THE DRY SUMMER.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 24 March 1924, Page 6

THE DRY SUMMER.

WHAT IT HAS MEANT TO CANTERBURY. DESOLATION AMONG THE FARMS. (Written, for the “Daily Advertiser”) The desolation that the dry weather of this summer has wrought among the farms of Canterbury is appalling. During January only 2.10 inches of rain fell, and the pastures revived somewhat during two or three weeks of overcast conditions. February was not at all liberal in the amount of rainfall, only 37 points falling, though the month was more free from scorching nor’-westers than was January. • North-easterly winds and overcast skies kept the atmosphere cool during many days. These conditions, however, while protecting growth from the hot sun, did not lend it any nourishment.

Rape and Turnip Crops. At the beginning of the spring the optimism prevailing because of the high prices for wool led many farmers to rush in feed for sheep and lambs. The grass became well established, but the hot weather for the last four months has withered much of it off at the roots. The rape crops did not receive much encouragement. An occasional night’s rain freshened them up, and started another period of growth, only to be followed by perhaps a fortnight of withering nor’-westers, with no rain to cheek the insect blight which such a drought would leave on the plants. The crops have provided little succulent food, and are, generally speaking, failures. In the better class of land, of course, the moisture-retain-ing powers of the soil have helped the crops along, but they are not what they should be. The turnips have travelled the same road of ruin. Small parched leaves and dry, uninteresting bulbs show only too well the effects of the abnormal season.

Difficulty of Ploughing Lea. There has been little feed on the stubble lands, and most of these have been ploughed up again for cropping It has been next to impossible to turn over grass lands owing to the very hard nature of the subsoil, and the consequent strain on animals and machines. Skim ploughing has become a back number for the season, as the ground has been too hard to keep the plough in. Much of the twitch for the destruction of which the skim ploughing is carried out, was,however, kil-, led by the drought, along with some of the pasture. The results of the dry spell are to be seen in the lessened amount of cream forwarded to the dairy factories, the cows having dried off many weeks before their usual time—this month. The number of store lambs penned as stores during the last two months (prior, of course, to the rains of the last week or two) tell their tale only too well. The proportion of stores to fats has increased greatly, and out of ratio with other seasons. All stock has Shown, a falling off in condition through the lack of paddock feed, and, in some eases, through races or creeks funning almost dry.