The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1907. A WELCOME RAIN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2164, 21 August 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1907. A WELCOME RAIN.

Alter ail exceptionally wet winter residents of Gisborne will find it difficult to understand the state of mind existent amongst the inhabitants of South Canterbury and North Otago as the result of tile heavy fall of rain which has just taken placo iu that locality. New Zealanders have been wont to boast of their country as one entirely free from droughts, but recent experiences in portions of the South Island must seriously shako their confidence in the stability of the climate. All last summer the residents of Oamaru waited in vain for the welcomo showers that were to bring their crops to maturity and renew their pastures. Fairly heavy dews prevented complete cessation of growth, and many graziers discovered with pleasure how very little will suffice to keep sheep and lambs in fair condition provided the atmosphero is mild and they have plenty to drink. It was no uncommon occurrence to see paddocks apquite baro of herbage sustaining large flocks iu very fair condition. Wheat too, ripened excellently in the dry atmosphere, and farmers who had sown in the winter while the ground was still moist secured very good returns, but springsown crops, both of wheat and oats, wore stunted and in some cases so poor that farmers turned their sheep in rather than attempt to harvest so unprofitable a yield. Potatoes, in many fields, did not repay the cost of the seed, as the tubers, through lack of moisture, failed to develop. The worst blow to our Southern friends, however, was the almost total failure of the turnip crop which they rely upon to “finish off” their stock for the frozen meat market. The bulbs were small in size and, to make matters worse, a fungus—apparently encouraged by the special climatic conditions—spread amongst the turnips, and whole fields wore completely rotted. Altogether, the summer was one of the most disastrous yet experienced in the history of the districts named. Bad as the past had been, however, the coming summer promised to be even worse, for during the winter just closed there has been no rain sufficiently copious to have any appreciable effect upon the soil. As a result of the excellent prospects of the wheat market, and to a lesser extent of the oats market, Southern farmers intended this year to crop entensively; but the dry subsoil was as hard as a brick and could not be penetrated by the plough. Hence there has been practically no winter sowing, and till the beginning of the present week the prospects of sowing during this spring looked exceedingly gloomy. Little wonder then that the farmers of North Otago, who had to send hundreds of truck loads of sheep to Southland grazing paddocks, in sheer desperation decided to invoko the aid of science, and commenced a series of rain-mak-ing experiments. Fortunately these now appear to bo unnecessary, and it is to bo sincerely hoped the showers of Sunday and Monday will mark the complete break-up of the Southern drought.