OAMARU CROP PROSPECTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 9

OAMARU CROP PROSPECTS.

GLOOMY FOREBODINGS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) OAMAIIU, January 9. In all those localities that lie to the sun the cutting oi' crops has now become general, harvesting having been rushed on by the long-continued spell of dry weather and the all-too-frequent nor'-westers. Under these circumstances the yield, it is anticipated, will be but moderate, the crops being very patchy. When the winter grain was sown rain was plentiful, and the braird flourished in a most gratifying way, so that in some localities they were sufficiently advanced for the recent dry weather to do them comparatively little harm, as the ears were well-filled. There are, therefore, some very good crops of wheat, and particularly is this the case in the Upper Waitaki and at Kurow and Otiake, where winter sowing is the rule, and where the heat induces early maturity. Here the stooks stand thick in the field, and the ears are well-filled with the hard grain for which Kurow is noted. About Ngapara and Windsor, too, numerous good yields of between 40 and 50 bushels are anticipated from wheat crops already cut, but on the plains a different story is written. The stalk is short, and the grain is even shorter, so that it is not exceptional" to see cattle fattening on what, the farmer had purposed fattening his purse from. Oats have suffered to a greater extent than wheat, and that ominous white bleached appearance that portends the ear prematurely ripe is conspicuvs everywhere. Turnips, too, nre wilting for want of a refreshening shower, and altogether the general prospect is not at present a happy one.