BIG SOUTHERN HARVEST.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 454, 12 March 1909, Page 2

BIG SOUTHERN HARVEST.

( CRAIN REJECTED. AN APHIS PLAGUE. UNCERTAINTIES OE THE LAMB TRADE. Tho harvest is pretty well finished in Canterbury and North Otago (said .Mr. Hissct, Editor of Publications in the Department of Agriculture, to a Dominion reporter). When I was in the south, last wcclc, the stacks were standing as thick as hay cocks, although a considerable quantity of gram is still in stook, getting into a condition lit for threshing. It was stated that- up to the middle of last week, five-sixths of the grain which had been delivered into store in Christchurch and Lyttelton had been rejected by buyers for defective condition. Most of tho machines had suspended threshing until there should be an improvement in the condition of tho grain. Tho yields, so far, are highly satisfactory, averaging from 30 to 45 bushels per acre of wheat; and up to 40 and 50 bushels of oats have been recorded in tho light lands of tho Canterbury Plains. Exceptional yields have been much higher than this. Although there have been some losses by weather and pests, the yield of- wheat in Canterbury will probably provo to be the highest 'that has ever been harvested in' New Zealand. In North Otago tho crops in some inland districts have been very light, but the averago yield will probably closely approach tho best hitherto recorded. 11l Taicri tho crops, both of wheat and of oats, are exceptionally heavy,-and it- is reported that the Southland crops will be equally prolific. 11l T'aieri there arc some crops still green—an evidence of late sowing, owing to tho floods of last winter. Great uneasiness has been caused in Canterbury by tho sudden appearanco of several pests of the turnip and rape crops. The aphis is particularly numerous, flying in myriads, in clouds that darken the air, and destroying almost instantly whatever they light upon. Tho brown-backed moth has also appeared. Rust is prevalent in the grass. There is still abundant feed, but farmers who had hitherto been holding their lambs in tho hope of the market improving have now taken alarm, and afr> rushing forward their stock, with tho result that several freezing-works are blocked with supplies. At tho same time tho London market has further given way, and buyers for export had reduced their prices for fat lambs to 4?d. per pound for under 361b., 41d. for 3C to 421b., 3§d. for over 421b. A further reduction was imminent. Wethers for freezing wore receiving very little attention from exporters, and whilo the over-all -price stood at 2Jd. for under 641b., there were no buyers at that figure. Cablo messages from London , at- the end of last weelt stated that there were upwards of a million carcasses each of mutton and lamb in store in London. Lambs in Canterbury this season arc unusually prime, and such is tho difficulty of obtaining light-weights, that second-gradc ■ commands ,4Jd. Eor tho same reason iambs in the North Island are maintaining theii value much better than those in tho South.