OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3419, 26 September 1919, Page 13

OUR CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL BUDGET.

(Feoh Our Own Correspondent.) A WINTRY SPRING. All over the island the weather during the first fortnight of September seems to have been unseasonable and wintry. Canterbury was no exception to the rule, and we have had worse conditions than existed at any time during the winter months. There have been several falls of snow in various parts of the country, with the result that the land has become very "wet, and the atmosphere has been extremely cold at times. Some sharp frosts have been experienced, and everything is very backward in consequence. The snow has been, very uncertain in its visitations. The first fall paid most attention to the front districts. .It was heaviest down-country. The foothills escaped almost altogether. The other storms were severest in the inland localities, though rain fell down-country. Luckily the snow did not lie anywhere for any length of time; it seldom does at this time of the year. The floods have been out everywhere, however, particularly in the creeks and smaller rivers. The worst floods .were experienced in the Marlborough and Nelson provinces, but the' perthern end of Canterbury also came in for a good share of them. Even in South Canterbury there was a considerable fresh in the rivers and creeks, and some of the delegates to the Dominion Conference of the Farmers’ Union, *held last week in Wellington, had some trouble in getting through to Christchurch in their cars. They found, the trains too slow and too inconvenient, and so they travelled by road, but they found a good deal of water about. The present tendency is for north-westerly weather, and we may now find that things will dry up too quickly. It will be a pity,if the weather, goes too. much to the other extreme, though we want fine conditions for some time to come. THE CEREAL CROPS. It is feared that the spring sowing will be a small one. The weather has been so unfavourable that comparatively little spring wheat has been put in, and most farmers will now decide that it is too late to do so. That is a fact very much to be regretted. The area of autumn and winter wheat Is by no means as large as it should bo, and it was hoped that we would be able to overtake some of the work in the spring. That hope has been dashed to the ground, and farmers will now concentrate their efforts to the growing of oats. The winter crops are not looking very well on the heavy clay lands on the flats. There has been too much rain for them. The grass grub is also in evidence, and many acres have been destroyed by the pest. One w.ould hav© thought that the wet spring would have played up with them to a considerable extent, but the pest seems to have weathered through and is a good deal in evidence. The fine winter no doubt helped the grub to hold its own to a considerable extent. Land tliat was ploughed out of the grass early in the autumn and put into wheat during the winter and the early spring seems to have suffered the most. Land that was in rape or turnips last summer seems to have got off the best, and it is a fact that is worth noting in future operations. Some farmers plough their grass paddocks up in the autumn or winter and then put them in turnips or rape sown as early as it is safe or advisable to do so. The roots and rape are then eaten off early in the autumn, say, during the latter end of January and the month of February and March, and then the ground is ready for wheat. Usually very little work is required to get the land ready for the cereal crop, and the plants grow very quickly, owing to the top-dressing of manure in the shape of droppings from the sheep that the land has received. If the turnip shells have been grubbed out, so much the better. The land is in really good order for any crop, especially for wheat. Some of the best crops grown in recent years have been in the manner indicated. The land is almost always under crop of isomo sort, and that is something that should bo aimed at these times. Much of the crop is now ready for stocking, but up to the time of writing it has been found to bo impossible to. get the sheep on to the paddocks, as the land is too wet. The roller and tine harrows will soon have to be used. Although the crops are not growing as fast as they should do, they are all the time creeping ahead, and the time for spring cultivation is with us. If the wheat and the oats can be rolled and harrowed fairly early in the season they do much better than when the crops cannot be touched owing to the state of the land. Most farmers now _ feed down their wheat in the spring, and it may in a few weeks got so far ahead that this is impossible. with the result that the crop grows • too much straw. Although wo do not want the land to become parched up with the been more or less blocked as the season adlook for a fine spell of weather that will allow us to get ahead with our spring work. THE LAMBING. The lambing was in full swing when the rain visited us last week, and it is to be feared that there have been a good many losses in the northern end of the province. The land was sopping wet for days, and water was everywhere. Lambs cannot stand that sort of thing. They will put up with a certain amount of wet, but continued rain means death to a considerable number of them. The snow that came did not do them as much harm as the rains which followed. Some of the lucky farmers had their lambing over when the bad weather set in, and they are congratulating themselves on their good fortune. It is not usually a safe thing to have the lambing in progress during the month of August; but for the

