PASTURES & CROPS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1730, 22 April 1913, Page 8

PASTURES & CROPS.

A DROUGHT-STRICKEN DISTRICT. ■ Tho officer of tho Fields and .Experiments Division of VtkeV Department" of Agriculture, stationed at tho.Bay of : Islands, has tho following somewhat sorry story fo tell in his report on tile -pastures and crops':for last month:—" . "Tho severe drought which has prevailed hero sinco .the middlo .of October still continues and is growing more terious to farmers'every day. ..The oldest settlors assert that tho present is. the Severest drought they have ever experienced, and numbers of largo creeks havo gone completely dry, a condition of things unknown before. It has. had. very disastrous effects upon all tho lucerne experiments being carried out. in this district. This is very disappointing, both from .the settlers' nnd tho Department's point of view,, as they aro tho 'first trials of this splendid forago plont in tho northern peninsula.' Tho much-prized grass. (Paspalum dilatatum) of the north has had a. good opportunity to assert itself a.? a dro.ught-resister. It is showing a splen-, did growth on the rich heavv toils of the Kaitaia district, and is a clieerful relief to the cyo after viewing tho parched areas of volcanic land in-the Bay of Islands Comity. Fires were rampant duriug. the month, and_settlers had. a very anxious time in fighting nrfai'nst the withering Haines and saving tlvcir homesteads and fences from destruction!- In many cases their efforts, were in vain. Stock aro now beginning-to show tho evil effects of tho prolonged dryness, and the outlook for winter is very discouraging indeed. As a result prices at tho live, stock sales are considerably, lower than they havo beej; for fomo time. Owing to tho very low supply of cream, the local butter factory proposes to ceaso operations at the end of tho month, but farmers have not had largo cheques this season to gladden their hearts. •