CROPS IN THE MASTERTON DISTRICT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 62

CROPS IN THE MASTERTON DISTRICT

(From Our Masterton Correspondent.) The present season in the Masterton district has been an extraordinary one as far as farm work is concerned. One old settler of Masterton states that the weather at this time of the year is the wettest he knows of in nearly thirty years’ residence. Grass in the Masterton district is very plentiful, in consequence of the extraordinary rainfall. But owing to the rankness of the grass, sheep are not fattening well. In this respect it has been one of the worst seasons known in the district. There is considerably more grass than there has been for years past, but there is not much nourishment in it. However, for grass grown on shingly land, it has been a very favourable season. The area laid down in crops is greater than last season. The rape crop promises to he poor. The crop of oats is, on the whole, not as good as last season’s. A large amount of hay has been cut this season —more than in previous seasons. The weather was anything but favourable for the getting in of the hay, and cases are reported where paddocks of hay have been destroyed through the wet. Farmers in many parts of the district have experienced great difficulty in getting turnips to “strike.” This is probably due to the extraordinarily wet weather. In some instances turnips have boen sown no less than three times, with but little success.

In the Fernridgo district there is about 150 acres of oats and 100 acres of rapo laid down. No other crops have been sown. Both the oat and l’ape crops promise to be fair. Bad weather seriously interfered with hay-making, no little loss being occasioned. One farmer had a large lot of splendid hay on tn© ground, but owing to the continuous wet it was destroyed to such an extent that it was only fit for manure. On the Upper Plain there is a considerably larger area in crop this season than has previously been the case. The farmers in the district have of late been improving their property, stumping paddocks and sowing them down with grain. The crops vary a great deal owing to various causes. Mr J. Judd (Manaia) has about the earliest crops in tlie vicinity, and they will be fit to cut in the course of a few days. Among the best orops on the Upper Plain are

those of Mr D. J. Cameron. The greater number of farmers are going in more strongly for oats this season. Mr Georg© Richards has a very fair crop of bar lev, which is about the only crop of that kind about there. The continuous wet weather in the spring destroyed a great deal of the grain that was late in being sown. This caused a number of crops to be thin. Wild tares seriously affected a crop of oats belonging to Mr E. Yates, which gave promise of being among the best on the Plain. Comparing the crops as a whole, they do not promise to be nearly so heavy as in previous years. The sparrows and yellow hammers are doing a great deal of damage to the early ripening crops. The haymaking is not yet completed, owing to the delay caused by the wet weather. Among the best fields of hay on the Plain are those of Messrs H. Vaughan, F. Treader, and' G. H. \ates. Some of the hay still remains uncut, but the greater part of it is already in the stacks. If the other crops averaged as well as the hay does in quality, it would, no doubt, be a record season for the farmers. The orchards on the Upper Plain district do not seem to be yielding nearly so well as in previous years, and there is no doubt that there will be a great scarcity of plums as well as most other fruit this season. In a number of .orchards the gooseberries have got a kind of blight, and the leaves have dropped off the trees, leaving them bare. The raspberries seem to be bearing better than any other fruit, but a great deal of damage is being done to them by thrushes and blackbirds. At this period of the year the grass is generally very dry, but this season stock cannot keep it from growing tall and rank. The irrigation is a great improvement to the paddocks, as the old water-holes from which stock used to drink could not have been healthy for them, and may have caused disease among cattle and sheep. As compared with other years, there are not many late potato crops being put in this season.