IN THE WAIMEAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 2 March 1939, Page 6

IN THE WAIMEAS

DROUGHT CONDITIONS PREVAIL A PARCHED AND BURNT-UP APPEARANCE Owing lo the continued dry weather and to the prevalence through the earlier part of the month of strong southwest winds, the Waimeas now present a parched and burnt up appearance. During the past two summers scarcely any south-west winds were experienced nor was there any prolonged spell of dry weather. However, this year the law of averages has asserted itself and for days on end the country was blasted by hot sou’-weslers which left the pastures in a sorry state. FIRE DANGER The danger from grass and rubbish fires in the Waimeas is now very real, and it would be quite possible for great damage to be done if a fire once got out of control. Already there have been narrow escapes from serious results and in one case only a two hour fight in blistering heat saved several valuable stacks from destruction. HARVESTING COMPLETED Harvesting operations are now completed and the threshing mills are now I busy. The chief crop grown in the Wai- | mens this last season seems to have been barley and though In their earlier ! stages of growth the crops did not look too promising the bountiful rains in j December worked wonders, and some splendid crops resulted which owing to J the dry weather were harvested in j splendid condition. I The excellence of the Appleby land I has again been demonstrated by a crop j of barley recently threshed by Mr L.: ! H. Hammond, which gave the astonish- i Ing yield of 84 bushels to the acre from ; a field of six acres. Other crops in the vicinity have yielded remarkably well i but this seems to be the record for the district. PEA CROPS Earlier in the season this grower also took BC2 cental bags of green peas from a three-acre paddock. This means < that approximately 25 tons of peas were secured from the three acres, and that incidentally, the amount of wages distributed among the pickers would be £BO. However, most other growers i were not so fortunate, and the yield generally was seriously affected by the wet weather in the early summer. Quite a large area of peas had been sown for late picking to make up the shortage for canning purposes, but these crops are now more or less at a standstill owing by the irony of fate to lack of rain. ; POOR PROSPECTS FOR AUTUMN AND WINTER FEED Crops of turnips and other fodder crops are making no progress, while In many cases nothing has been sown as! no small seeds will germinate under I present conditions. Altogether the prospects for autumn: and winter feed are distinctly gloomy and unless rain comes very shortly farmers can look forward to a hard winter. TOMATO GROWERS SUFFER Tomato growers are now busy gathering the fruit but here again the crops are not up to expectations. The cold spring and early summer retarded growth and now the crops are suffering severely from the drought. Contracts were let lor hundreds of tons Of tomatoes for canning purposes but it is anticipated that there will be a consid-1 erable shortage in the supply of this popular fruit.