THE HARVEST IN THE BATHURST DISTRICT.

Otago Witness, Issue 82, 11 December 1852, Page 3

THE HARVEST IN THE BATHURST DISTRICT.

We have seldom reason to complain of too much moistuie in this aiid climate of ours, and still seldomer that such excess is injurious to the growing crops But "the unusual moisture of the past twelve months is unequalled in the history of the colony. So thoroughly has the earth been saturated by the constant and copious rains that the rivers, creeks, and water-corn ses have been constantly choked with floods, and the ordinary drainage of the countiy has been incapable of carrying away the water as it descended from the clouds. The face of the country has in consequence been converted for the time being into a vast bog, thereby completely checking all kinds of agricultural operations. Hundreds of aeies of ploughed land have been 1> ing fallow during the past four or fiv e months in different portions of the distiict, which were intended for wheat, and by the constant battering of the rain, the soil has become so solidified that sowing, vvithoilt re-ploughing, would be waste of labour. To plough again at this advanced period of the season would be risking both labour and seed, and with this impression many are leaving their wheat lands either wholly or partially without tillage; and wo believe that we are speaking within compass in stating that not more than half the bieadth of laud sown last year will be under wheat this.

Admitting the correctness of the above estimate, and we have not made it without extensive and anxious enquiry, and granting further that the lemaindcr of the season, up to the harvest-time, may prove as favourable as we could wish, we shall not reap more than half of last year's crop. But this is supposing too much. A considerable portion of the seed has boeu thrown into the ground whilst in a state of semi-puddle, and the land in consequence looks starved ond niisei able. In many instances it has burst and rotted, and the ground been re-sown, thus throwing the cropping so late in the season, that the chances of even a leasonable yield are very considerably diminished. There exists also the possibility of drought, blight, and hot winds, and should a visitation, by each or any of them occur, the sappy and tender "condition of the growing wheat would offer a very considerable resistance, and partial and total failure would be the result. In such a case, therefore, we should be entirely thrown upon the surplus of last year's produce, and scarcity, accompanied by famine prices, would inevitably ensue, even with our present amount of population. — Free Press, October.