Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH. 20, 1901.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9101, 20 March 1901, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH. 20, 1901.

OUR AGRICULTURAL AND 1 / PASTORAL INDUSTRIES. The unfavorable weather experienced during the last planting season must be responsible mainly for the disappointing statistics concerning this district's agriculture that we find published (much earlier than usual) m a Qazette just issued. The long spell of broken weather during which the ground lay cold and sodden made it almost impossible to plant, and that is doubtless why, and not because the farmers of the district have become apathetic to agriculture 1 , the cropping area during the past season showed such a remarkable decline. For instance, we find only twelve acres were sown m- wheat, (.he lowest on record for a number of years, and comparing very unfavorably with the 846 acres of 1898---99, or nvitli the 119 acres of last year. The falling off is the more to be regretted now that this cereal is at a fairly satisfactory price, bub we trust that values may keep up, and , that next season's harvest may see .fine fields of wheat m many parts of the district, so that Poverty Bay may regain the reputation which it held m. the early days— when the Natives cultivated large areas for export, and got splendid crops—of being a first-class^wheat-growing district. The product of the twelve acres grown last season" would not be sufficient to keep the small local flour mill going. It is not creditable to the district that we should have to depend so much on outside districts^ for our breadstuffs; but certainly the weather . conditions last season were remarkable. The barley harvest for the same season was a light one. The total area sown was 475 acres (306 acres for threshing and 169 for feeding), as against 559 acres last year and 1667 acres m 1898-99. There was one solitary acre of rye, cultivated for ensilage, as against 3d acres m the previous year. Oats fell from 1703 acres m. Cook Counfy last year to 1042 this, and m Waiapu from 182 to 174; but there is a consolation that six years ago there were only 352 acres grown m the district. Of the area m oats last season 196 acres was for threshing, 733 for chaffing, and 113 for feeding down. In Waiapu County they have apparently realised the usefulness of ensilage, for of the total there, 170. acres is described as being set apart for that process of storage. Even the maize crop was short this season as compared with last, though the yields were good. There was planted '1702 acres for 'grain, -purposes and 29 acres for feeding down, a, total of 1731, as against 2293 acres m. the season before. The figures m Waiapu County were 58 acres this and 150 acres last year. The maize-growing industry here has not reached anything like the importance it

has m the Bay of Plenty, where this I season nearly 10,000 acres were planted ' m this cereal, the areas m the respective i counties being : Opotiki 2874 acres, Whakatane 4060, Tauranga. 2766 acres. There j were six- acres said to be m peas, as against four acres the year before ; 168 acres m beans, an increase of 136 acres on the previous year ; 50 acres m vetches; 270 acres m linseed (5 acres last year), Poverty Bay being the largest producer of this seed, which is also grown fairly extensively m Ashley County and m Southland ; and nine acres m "other crops." Green crops suffered m a similar manner to groin, through the weather. Only 216 owes m Cook County were planted m potatoes, as against 359 acres m the previous year, and 780 acres m 1895-96, and m Waiapu County the area of the potato crop was 1&) acres, as against 255 the year before. We can safely predict that Canterbury and Oamaru potatoes will be m good demand before the winter is over. Turnips decreased from 1168 acres last year to 151 acres this m Cook County, but m Waiapu the area., increased- from 60 to 385 acres; mangolds decreased from 61 to 25 acres; beet from 18 to 10 acres ; carrots from 3 acres to 1 acre ; and "other crops" from 983 to 850 acres. The area sown m rape rose from 404 acres m the two counties to 605 acres. The quantity of ploughed land not used was 42 acres. . The area, of plantations is given as 216 acres m Cook and 12 acres m Waiapu County, whereas it was shown to be 265 last year, an obvious miscalculation somewhere, for the area is not likely to have decreased. There are similar discrepancies with regard to private gardens, shown at 129 acres, as against 137 last year; market gardens 26, as against 43 acres; and orchards 498, as against 516 acres. It is less likely that the. areas Lave shrunk than that the falling-off is due to the haphazard . manner m which the figures are supplied. Turning now to the pastoral industry, the statistics appear mqrfc-satisfactory and encouraging. The total area of land m grass m Cook County is shown to be 925,699 acres, and m Waiapu County 265,732 acres, a total of 1,191,431 acres. Last year the totals were given as 885,532 acres m Cook County, and 242,587 acres m Waiapu, an aggregate of 1,128,119 ocres ; so that, if the figures be correct, the increase of area m occupation during the year has been 63,312 acres. The quantity of ploughed land m grass m Cook County this season is set down at 39,182 acres, as compared with 24,743 m 1899-1900. Of this 34,887 acres is utilised for grazing, and 435,348 acres of surface-sown grass and 452,747 acres of native grass ore - also so used. The area reserved for hay this year was 1170 acres, as against 829 acres last year, and 4849 acres .were shut up for a considerable falling oil from last year, when the figures were 6349 acres. In fact 7 the grass-seed industry m Poverty Bay does nob seem to be nearly so flourishing as it once was. There were only 3573 acres of rye-grass saved for seed, as against 4411 acres m the two counties last year, and of cocksfoot 897 acres, as against 1917, whilst clover for seed shows an increase from 104 to 379' acres. Ten acres of grass, m Waiapu County was to be used for ensilage, but none m Cook County, though 29 acres was so utilised last season. . , . The grass lands of the district are by no means carrying up to their full capacity of stock, but still we find they are running one sheep to the acre; to be exact, 1,176,192 sheep, m addition to large herds of cattle and swine and droves of horses, the figures being 40,281 cattle, 5464; pigs, and 9229 horses. Compared with the previous year (the figures m the present sheep return being for April> 1900), there is on increase of 25,758 sheep, a decrease of seven horses, a decrease of 4582 cattle, and an increase of 3093 pigs./ The figures for- the respective counties are: — Sheep: Waiapu 315,049 (increase of 7400), Cook 861,143 (increase. 20,358). Horses : Cook 6372 [increase 316), Waiapu 2857. (decrease 323). Cattle: Cook 34,622 (increase 3711), Waiapu 5659 (a surprising decrease of 8293, which almost leads one to think that there has been a miscalculation somewhere). Pigs: Cook 2772 (increase 1542), Waiapu (increase' 1551); The latter figures seem to show that there is ample scope for the bacon industry m this district.