NEW SOUTH WALES WHEAT YIELD

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 124, 12 February 1918, Page 10

NEW SOUTH WALES WHEAT YIELD

OVER 43,000,090' BUSHELS. "As in tliQ."previous year, the wheat harvest for the current season is much later than usual, due mainly to the excessive rainfall-during tho spring. The Teports received by the Government Statistician, Mr. J. B. Trivett. i'rom a large number of the principal wheat-growing districts indicate that harvesting operations have been much delayed, by tho ■ excessivo rain, but although considerable quantities of hay were bleached and discoloured, tlio grain ,crops-:havo not suffered to the game extent, and speaking generally, the #raiii is fairly plunip and of good quality. The area which cither failed entirely' 01: was fed-off was 108,600 acres, as compared with 391,000 acres and 53,700 acres in 1916-17 and 1916-16 respectively. ... The total area sown with whent was approximately 3,833,200 acres, or 665,000 acres less than in the previous season, the decrease in area being due mparts to the very dry autumn, which rendered ploughing operations difficult. It is significant, however, that the number of holdings on which wheat was sown during 1917 was'only 18,910, as compared with 21,047 for 1916, a decrease of over 10 per cent. ■ ''It is a fair assumption that the grain contents of the bag will be three bushels for 1917-18 as compared with about 2} bushels for 1916-17. On this basis ttie returns now tabulated show that 3,280,600 acres have been harvested for •13,557,000 bushels, or an average yield of 13i bushels'- per acrc, as compared with 3,521,300 acres, which yielded . 36,600,000 bushels—representing 10.4 bushels per acre in 1916-17.