HARVEST IN NORTH OTAGO.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14044, 29 April 1920, Page 6

HARVEST IN NORTH OTAGO.

results' disclosed by threshing MILLS..

AVe have been at some trouble to ascertain how both wheat and oats.have yielded, and what we have ascertained 'must be deemed eminently satisfactory. The harvest has been one or the best recorded in iNortli Otaf'o for many years, that is in respect to- the average yields per :iere. The unsatisfactory thing about the harvest is the comparative smallness of the area'sown and reaped. As will be seen from what follows, there has been great disparity in the returns per acre in both cereals, and it must be noted that this condition has been discoverable in almost every division of the county. It is necessary to premise that, while the actual products are indisputable, the acreage in the great majority of cases are mere estimates, and consequently only approximate.

Dealing first with wheat we may say that yields have ranged from as low as 15 bushels to the acre up to 80 bushels. These extremes are, However, exceptional. We find many returns of from 20 to 25 bushels per acre, a larger number of from 25 to 30 bushels, and the greatest number between 30 and 40 bushels per acre, and it is here that we get the general average. "What may be set down as,the" best yields in various localities are":—Bo Bushels an acre at Alma, 63 bushels at Georgetown, 60 bushels at Awamoko, 60 bush els at Teaneraki, 59 bushels at Totara, 57 bushels at Totaratahi, 56 Dusneis ju Weston, 55 bushels at Kauroo Hill, 55 bushels at Ngapara, 55 bushels on .the way to Pukeuri, S3 and 54 bushels at Duntroon, and 50 bushels at Kakariui. We are aware that many other returns of 50 bushels and over have' been reported from various localities, but we have not been- able to verify the figures, and they are not, therefore, included in the present statement. We hope, however, to secure more information shortly, and ultimately to be able to give our readers a fairly close idea of the total output of wheat in the county this season. In the meantime we may say that the figures be fo.re us represent fully one-half of the total area, and. that the average yield works out at a shade over 35 bushels per acre. •

Oats have generally threshed out well. Some few yields have touched as low as 30 bushels per acre, but these poor returns have been rare exceptions to the rule. Many more yields are found between 30 and 40 bushels to the acre, biit the greatest number occur between 40 and"so bushels, while a considerable number go much higher. The biggest yields in the several localities according to the verified information in our possession are . as follows: —114 bushels per acre at Totara, 114, 92 and 91 at Weston, . 114 bushels at Richmonds, 112 bushels .at Kauroo Hill,-91, : bushels at Pukeuri, 87 bushels at' Papa- * 82 bushels 82 ■• bushels-from a 'small area at; "Windsor/ 76'arid,73-bushels'at Georgetown, 75- bushels at.'Kakanui,- 74 bushels; at Maheno, 69 bushels'at Alma, 64-bushels at Ngapara, and ; . 62 bushels at Teaneraki. As in of wheat, we have heard of, but have not verified, other large yields of oats. The information we have gathered covers something under a third of the area of oats cut: for grain, and the average yield, over' the whole is nearly 50 bushels per acre.