AUCKLAND-GROWN WHEAT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2236, 25 September 1889, Page 2

AUCKLAND-GROWN WHEAT

Not long ago we drew attention to the fact that a gold medal had been awarded at the Paris Exhibition for a sample of Aucklandgrown wheat, exhibited by the Auckland Roller Mills Company. Limited. The wheat sent to Paris, and which was so successful, was of the Tuscan variety, which is looked upon by those who know about it as a very big item of export from this province m the immediate fuiurc. Tuscan, or leng-berried, wheat is. valued for the pe:u|iar properties it posses for mixing with other wheats, though it is not used by millers by itself. There will always be a demand for it m Australia, and m England it is also liked, and a certain amount of it would be always saleable. LocnJ millers also use a proportion of it, and as thjs wheat is grown to perfection m the Auckland province, bar accident from rain m harvest, it follows that it should be a sort of sheet anchor to farmers. The white variety is pronounced to be delicate, but the red is a hardier sort, and not so apt to be damaged by w«t. In the Waikato district Tuscan wheat will always be grown largeiy, as it suits the fanners there to steal the grop, &s it were, intermediate between a crop coming out of the ground at the previous harvest, by putting m turnips and feeding them off with sheep, and sowing the ground m the spring with the Tuscan ; hence, it suits them better to grow this than any winter variety. From the milder nature of our climate m the immediate neighborhood of Auckland, farmers do not require to grow turnips for their stock, but let the ground lie fallow till spring, when they put m Tuscan ; but even they might grow root rrops for their stock to advantage. At the same time farmers should not grow all i spring wheat. It would be very advisable for them to have a judicious variety of wheat which local millers could use, instead of forof nc all one quality wh'ch they do not want, on to them. It is a ijreat pity that some of our enterprising seedsmen do not import and sell a prolific winter wheat for the reason above stated, that it would be well to hare various sorts of wheat, spring and winter, to sell to local millers. One of the samples sent to the Paris Exhibition by the Roller Mills Co. was a " Pearl »• wheat, which if it could be grown m a quantity per acre that would pay the farmer, such as the Tuscan produces, would be a paying crop j but it seems to fall short of the luscan by 7 to 10 bushes per acre, which ls a serious matter. What is wanted is aproliOc variety of winter wheat of equal value to the " P.earl '! for milling. In We immediate future, Tuscan wheat will probably be a specially of this Auckland province, and therefore worth gold to our farmers.— "N.Z; Herald."