N.S.W. HARVEST

Hokitika Guardian, 15 January 1927, Page 2

N.S.W. HARVEST

FAVOUR ABLE OUTLOOK. SA’DNEY. Jan. 6. Although the capricious disposition of politicians has had a ' disturbing effect upon trade and commerce, the new year opens brightly, thanks to bounteous rain. The harvest prospects are good, despite the lact that very considerablo_stretches of country have been swept by fire, with the consequent loss of growing crops, as well as bagged wheat. The damage is estimated at £IOO.OOO in one shire alone. Heavy winds have also' affected the better yielding varieties ol wheat, the loss in several districts averaging a bag to the acre. While the estimates of the. total harvest must obviously be affected bv these losses, the probabilities now point to a harvest ot between 40 and 42 million bushels, which is well above the average. Ihe hat iruvest was completed in almost ideal weather in the principal centres. Perhaps the most gratifying feature of the season has been the keener inteiest evinced by growers in the selection of the best varieties and in the treatment of their seed. The majority of farms have shown a. distinct decrease m the amount of disease present in the crops, and the most dreaded of all—burnt or stinking smut—which so seriously affects the grain for milling purposes, was this voar almot negligible. This was due (largely to the widespread adoption of the dry copper carbonate treatment, for which the State has to thank Dr G. P. Darnoll-Simth. the Government Biologist, ami Air Hugh Boss manager of one of the State experimental farms. The last month ot the old year was one of extraordinary fluctuations, for it witnessed bush hies, unparalleled for several years, iol owed I,v heavy rains which have completely transformed the outlook, and which, indeed, have been so heavy in some parts nearer Sydney as to drive peop.o out of their flooded homes.