WAIHAO TO WAITAKI.

Timaru Herald, Volume XL, Issue 2943, 28 February 1884, Page 8

WAIHAO TO WAITAKI.

The orop» on- the lotol plain botwaen tho Waihao and Waitaki rivori aro looking well, and on the rioli loamy soil nt the Wuihao end of tho plain art up to the average of any former y»»r. 'On the light, arid soil nfc the •oulhern end tHe wet seoaon hai be<n tnont benolloial, and tho orops are a great, deal better thun it Was thought auoh paoirioi) could produd*. The bulk of the crti'p Udo the »e»wjrd tide of tbe Tail tray line,, librae being oa\y one or two farmers living on tbe otbor tide. At tho mouth of the Wniba6 river the MaorU h»To übout 600 ivjrn lii wheat and oata, tome of ib boin'g good, %ni torn* inferior, owing to being pilt m lalo. Tho bcit of th» wheat, which is chiefly tmciiD, will go about 30 buehoUto the uore. The following

averages taken from tome of the farms hereabouts will give an idea of thegrain-produoing qualities of this neighborhood. Mr Q. Morton has m 200 ticres of wbeat and oats, nnd has made: a start to cut the latter The wheat, velvet ohaff, m tin even crop, and should turn lout about 40 bushels tt? the acre. Mr Campbell I is. busy cutting a paddook of velvet chnff wheat, whioh shown a prospect of turning out 30 bushels to the aore. He hat alao a fair crop of barluy and some Danish oats, whioh will go as high as 60 bushels. Mr F. Burke hat two pa-idooks of red atraw wheat, 200 acres m all, whiob is estimatod to yield from 85 to 30 bushels. One paddock is rriuoii more even than the other, but the wheat m both is well huaded. Mr Q. Aikeniiaad, who has 350 acres m grain, has a binder at work m a fair crop of barlej-. Hit oats and wheat are looking well, and willaverngi>Bs and 30 bushols respectively. Near the Wuihao railway station am two large paddooka of grass seed m stook, owned by Mr A. Mcljn&n. The land from thin point to the Waitaki river gradually diminishes m quality. Mr L. Price's farm, enveral thousand acr<n m extent, extends frim a point aome distance below tbo railway elation to the .Waitaki, and therefore oontains v&rious qualities of soil- On it are come 850 acres m wheat,: red Htraw. Though not heavy m the straw, and rather thin, it is re- j markably clean and well beaded, and shows every prospect of turning out fully 27 bushiils to the acre. 100 aorfle are sown m tartariaa oats, an average crop and estimated to yield 30 bushels to the aore. \ Turnips sown oa this farm bave not turned out a success. ■ Strange to say, where the soil is little but stones they have come on well, and oa . the good spots they have almost compUtoly failed. Between this farm and the Waitiki, Where stmrcely enough soil can be turned up to oover the seed,' the early sown crops are very fair. The straw is, of course, on the nhort side, but extremely well beaded, and th« crops will run from 15 lo 25 bushelH to tins acre. Some late-eovtn oaU are, however, ao light as to be scarcely north irattiDg. On the flat along the bank of tho Waitaki, m the dtreotion of Redolff, and about eight or ten miles above the main road, tbe. crops are good, though there is not a vary large area of them. Mr A. MoLeao has some 6000 aores of crop on his estate, m tbe hands of croppers. Xhis is on the downt, tbe wheat being clone to the homestead and the oats close to Kedcliff. The latter, of whiob there are 4000 acres, are not a heavy crop. Grass has been sown with them, 1 and thia is m places the heavier of the two. 'Xho wheat it chiefly velvet chaff, and it looking well. It is on ragged broken downs, with a warm, marly subsoil, and is mostly ripe. Blieht has shown itself ia this crop m some of the riper parts, but sot to a large iitent. A start has been raadn m thit neighborhood with cutting, and m a few days harvest will be m full swing. On tho Waihtii downs, through the Gorge from Waimate, there is bat very little Drop this year. Tho land broken up ia nearly all 4owa to grata and turnips. Mr Sfcudholme had a piiddock of tartarian oats, 120 acrei m nxtent, whioh will go from 40 to 45 bushels to the aore. Ha lias also 1200 acret m turnips, which are only 11 medium crop. Small birds tre very numerous m .thia neighborhood, and before the grain crops came out m ear, they turned their attention to the turnips. Mr J. Douglas has a.iimall blook of oats, which ;een from a distance hnvs a healthy green uppexraace. A imall paddock of oate cloa: to the Waibno Fotkt Hotel are looking well, and m a few days will be fit for cutting.