NOTES FROM SOUTHLAND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1786, 10 March 1888, Page 3

NOTES FROM SOUTHLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN £ORRESPONJ>ENT ) Ikvehoabglcx, March 6. J*OF the last two mouths the weather has been perfectly urnnnyinable ; nothing bat rain, hail, and wnd and In oaee quence the ryegrass crop has been rendered all but worthless. A very large proportion was never oat, and what was put In'o atack does not pay for the threshing, the seed having been battered oat while m atooV. How some of aa who depend almost entirely upon this orop to meet the demands of our Uudlotda are going to manage remilns a mystery to us all The oat cop, on po - ridgy land, has also Buffered badly from the )at« storms, srme of it, I may eav, ia not worth cuttir g. On the river flita the crops at one time pomieed well, but now the reapiug time haa come many of the farmers hava found that owtne to the atraw having be«n h-u »ed by the heavy floods of January last, the grain has not rightly matured, and is so tbtn that the small birds In some instances will not disturb it, but I am eo»ry to say that wherever the grain is anyimy good, them winged pesta are to be foand at. work, and I have actually seen )a g* fie.'ds of oats I •> the vicinity of Flint's B i»h threahbd out to the last grain, le«vit)g nothing hot the Btr*w, which m now b lag nut far winter feed.. The Local Bodies have been acked times without number to aeaist m keeping down the nuisance, but hitherto no notioe haa been taken. Can it be that we have too many rnnholdera sitting m our Oouocl'b, whose aim it m<ty h« to cripple the amall farmer, render waste his land, and reconvert it into a> shrep run ? If this be "'', the object will be carried oat, aolesi the fa-mers bestir themseves and tftfce aome united aeon In the matter.

Some time ago I noticed a strange thistle growing op m several parts here, and to satisfy myaelf «a to it being what 1b known as the Oallforniari thistle, I sent to Ohristchnrch for a plant of th-> real weed, with the result that 1 am now aonvlncod that there are scores of acraa already covered with this noxious plant m Southland. 1 have f awarded the specimen to the Wallace Connty Council, together with an excellent drawing of the lame, to be kept thtra for the inspection of the publlo, and if you will allow m«, I will take thia opportunity to thank M Murphy, the secretary of the A and P AsioolttioUj Cbrlatchurch, and <\lr F. Ferrimaa, of yoar town, the former having kindly sent the articles mentioned, and the latter a small box containing either • specimen or a good imitation of what is known as the Colorado beetle, which is also on view at the Council's office, River too

A.t the time of my writing the weather is good,#nd grain catting has now become the order of the day, end labor bring cheap a very large proportion ia cat with the back deliv^y.