THE FARMING OUTLOOK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1094, 5 April 1911, Page 8

THE FARMING OUTLOOK.

HOW THINGS STAND IN THE SOUTH

At the annual meeting of the Timaru orjinch .of- the Farmers' Union, Mr. John Talbot,, referring to. the season, said that fpm the pastoral point of view the effects of thedrpught had been rather disastrous during the past-month (says, the- Timaru Herald")., It .had been an exceedingly hot, dry month, and, stock -had suffered materially..- As- a result,' the stock markets Ivad'been, depressed." ' The" condition of stock cp.ttkl.not. be kept up, the mar-kets'-were overstocked,-and the conditions on'the Ho.me markets .were not such as to inspire confidence in prices. The prospects for winter .were gloomy. • ,The turnip crops had failed almost-wholly,, arid the grass-.was very short. • If rain came soon '(and they would. be- pleased that there were now .some prospects of a good rain) things ;would be .righted; to .some extent. ,So far as agricultural farming was concerned, the dry weather had not'.been. injurious; in fa'-. 1 , the dry spell had.done the .land. ■ good, for it .enabled fallowing and cleaning operations to go on without interruption, and threshing and graincarting also. The yields of grain' in i South Canterbury had come quite up to : expectations. The latest returns by uie : Agricultural Department placed the'yield for 'the whole of the Dominion at 27.12 bushels per acre. Assuming that to be ; approximately correct, it wonld produce 7} million bushels.. It would be interesting to know the future trend'of the grain market on that basis. If this estimate were correct, there .would bo a small exportable surplus. .But whether there was likely to, be any. improvement in prices was. a. matter of pure speculation. There was a large surplus of -wheat - in Australia,, and'wheat was pouring info the Old Country.-, With'an average yield'of 27 bushels'per 'acre in New Zealand, there was:.only a-small maiigin between what would be required for local consumption and what could be exported!