past few seasons it has turned out favour able in that month with the result that some aro getting wedded to the August lambing, (if course, the district has to bo one where the feed is likely to come away fairly early, as some green stulf has to bo grown for the ewes. When the lambing is early, the stock is got into the works in good time, and that has been a good thing in recent years, when the works have been more or less blocked as the season advances. However, in the majority of cases, it is not a good plan, to have the lambing earlier than the middle of this month, and a few weeks later in the inland districts. It is too early to say what the lambing will be like this season, but I do not think there are as many twins as usual. The owes are not in as good condition as they were last year, but all the same there have already been some losses on account of ante-partum paralysis. We shall have to make up our minds that we must give our ewes moro exercise when they are on the turnips. Ih° temptation is to let them feed without disturbing them, especially if there arc plenty of roots available. Even where there have been no roots there have been some losses, and some farmers are beginning to doubt if it is really too much feed and’ condition that is wrong with the sheep. No doubt exercise seems to help the animals, and those with twin lambs are the worst. A good many cows are now coming in, hut they aro not in as good condition as one would like to see them. Roots have not been very plentiful during the winter, and the grass has not come away as well as one would like to see it. The paddocks in many localities are still looking 'very bare, especially towards the foothills, where the frosts have been severest. There shou.d be plenty of butter about now, however as a good many cows have come in ae y. The shortage created much inconvenience while it lasted, and the Government was blamed for over-exporting. The real reason appears to have been. the. fact that there was a great falling off m the yield of butter-fat ever since April. p e°P-0 made a great fuss about it,but theie, some- satisfaction in knowing that the buttei went to the -Old Country, where it was badly needed. The rationing method seems to have been in vogue there for a IoH time and consequently there must have been a shortage during the greater period of the war. We had plenty all the time and surely wo do not begrudge - our kith and kin across the-seas a few wounds of butter, even if we had to go without ourselves for a few weeks. LUCERNE. There is a good deal of interest being taken in the growing of lucerne in various parts of the Dominion. , Some of the larger meat companies are doing a good work in experimenting with the crop. Xhe W oolsion. Tanneries, in Christchurch, are carrying out rather extensive operations m the growing of this fodder crop, and the Agricultural Department is also taking a hand. Lately an inspection of a plot at Darfield held, and very glowing reports reached the papers regarding the success of the crop out there. ; It was stated, that, some parts of the cron had attained a height of Idm already this spring, while the grass in the surrounding paddocks had baiely got a start. This report has been somewhat discounted since by others who have seen the crop; hut the fact remains that the lucerne was hold its own. Indeed, it seems to have made a good start, and even ,11 there is not much of it over a foot in height it is coming away safely, and should prove of va.ue.later on The mam fact that has been established is that it will withstand the frosts in the winter. There have been some severe frost lately, and still the lucerne seems to have come through safely though the, surrounding paddocks of feed were hanging fire. It is a pity that misleading statements should bo made regarding the crop. It takes, farmers quite a long time to make up their mines about anything new, and flattering reports that are afterwards disproved or disputed do moro harm than good. We have , a great deal of land that should be admirably suited for ®ie growing, of lucerne—lightish alluvial soil near the river beds that should be just the tiling for this crop. If every farmer would try a few acres it would soon be known whether the plant was o-omg to he a payable proposition in the South Island. It looks as if the winters are not an insuperable barrier. Lucerne is to he seen growing in the Mackenzie Country, whero barely a winter passed without severe frosts and some snow, ihe plant should come in very useful, in times of drought, when the feed dries up and we get into difficulties for the want of grass.