WHEAT HARVEST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23273, 16 February 1939, Page 11

WHEAT HARVEST

CANTERBURY PROSPECTS YIELD AND QUALITY VARY AVERAGE ABOUT 31 BUSHELS [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] CHRISTCBURCH. 'Wednesday Canterbury's wheat harvest this season is expected to yield an average of something like 31 bushels to the acre, compared with last year's return of 34.88 bushels. The harvest is now well under way, and in different districts there are marked variations in the yield and quality.

In a number of districts the disease known as "take all" is fairly common, and in two or three cases, at least, has caused the almost entire loss of the crops. A fair amount of straw has also been experienced. Mr. It. McGillivray, fields superintendent of the Department of Agriculture, said that in his opinion the next season's sowing should be greatly increased, and it was likely that the whole of the 250,000 acres necessary to meet New Zealand's requirements would be put down in wheat. With the uncertainty of the prospects for mutton and lamb, many farmers were turning to wheat, with its guaranteed price.

The Wheat Committee's estimate of the yield this season is 32.40 bushels to the acre. This figure has b.een arrived at from returns sent in by throughout the province, but it is considered by many to be too high. The position with oats is uncertain. A lot of the crop has gone into the stack, but it is fairly certain that with autumn-sown oats there has been a distinct reduction in the yield. Barley promises good yields, probably only slightly under last year's average. In Marlborough, however, a lot of the crop will be of only feed quality, as the barley there was badly affected by adverse w.eather in January and has not filled out well.