OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3399, 7 May 1919, Page 10

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

■/ (From Our Own Cobrespondent.) ENJOYABLE WEATHER. The weather scorns to be on its best be"haviour, and.it is consequently very pleasant indeed. Ut course, at this tune of the year one must expect eliilly nights and occasional cold "days, especially when a wind gets up, but there is very little indeed to complain about. Frosts at night are not as common nor as severe as they were a few weeks ago, and there has been no rain at all. Nor'-westers have been prevalent during the last week, and they have again dried up the country, but as it is now too late for the grass to grow that does not matter a great deal. The sunshine in the daytime is perfectly delightful. It is not too hot, and one can work in it, or, on Sundays bask in it with perfect enjoyment. The nor'-westers when they blow are unpleasant, and one appreciates the calm weather when it comes. Soldiers have _ told me after their return that they missed the Canterbury sunshine when they were in the Old Land and on the Continent. They are positive that there is no better climate in the world than that which they left behind them when they went away, and they aro very pleased to return to it. On the other hand, a resident of the Old Land who lived for several years near me told me that he found the continual sunshine most trying and decidedly monotonous. One must bo brought up in the sunshine, it appears, to he ablo to appreciate it at its proper worth. For my part I cannot get too much of it, and I would not like to live in a climate where it is an exceptional boon. For the past month or six weeks we have had an average of about six days a week of sunshine, I should think. THE COUNTRY. Teams may be seen making the most of the fine weather, and farmers are everywhere busily getting on with the deep ploughing. It is evident that there is going to be a fair amount of wheat go in. andtho land is turning over, very nicely indeed. a It could hold more moisture" than it contains at present, but the trouble is that if rain comes we may get too much of it. We would rather bo content to have the land on the dry side than to have it too wet, or to experience damp conditions at the present juncture. Of course, most of the grass land is too dry to touch just now, but that does not matter much, because the fallow land and the stubble Is taking up all the time of the men and the teams. The drill has already commenced operations, rnd the seed as going in very nicely indeed. There may be too many lumps to satisfy the minds of some, but in the opinion of most grain-growers it is not advisable to have the land too fine. The lumps can be dealt with in tbe spring after the rains and the frosts of winter have softened them down considerably. Indeed, the lumps give the plants a certain amount of shelter, and are therefore useful in the winter months. It is to be hoped that the autumn seeding will be a fairly extensive one. The present month is certainly the best time of. the year for the sowing of wheat, and the sooner the seed is put in the better. There is a prospect of r.he weather continuing fine for some weeks, though Mr Wooles, our Canterbury weather prophet, considers that the _ probabilities are in favour of a bard winter. Usually sowing continues right into the middle of June, and if the weather lasts as fine as it is now till the time we shall not be so badly treated. We must expect something in the way of rough conditions before the winter is over, but we would like to get through June before real winter conditions set in. Then they cannot last long, because spring is not far away. The wheat situation is not very reassuring as far as the next season is concorned. We were promised a fixed price with a differential rate, but so far there has not been any definite pronouncement on the matter, and there has certainly been nothing gazetted. This matter should have been fixed ue long >ago, in the month of November at the very latest. The Government right through the piece does not seem to have realised the necessity for early action in this matter. If summer fallowing is to bo done a commencement should be°made about the beginning of November, and continued right up to harvest-time, the teams boin2 put into the work whenever there is nothing more important to do. But hero we are in the beginning of May, the main sowing month of the year, and nothing definite has been decided upon. Indeed, the state of this autumn make farmers very doubtful if the Government is capable of handling the matter without making mistakes. There has been a good deal of dissatisfaction owing to the fact that the millers _ have not been very free buyers for some time. They have been picking up the good wheats, such as Velvet and Pearl, as quickly as they have been offered, but solid straw and Dreadnought they have been passing over. Some farmers who could not wait for their money sold their lower grades of wheat as fowl wheat at several pence per bushel less than tho best varieties, and naturally there Ims been a good deal of complaint about th*e matter Of course, tho Government in the first instance should have fixed a differential price, and they should have arranged to buy the wheat when the millers could not or would not do so. Those.who have sold at reduced prices are very pronounced in their condemnation of the Government's management of tho wheat question, and they say that they have no faith in the future management of the crops. _ It is a pity that the" wheat-grower is so dissatisfied with the whole position as regards his industry, since the beginning of the war. It will take a good deal to revive his faith in the matter. The season just closed has been a good one for the wheat-grower, and he has made up for the poorer seasons to some extent, but the one hitch in the matter has been the failure of the Government to make provision for the taking over of the wheat at the maximum price as soon as tho farmer was prepared to sell. Some of the returned soldiers are going into the cropping as soon as they return. They can see that there is money in it if the Government will only fix a fair price and the crops are passably good. It is not well to havo all _ one's eggs in one basket in a climate like Canterbury, and certainlv the stock position this autumn is not without its drawbacks and its unsatisfactory features. LIVE STOCK.

