SOUTH CANTERBURY'S HARVEST.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13288, 17 May 1907, Page 2

SOUTH CANTERBURY'S HARVEST.

A GENERAL REVIEW.

(" Weekly Tress.")

From the reports from different districts given below it will hj? s-ten that our harvest this year was not nearly so poor as was nb lirsb 'anticipated, the crops in many cases- threshing out much better than appearances indicated. Although " thin .is some instances., and in others short, uie wheat headed and tilled well, and" the result is that we have nearly an average return. The threshing' returns given b.-. low indicate a general average for Canterbury of between 25 and 30 bushels of wheat per tiers*; perhaps 'nearer the. latter figure. '1 his being so, ■Canterbury'.'; harvest will .giw \vs somewhere about 4,'C00.CGD bushels of Wheal. This, -wiih the' 1,225.300 burfiels.. of last year's wh-sut on hand at March Ist,- gives us just about sufficient wheat for local consumption and .seed purposes to keep u>; going" till March Ist. ISOB. leaving the'wheat of the rest of the colony to come and gi: rpon, i.e., ihe return from about 45,00-j acres, which will produce, say, a. million bushels of wheat. It will thus be seen that there is more than enough wheat to keep us going, provided we do not get a very late harvest next year. ;The position is justsufficiently problematical to make the situation close and interesting, and no doubt farmers holding wheat arc .in a strong position up to a certain point. On-? tiling to be considered is that the quantify of seconds this year is•■ comparatively small, and it may be that this will complicate matters.

Oats all along have h;en looked upon as a sure thing for a high market, but from the threshing reports it is < ertain that- tlie Oovernmeiii estimate of March last will I. > hv 2.000.000 to 3.000,000 bush ds, Ivit as w, have in other anything from 14.000.000 to 20,000.000 for our home requirements, the oat position ir> sound enough, though not -quit;.' so strong a> previous reports tended to-show. The bar-I-.y crop, too, has turned out'better than was anticipated, and should give about 200.000 bushals more than «-a; estimated. 'J he Government thrc->hing returns aie published in June or July usually, but we may gvt them sooner this year, seeing the' harvest was very early, and it is very probvbT* that these will, vhow an in-cre-ise all rntinrl on the estimated figuie-n-j is usually the case. Th; reports from different districts following will give our le-rivs ihe mnt-'rinl upon which we base our report, and from their own knowledg: of local affairs they will s;e that we

have sptuvd no pains to give them accur;ue information. In South Cuntevbuiy the Avn.i'V wh at Was got into the ground on a good tilth and did w t -!l. The spring wluat, Jiowev. t\ suffered from the-drv and nor'-west weather. In the Pareora district there were some vtrv good crops of wheat and oat.% tiic- crop" in the Jpper Pareora. being better than those in Lower Pareora Most of the Upper crops yielded from oO .o ot> bushels oi wheat per acre, and oats from 35 to 40 bushels per acre. There were occasional small patches of 15 to 20 bushel acre crops, but to counteiact these were numbers of paddocks ridding 5U bushels per acir. The wheat ciops in Lower Pareora did not thresl) out as high as the Upper district, though the two districts would average over 30 bushels of "wheat, to the acre. In the Otaio the crops were not so good, but yielded on an average -nearly 30 bushels of. wheat and 35 buriiels of oats. In tfad Makikihi district the wheat crops were not so good as the Otaio. but the oat crops yielded much better, giving on the general run from 50 to 50 bushels per acre, and would average over 40 bushels. In Deep Creek, the wheat ran from 20 bushels to nearly 40 bushels per are, but would not average more than 30 bushels. The oats in this district were'more even, turning out from 30 to 40 bushels per acre, and averaging over 35 bushels, 'in the'Waihao di-.mct the returns are lower than almost anywhere else in South Canterbury. A number of wheat crops were e,it?n oil', and the general yield of those harvested ran from 15 to 30, and would average to the acre.' The few barh-y'crops grown in the district were very poor, giving about 15 bushels "to the acre. There aro some good crops of potatoes-bi-ing dug in the vVaihao and Pareora; districts averaging about 5 tons to the .acre. .Some crop:; are digging more, but there are a few lotten tubers' to be cast aside.

The crops in the Levels County were better than those in Waimate. About the Otipua" district there were -soma very fair, crops of both wheat and oats, one crop of IL'O' acres of wheat yielding nearly 40 bushels to the acre, another area of over 250 acres yielding 35 bushels of wheat. Some of the oats yielded 40 and 50 bushels to the' acre. Then again, there are '(he crops giving only about 20 bushels to the acre: The average yield is over 30 bushels of wheat and nearly 40 of ORts. In the Ciaremont district the oats would run our- about- the same as Otaio. The wheat, on the other hand, was very much better, and here were to be seen some of the best wheat crops of -South Canterbury, crops of 60 and 100 acres yielding up to 45 bushels per acre, the general run being about 30 bushels. The average would be • between 35 and 40 bushels over, say, .1200 acres. In the Seadown district" there were some very good yields also, and the /average would t>?. wed avtr 30 bushels to the acre of wheat. Some of the oat .crops were eaten off, and a considerable quantity chaffed, those that have been threshed have yielded from 55 to 60 bushels per acre, averaging abo ; tit 50 bushels. In the Waimataitai theie are not so many high, yielding crops, the ciops being more even, and running on -the-average .from 25 to 30 bushels per acre of 'wheat, and about 35 of oats. Hound about Timaru the wheat yielded from 23 to'3o bushels per acre, and the-oats not much over 30 bushels, a good deal, being chaffed. In Tengawai the, oafc crop was very poor, and would not yield 30 bushels, and the vj'-heat crop waw'very patchy, yielding 10, iQ. 30 and 55 bushels to the acre, averaging about 30 bushels. At Pleasant Point the oat crop was similar to Tengawai, a, good bit being chaffed, and the wheat crop iva.s very poor, some-of the crops being hardly worth cutting. -The average would not be more than' 25 bushels per acre. In the Geraldine County dhe, wheat on the whole was better, but the oat crop was worse. In the Mount' Peel district there is not much cropping-done, and the crops were poor, yielding only..about 20 bushels of wheat aiid 25. of o'ats.. . In Geraldine there were sonje very good crops and a'so some very bad ones, running from 10 to 40 bushels per _a ere of wheat, withan average yield of 60 bushels of wheatand 33 to 55 of oats. Round about Temnka- district there were some very good crops of wheat, and these are threshing out well. Some of the'-'crops havethreshed 50 'bushels and over to the acre, w-h.il°' there are numbers threshing out at 40. Of course there are poor crops- here too. and the average will be under 35 bushels per acre. The oat crop, however, is not so good, and will yield on the average ."rom 30 to 55 bushels-per acre.

In the Mackenzie there is not much cropping done. This country -suffered from, the dry weather, and although there were a few fair crops,-they did net return •nuch more than 20 bushels of wheat and oats on the : average. ■■