BEST WHEAT FOR SOUTHLAND

Southland Times, Issue 24106, 20 April 1940, Page 14

BEST WHEAT FOR SOUTHLAND

Analysis Made Of Crops

CROSS 7 VARIETY YIELDS WELL

The Wheat Research Institute each year analyses the threshing returns showing the varieties and yields from different districts, so as to advise farmers of their most profitable varieties. The counties of Southland and Wallace last year grew more than 300 crops, covering about 3000 acres. The average yield for the harvest of 1939 was 43 bushels per acre. One remarkable yield was recorded and verified by independent measurements of the area and count of the sacks. It was a crop of Cross 7 near Otautau, where seven and a-half acres yielded 112 bushels per acre.

The number of crops, their varieties and yields in 1939 were: Ninety-eight crops of Cross 7 averaged 48.1 bushels per acre; 191 crops of Tuscan averaged 40.9 bushels per acre; 27 crops of Montana King averaged 37.2 bushels per acre. These figures are higher than those of the proceeding year, but are approximately in the same order. Montana King, which used to account for about 100 crops, has fallen ,to 27, but a new supply of pure seed is now being built up and a new trial of the variety will then be possible. Cross 7 has done so well that it should be tried more widelv to replace Tuscan. Montana King should be tried again when new seed is available, and the new spring wheat —Taiaroa —should be tried for later sowings.