thrown open for settlement' nine months ago would not know it rifivr (writes the correspondent of the “Lyttelton Times’’). Most of the settlers have everted substantial six.or sevenroomed houses, and the best .fields of grain in the district arc to be seen .there. , Some of tho settlers have herds of fifty cows, and several of them have installed milking plants.

Tho Temuka and Geraldine AgricuL tural and Pastoral Association. hold a. meeting On Monday... The date of closing entries was fixed for March 18. A weight-guessing competition was added to the. programme.-Finance and ground committees were set up, and ten . new members were elected. Jumping for mounted corps was altered from sections to half-sections.. It whs decided to ask the Railway Department to stop the north and south expresses at the Show Ground on the day of the show. -This will be tho first show that the Society has held for ten years.

Harvesting commencedin the TV muka district on Monday, and indications are all in favour of a good average yield. Farmers were calling out about tho dry spoil of weather, but tlio only thing that will be affected will bb tho straw, the crops having headed well. In one. farm at Clandeboye a late field of oats and wheat oyer six feet high is to he seen, and yields.of forty bushels of wheat to the acre, will not be uncommon. One supplier at the local dairy factory averaged 35s for a herd of fifty cows last month, while another averaged £2 for a smaller herd.

Tho thunderstorm which passed over tli© city on Monday was experienced in' a. much move violent manner in various parte of. Canterbury, especially in the immediate vicinity of Christchurch, where considerable damage was done by the hailstones, which in many cases' were of quite exceptional size. At places around Yftldhurst, Templeton, and West Melton the storm broke with exceptional fury, being the severest within the memory of the oldest residents, and considerable destruction was caused to crops within the area swept by the storm, the straw in some cases being left without a pickle of grain in the oars. In most cases the area swept was not large, the track of the storm being narrow, but the destruction wrought within the belt was considerable. . The storm while it lasted resembled a deluge, and within a few. minutes the ground was either covered with hailstones, many of which were larger than pigeons’ eggs, or else under water.. In .low 7 lying positionn the water in some cases was more than a foot deep, while all the channels wore quickly converted into roaring currents.- and for a time t.he roads were impassable for pedestrians. Considerable quantities of. hailstones lay on tlio ground until the following day was wclT advanced. . The spouting on houses and other buildings proved quite inadequate to deal, witli the bail and water, with tho result that they overflowed, making , the condition of affairs very unpleasant for housewives. However, the storm was not -of long duration, although while it lasted it was 'unquestionably one of tho most, severe experienced in Canterbury for many years.

After a spell of very warm days, heavy showers of- hail and rain foil at Dunsandel on Monday, and. were responsible for- delaying harvest operations. Farmers are vary busy reaping, and harvest is in full swung. All the threshing machines have made a start threshing ©a.rly barley and oa.ts. So far .the returns have not been, very encouraging, but tho early barley 1 crop this season was. not expected to yield as well as in previous wears, lis the rain oamn too late to materially alter the yield. The later or spring-sown barley will no doubt, yield much better, and the sample will be much bolder. The wheat, crop generally is .cutting-up fairly well and should be a good sample. Mr N. F. TV right bad one paddock of barley which yielded fifty bushels per acre, while - another- paddock on the same farm threshed out thirty-five bushels per acre. Mr C. A. Wright threshed thirty bushels per acre of barley; and, further up tho Selwyn River. Mr .Tames Burgess had a yield of twenty bushels_ per acre. Nearer Rrookside. Mr "W. Walker’s barley threshed thirty-three bushels per acre. On the other side of the Brookside Road, Mr J. M’MiJlan had a vield of twenty-two bushels of early bar lev. On the lighter-land, in the

Bankside district, some early oats only yielded eight and a half bushels per acre. Although .the-yield is only a moderate one, _tho _pri.iV! offered for barley is good, oue farmer having sold at. os per busheLcm trucks. The potato crop is looking really well, and so. far no blight' 'has - made an" appearance. Rape, turnips, and mangolds are also looking well, and from present indications and - appearances there • should not be any shortage of autumn and winter foecL Most farmers have sold one and two drafts of fat lambs at satisfactory prices.'