THE RURAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24970, 17 July 1942, Page 5

THE RURAL WORLD

By Rusticus

WHEAT VARIETIES YIELDS IN SOUTH OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND The best guide to the wheat varieties to sow in any district is. the Wheat Research Institute considers, given by the yields of the .varieties grown in preceding years. Unfortunately the threshing returns of any year are not available until all the threshing of that year is completed—say, in October—long after the next sowing has taken place. Thus, the yields of the varieties in the harvest of 1942 are not yet available. In 1941, however. in the county of Taieri, 2382 acres of Cross 7 averaged 43.43 bushels per acre; 194 acres of Jumbuck. 48.41 bushels: 87 acres of Hunters, 39.1 bushels; and 69 acres of Tuscan. 32.2 bushels. These figures, striking as they are, confirmed those of previous harvests, and show that one can hardly go wrong in sowing Cross 7 in the Taieri. Tuapeka, Bruce and Clutha counties grew in the aggregate 331 crops of wheat, and Cross 7 account tor 70 per cent, of the total. The yields are not so conclusive as in the case of Taieri. Two hundred and thirty-two crops of Cross 7 averaged 40.1 bushels; 52 crops of Tuscan, 41.4 bushels; 14 crops of Taiaroa, 36.6 bushels; 12 crops of Jumbuck. 45.7 bushels, and 7 crops of Hunters. 36.6 bushels. The average yield for preceding seasons indicate that Jumbuck has given some high yields in Bruce and that Cross 7 usually gives three bushels an acre more than Tuscan and four bushels an acre more than Taiaroa. It would seem that Cross 7 is suitable for general use and that Jumbuck and Taiaroa may still be useful for late spring sowing. Southland and Wallace grew 356 crops of wheat for the harvest of 1941, and all but eight of these were Cross 7. It must be assumed that the rapid spread of Cross 7 has been justified by farmers' observations.

In the harvest just past Cross 7 showed its characteristic of sprouting in the stook more than any other variety when the harvest is very wet. This is due to the very compact sheaf and stook which it forms. In Canterbury this is usually an advantage, because very wet harvests are not the rule, but if South Otago and I Southland harvests are usually to bo as wet as this one of 1942 was. then the close packing of Cross 7 may be a disadvantage. Whether this disadvantage is ) completely balanced by the early ripening of this variety is a matter that can I be settled only after trial in each particular locality.