MIDDLEMARCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 26

MIDDLEMARCH.

_ Ffbruary Sl.— The weather continues very , dry. It hn^ been threatening to rain for weeks, but no vain of any consequence has fallen yet. The weither has been mobt favourable for tho • Work of the harvest fields, with the except on of one or two d.iys, and there exceptions did much good to grass aud turnips without gieatly irnpedi ing the operations of the fanners' busiest season of - the year. The fullest advantage having been ! taken of the seasonable weather, the crops in this -' district are practicaUj'-'aH cut, and I may say the 1 bulk of them stacked. On the whole, the crop 3 a;e fair, although nothing to boast of. The mill ; has not started work yet, .so I cannot say exactly what the yield will bo. However, it will be very much better than was anticipated a moiith or two ; wgo. The area iv wheat ivS small, but there are some f-p'eudid crops. I have heaul nothing of the Hessian fly in this diatrid, but f.nmei-q should , uo*; porclude from its non-appearance that it may 1 not pay them a visit sooner or later. I noticd in ; a fanners' circular sumo time ago that a number ; iif farmers have iaketi the piecautien to grow red < Tuscan wheat, which is piactically proof againpt . tbe fly. There are a few fields of turnips which \ will yield a fair crop if rain comes foon, but it i will need t > be very soon as, they seem to be quite j withered in places. I Rabbits. —Pollard -prisoning ia now tha order of ; the day. The sh^ep-rarmei-B in tho district are all i bu-y poisoning, trapping, dogging, etc . Jind this f must vecesaiinly affect the quantity obtainable } when catching for freezing begins. This is now ; looked forward to with high expc-cfaliionsi as. to I bulky cheques by many of our expert and novice ! traopers. School. — Our local school opened about the Ist of this month, after a six week*' holiday, which I am sura would be much enioyed by the teachers as well a* the little ones, who, I think, would en- ! joy holidays all the year round. Tre attendance j is not so large at present as it should be, ,sickne~>s s in some cases and probably harvest work in I others accounting for the ncm-attendance of & S number of the pupils. Mr Matheson and Mius > M'Adara, our teachers, are deserving of great j praise for the manner in which our school is : conducted, and thry are exceedingly careful and j painstaking in training their pupils, though we I have ttumbling blocks ia our midst. NevcrtLe- [ less we are certainly blessed in having good ; teachers.