THE END OF HARVEST.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14141, 26 February 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE END OF HARVEST.

This week saw the harvest in South Canterbury practicallv ended. In fact it was When the rain gave place to fair wea- ! ther._a record in harvesting was put up. Probably never before has grain: been stacked aricl threshed so rapidly. A.fortnight/after the rain the whole, of the district was studded .wi h. stacks, arid, on looking over the land-i swipe one .cqujd not fail to be struck by the evidences of the expenditure of a vast/amount of [labour" in a short time. Everyone worked with a will. The labours of the. harvest paddock were not restricted to the sterner sex. A great many wives and daughters of farmers aided in the work, and it is safe/to say that not a few of them enJoyed the."novelty of their tasks. A few isolated paddocks of stooks are;all that is left out of the harvest, and the job has been done, counting out the rainy period, in record time,'and fully a month earlier than usinl "We..know now that it would have: been wed not to have been m such a Imrry to get at the stuff when the: fair weather came. A good, deal of grain was stacked in a radically unfit" condition, and some threshing was also done under similar circumstances. A little patience Tiould hare paid liandsomelv. There was perhaps some excuse for the haste' seeing that -\re had passed thro'ifdi an exceptionally -net time for the harvest season. But those who have watched the Canterbury climate for the past forty years said that the chances ■in favour of a dry spell Tiere very great, and do it has proved in this instance. A great deal of stuff that was "stacked before it was properly dry will h?ve to remam till the sprint, and some stook threshed grain tt ill hive to remain in for some considerable time. Reports concerning the amount of damage done by the wet weather are c onflictmg One cannot help thinking that in soma quarters there is an attempt being 'made "to cover up the of the damage, for -nhat puipose is not quite clear Fortunately some growers are intho same hanpv stitc as Mr C Bracken, of Albiiry, who was stated in last Saturday s "Herald" to have successfully saved 115 acres of Rpdchaff wheat m good condition It did not ripen till after the rain. 'Grain-growers on the heavj land near the sea coast, and some back on the hills escaped the best The earhpr districts suffered a good deal Crop standing uncut was sprouted, and weathered the Some stuff standing in well built stooks through all the rain were "found to contain a good percentage of undamased wheat. It'is. Riot N safe to hazard an opinion as to how much of the wheat of South Canterbury is more or les« damaged, but the percentage must be a large one, probably reaching, if not exceeding. 50 Some optimists scout the idea of such a proportion, but they are wide of the truth The idea seems to be to cover up the extent of the damage, under an impression that buyers will use bad exports as a lever to help them to obtain wheat at a Ipw figure But buyers do not lean much upon conflicting reports as -to the state of the harvest Their own senses of "touch, taste, and sight will .inform them of the true state of affairs. Some wheat is $o bad that the weight cannot be got into the bags, while other wheat has only a few sprouted heads m it.' The sample this season is small, and the yield is lesSj considerably less, than was anticipated. The weather was very dry for a long time, and when the rain did come the change vi as so great that in any crops were practically killed off. The average yield will not be much greater than 125 bushels an acre, a figure considerably below what was anticipated at the commencement of the season. There will be more wheat m the country try-than is wanted for local consumption, but the surplus will be far below what was at first anticipated. The London market must be the guide for prices here, and at present the shipping value does not figure out at -much more than Ss 6d per bushel for the best "wheat. There will most likely be more chick and •feed in the district than is wanted, and soma damaged, if thoroughlv dry, may have to be shipped Home to be manufactured into various commodities, starch for one. Oats are almost sure to be good property later on. The area js less than last year/and the ■yield considerably below what ifc «sually is. , The" dry weather in Southland must have affected the Oat crops there to their detrir ment. Two oafetanding. bits of farming practice haWfixtf] fhemselvesin th° minds of-grain-growers'this season. r The'one is:-Jkeep the sbjifS Stocked■'"wpgfter 'the bonders. The cmer^Hiufc*the/<rtooks'; j tip. well. Good, ere"** ed north "to sout\~'Moused injury tci muinNy iwfl. - -