CHAMPIONS AT THE CANTERBURY A. AND P. SHOW.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20092, 22 November 1930, Page 10

CHAMPIONS AT THE CANTERBURY A. AND P. SHOW.

healthy yellow tinge. Rain has boon hanging around rather tantalisingly, but it has blown off, and crops of oats, in particular, look as if they will come into car -very short and spindly. North of the Waipara. On Thursday afternoon there was a welcome change for' the better north of Amberley, a soaking downpour covering the country north of the Waipara to up past Hawarden, with the tail end assisting growing conditions down towards Amberley. [tain came down steadily in the Waikari, Hawarden and Hurunui districts from midday to al>out 4 o'clock, and the effect should bo to change wheat prospects from gloomy to good. The saturation of the soil has been thorough, it came,at a critical time, as limestone country is less resistant to dry conditions than ordinary soil. Some farmers consider the fall worth seven to ten bushels to the acre to them. All that is wanted now to ensure prospects of a good yield is a stretch of seasonable weather. On some of the heavier land there is a substantial area ot fairly well-grown crop showin . the yetlow tinge, but on contiguous fields such is absent One is left to imagine, without making individual enquiries, to what exteiit this difference is duo ■to better tmltivation and to the freer use cf phosphatic and nitrogenous manures. In a few caves enquiry shows that tlie value of fertilising has been responsible. Briefly, wh.eat. prospects, through the belt from the Waipara to the Hurunui have been transformed by. the raiiY of Thursday. - XjigKt Oats. Crops. Scarcely the same- optimism can be expressed in" regard to >the oats crops as a whole..--North-of. Amberley and also in the Waikari and Hatvarden

kari, with its varied crops and regularly subdivided fields and picturesque homesteads and plantations. One that may compare with it is that unfolded when the crops arc ripening there in the autumn. Conditions in the South. Christchurch housed quite a number of visitors i'rom the south during Carnival Week, though perhaps not so many as usual, and the general complaint of most of those in farming pursuits lias the extreme backwardness of the season. There was a spurt of growth in September, according to one informant, but the frosts of the following month and the cold, sunless weather gave such a set-hack that conditions were actually as belated at the end of October sis a month earlier. Cows tamo in in low order, nnd are doing poorly, and with the poor price for milk, this usuallv dependent source of Southland prosperity is likely to be ror» disappointing: this season. The lambing has good, but the owes have done bnrl-lv. and losses . have been fairly henry. -■ Tbe writer fan' recall' that on the farm on which lie- was raised in those imaginary "good old days" .in the early 00's of last century, milk being sent to tlie factory at 2Jd a gallon, fat lambs going to the works at o>s a head, butter to the storekeeper at 4d .a' 11\ and eggs at. C>d a dozen. And the storekeeper ■ didn't exactly fall over vou with the- cheque. Yriu ■ wereexpected-' to sauarc tlie account with stores. If you did not see tlie force of this argument there ' were many other's th"at did." However, the ' storekeeper Was a real friend to the farmer in those days. If a mail was a genuine trier he could be assured of every possible latitude

until his crop or milk cheque came in. In making comparisons the present dayfarmer naturally might _arg.uo. the greatly increased costs of" production, since 40 years ago, but it seems to the writer that, if the':.whole of the' pricesquoted were prpfit, nobody would ;g6t particularly fat oil them. Where thV old time farmer did' get an advantage was in' his light interest bill" and local body rates and' the. .getter;!t" freedoin from taxation of one aflo'th4K. The figures are ,Recalled ; because- a Southern visitpf. mentioned dufirtg'the week that farmers in Southern ttiwns were selling milk for distribution at 8d a gallon, and delivering butter to the stores at .Bd.V This was. getting back to near the- old days. The- busir n'ess, however, R'd3-'tlie ylrt'uS /Q?VprO; 'sonie -loose' cash' at anseason,*and earrving -things- along ; ,Until-: theniilk or lamb cheque cams in. .' The factories" were . paying. out;6n a. fcubi. Btintially , reduced. ..seile,. .and, the general shrinkage ; of revenue.