The fme_ weather has been just the thing for the live stock on the farm, particularly the sheep. The grass is not as plentiful as it was last year, but it is of good quality, and will last for a couple of months

if the weather is good. The paddocks do not look bare yet, and the teed is sweet and h ood. Unluckily, the rape is done, and the lambs are not all away yet. indeed, they are getting away' very slowly! ihe works are not going at top speed owing to the lack of butchers. In any case, there is not any great desire, apparently, to keep the works working at lull pressure. There is some space left in the Canterbury works, but it would very soon 130 mied if the boards were manned with a lull complement of butchers. The ships arc not coming to take the meat away fast enough, and consequently there is no need t 0 mc ? re than keep steadily going. Iho price of fais has fallen in the yards, and farmers arc seeing their lambs picked U P.... y speculators and others at several shillings per head less than their proper value, and put into the works, where they evidently have space booked. It is not possible to spare many turnips for the lambs, as most of 1 the roots will be required for the ewes in the winter months. The rape and stubbles arc done, and there does not appear to be anything for it but to leave the lambs go back in condition if the position does not improve during the next few weeks. Of course, prices wll recover somewhat in the spring, when the feed_ comes away again, but the goslow policy at the works and the partial failure of the turnips mean the loss of many pounds to Canterbury farmers. Wo would have been fairly well provided for if the markets had not been flooded with importations from Southland and the North Island. Those who brought sheep in from these two quarters overstepped the mark, and some of them have lost a good deal of money over their venture. It is doubtful if there is enough feed being grown in any case in the country. There are dozens of farmers who grow no rape at all. They sell forward, arid make no provision for fattening their lambs. It is doubtful if many of the forward buyers make any provision for feeding and fattening their purchases. Lost year many a of them made a small pile by selling their purchases early beore taking delivery. Fartmers found that they had sold forward at several shillings below the price at the time of delivery, and they were so disgusted that they decided to hold this year for themselves. They have been disappointed, and it does not look as if there is going to b© much improvement before the spring. The ewes are in good condition for the tapping, though there is not a great flush of feed for them. The dipping is over, and the sheep work is slackening off considerably. There is some, crutching to do, but there is not a great deal of footrot to be dealt with this autumn. • GENERAL .WORK. The digging of the potato crop is now being pushed on. and the fine weather is just the thing for the work. The land is dry, and the tubers are coming up nice and clean. There is litifie danger of frost injuring the potatoes in the bags just yet, so that one can go straight ahead and get several days’ digging done before carting the bags off the ground. On the heavier land the crop is barely ripe Enough for digging yet. Gamekeepers and Sootias are generally grown on this heavy land, and they are later than most of the other varieties. On the sharper land the crop is now nearly all out of the ground, and it is surprising how good the crops are and how free they are from blight. The price, too, is quite a satisfactory one this season, running at about £6 10s a ton on trucks. Thrashing and chaff-cutting are now well forward, the season having been good for both operations. The stores are getting full of wheat, and carting is still in full swing. The roads and the paddocks are in better order than_ they have been all the year, and travelling presents no difficulties. The stacks, too. are in good trim, and there js no waste. Although the crop* have been good all round, it must be remembered that the area is considerably less, and the probabilities are that there is no more wheat in the country than- there was at this time last year. The approach of winter is ;seen in the fact that cows are now being covered, and some of them are already receiving allowances of roots night and morning. It is certainly, time that the covers were used, as the nights are getting very nippy, and when a shower of rain comes it is usually very cold indeed. It must be remembered that <the hills got a covering of snow twice last month, though now all the snow has disappeared, and the hills are as clear as they have been at any time this season.