HARVEST PROSPECTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 14

HARVEST PROSPECTS.

We (Christchtirch Press) were shown recently B sample, of Hunter's white wheat grown by Mr W. B. Goodwin at Ralswell and dressed by Mr George Thompson's (Prebbleton) threshing machiag. The crop, which followed peas, comprised 20 acres, and produced 1104- bushels, equal to 55 bushels per acre, which is an exceptional yield this season, and is proof of the excellent quality of the Harwell foil. The I grain is beautifully even and well filled, and j forms a really prime sample of milling wheat. The harvest work is making fair progress in South Canterbury, but the farmers have been greatly hampered by heavy ghower3. A great j deal of stuff is being threshed out of stook, partly because the binding is so bad that good stacking would be almost imjjossible i and stacks must be tbatcbed to be pecura. i It is reported that some of tho yields of j ■wheat fall a long way below even the low esbi- ; mates put upon the crops ab cutting. Some j have run as low as 4- bushel* per sere. The i grain on threshing is reported to be small bub sound and hard. Some of the oats are lifctle more than chaff. The crops in the AlburyPairlie district are reported to be fair lor the season, probably averaging 20 to 25 bushels. There is no great area in grain this ssasoa in that quarter. Mr Godwin has a fine paddock j of wheat near the township of Fairlie, estimated to yield 50 bushels. Oats are light, aud an average of 20 bn-hels is looked for in the district. Hurnipsare reported to be doing well in that locality ; indeed, the turnips look healthy over the whole district, but in man3 7 of the paddocks they are wofully thin. Tfce ahowers of last week have pub a pleasant tinge j of green on the pastures, which, however, could sband a good additional soaking. The AshburtOH coireßpoodent of the Press j writes : — "The weather has again cleared, aud i harvest operations are being continued without i interruption. A lob cf threshing haa been done, and never has it been so difficult; to form the merest approximate estimate of what the general average' for the whele county is going to be. I know of a number of instances in which the average i* varying"from three to ten bushels per acre. One farmer had got through a good deal of his threshing on Saturday, and he came to me with » very dolaful tale. His land is of good quality, and in any ordinary 1 season he has been able to reckon on at leasb from 35 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre. This season his average is a f. action over three bushels. Others in the some district are getting from nothing (having had to fetd off their wheat) up to six, eight, and ten bushels per acre ; ten bushels being considerably above the i average for the locality this s^aqou. But, ou • the ether hand, there are parts of the Ash- I burton district which can show a much more cheering record. I was in the Prebblebon district on Monday morning, and was shown a 22-acre paddock from which an average of 42 bushels per acre of dun oats had been threshed.'" The Waihao correspondent of the Oamaru Mail writes: — "Harvest is about finished, as far as cutting and stacking are concerned. A ! good denl of threshing is also done, ia many | cases with results a long way below the estimated 20 bushels of the Government statist;, j Samples will moreover suffer from shrivelling j and unf qual ripening. Grass ia in a bad way, I and unless copious "tain comes soon there will be no winter feed at all." The crops in the Dunrobiu district are lookIng remarkably well (says the Tuapeka Times). Harvesting operations are expected to commence in about three weeks. Harvesting is well advanced, and most of the oats are in stook (says the correspondent of the Pslmerston Times). lam pleased to reporb that crops have burned oub much better than had been anticipated. Wheat and barley in the great majority of c*ses fall considerably below tbe average. Oats is the crop of the season here. Eraser Brothers have a splendid crop, which it is estimated will yield 80 bushels per sere, while the average will run at 40 bushels. On light lands and exposed places the yields will not exceed 15 to 20 bushels. Considering the bad season tho crops must be considered highly satitfac'ory, and will compare favourably with those iv oth»r parts ot the colony. In the immediate vicinity — Hyde and Maniototo — the harvest will be an utter failure, and the outlook is somewhat serious for the farmers in that district. Harvesting operations in the vicinity of Outram are well forward (says the Advocate) On jieveral farms the cutting is finished, aud the farmers are now busy stacking. One, indeed, is even further advanced than that, as Mr James Dow, of Cirlowrie, is busy thrashing From the etook. In other parts of the district harvesting is now iv full swing. Harvest operations are well forward on a few farms in West Taieri, near Outram. Several farmers have finished cuttiDg and are busy leadiDg in and stacking-, and Mr James Dow, Carlourie farm, is threshing oub of tbe stock. The early crops in gome places in the vicinity of Outram were considerably shaken by the late heavy winds, and the orchards where they were Sit all exposed were stripped of fruit. The Clutha. Leader correspondent states that harvesting wa* commenced in the Lovell's Plat district last Wednesday, but will not be ganeral lor fuily a fortnight yet. The cropa on the whole ere promising fair, especially wheat, which should give a capital return. The Hessian fly is showing in the latter, but not to a serious extent. Small birds are proving exceedingly destructive in the earlier paddocks.

The crops now are ripening fast, and the uifcense green of a few weeks ago is beiiig replaced by variouß shades of tellofy (*ays the Bruce Herald). The grans crop is almost all in the afcook, jind ah Southbridge a number of pad docks of wheat and oats have already been cut. la itcother w( ek, if the wu&Hier holds good, harvesting will be pretty general all over the pl&in. It; will bo fully h mo'j'h br-foro there is a general harv-fil on lbs Inch-Clutha (says the Brace Herald correspondent in the district). I Th** crops are filling wel', and with the excop1 tion of one or two farms, should the weather I prove good, there will be a very bountiful I harvest. The harvest prospect is not too encouraging this year, and the probable yield of grain is hard to arrive at, because ib is only in sheltered places that the crops are sood, w:sile those oa exposed places are very light; indeed ; bat the returns, though harvested safe, will be below tbe average, and the harvest fully a month later than nsuxl (says the Ciutha Loader correspondent at Clinton Gorge). Turnips in rainy instances r.re almost a failure, partly owing to the fly and p^rtlv to ihf) cold, howling wind?. The potato crop, too, is poorer than in former year?, and already sarao of thosr growing ou low-lying land are aff :c < -e<? by frost, though nor ' to an ex'enl that will retard further growth oi the tubers. | The wet season has had a bad effecb on tbe j crops at Mat&ura Island (*ays the Herald), j Grass has been hare and turaips and oats btek- j ward ; bat the last few days of warm weather j have had a most beneficial effect, and the oat 3 ] have made a wonderful ree^vfrv. If present conditions conbinu*, a fortnight will see the ; harvester? at work pretty generally. On the ; 17ch Mr T. Rankfn cut a paddock of oats for chaff. Tiie Malßura Ensign says that eight binders have been at work in a crop of wheat at, Riversdale, wh'ch is expected to go 60 bushels to the acre. The ."oath is evidently the best farming portion of the colony, for «ye rarely hear of 60bushel cop^ norbh ot Dunedin. The Bruce Herald states that last week the harvesting of the oat crop started ab Akatore and at Taieri Bescb. Notwithstanding the bad weather this crop on the coast is expected to run from 35 to 40 bushels per acre. The North Ocago Times spates tha% Mr Norman Lane threshed out 27 bushels of wheat to the acre on his farm *.fc Pukeun. Oje paddock went as high as 36 bushels.