SOUTHLAND NEWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1439, 23 December 1886, Page 2

SOUTHLAND NEWS.

(FRO M ODE OWN CORRESPONDBNT,)

Christmas is again close upon ns, and xotwi'hstanding the hard and pressing imea stil< prevailing, I understand that the various sports wiil be carried out in ho usual style. Our local athletes are n full swing practising, and, according to reports, are performing wonderful f at*, jld ki'ts are being overhauled, ns well as Md bagpipes being brought into repair, much to the annoyance of tome of out number ; and if practice on this most iurbarnus lastroment will bring profic'enoy, I feel certain that we shall have *"ina of the finest pipers in New Zealand.

Dari g the latter part of winter and the whole of spring the weather has been everything that could be desired, and the crops, though somewhat battered and checked by the recent storms, everywhere present a most promising appearance. This month commenced with one of the roughest days we have had hole for a long time. Straw stacks were blown over, contractors' tents tamed outside in, houses antoofed, and in one Instance a settler in the Forest Hill district got the lean-to of his dwelling levelled to the ground. In fact, it was one of those days when people were hardly safe either indoors or out, and we d > not wish to see many like It. For the last three weeks I most say that we have had all sorts of weather, including strong westerly winds, aoiompan'ed with heavy showers of rain, hail and sleet, causing some of onr rivers to again 'overflow their banKa, bat not to each an extent as to do mnoh damage, except in some instances where turnips were newly sown. Tprnlp sowing has been at a standstill for nearly the whole of this month, and those farmers who had their guano sown before the bad weather commenced are no doubt getting very arxlous by this time, as it is generally admitted that all seeds should be sown either with or immediately after the gnano is distribnted. Chesterfield and Maldon Island guanos are largely used in Southla’d, and fr m experiments made by myself, I can venture to say that by applying, say from one to two owt to the acre, good turnips can be grown even In the poorest soil, so long as the laud is dry. The amount of land under wheat this year Is again very limited, perhaps, not enough for oar own consumption, while barley has almost become a thing of the pa^t; but I bebeve the oat cr p to be slightly on the increase, and as Southland Is so eminently suited for the growth of ryegrass and timo hy seeds, i notice that very many of our armors have set apart a larco proportion of th-ir holdings for the production of these grass seeds. Ryegrass, as a rule, is ripe here about tbe middle of January, ai d the timothy •bout a month later, and as wag«s are likely to be high this season, a few improved grass strippers would, no doubt, be readily tsken up. The potatoes and turnips already sewn are doing uncommonly well, while the grass on our pasture lands exceeds anything I have ever seen here before. Our bntch -rs are now supplied with good fat mutton at about Id per ib, and yet thoy h*vo the conscience t • charge, even the unemployed, from 4d to 5J per lb. Shearing in the W astern district is genera!, but la not progressing aatlaftctorily. owing to the unfavorable wnath :r above mentioned. H iwever, at "he lime of my waiting tba weather has eve.y a pasrauce of cutting up for gord O. E Southland. December 18''i, ISS3-