RURAL TALKS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16750, 4 January 1915, Page 11

RURAL TALKS.

(By Rusxreus.)

Should favourable weather set in a good many acres of turnips will yet he sown by farmers who were doubtful about the wisdom of sowing while the ground was dry. Land that has been well worked down will retain the moisture for a. good while, and therefore turnip land should bo given as much cultivation as possible, so that every shower that falls may be made the most of. The middle of January is not too late to sow turnips if the ground is sufficiently moist, and is in good order. The land is warm at that time, and if rain comes the turnips grow quickly, and are of good quality, though they may not attain the size of the earlier sown crops. ft is advisable to put in Imperial Green Globes for late sowing, because they grow quickly, and keep just as well as the harder fleshed sorts. I find that Imperial Green Globes are suitable for fattening purposes, and they are far more reliable than the yellow fleshed varieties. It is to be hoped that a. good area will be put in if there is the least possible chance of success.

The rape crops are doing very poorly, and it will soon be too late for them to make up even if rain comes. The grass is browning off rapidly, and fattening cannot go on unless' something happens to cause fresh feed to come away. As soon as the works open tho farmers will rush into them anything fat that they may have off the shears, and a little later on, in the course of a week or two, lambs from the mothers will be sent to the Works if they are at all lit, The weight may • not be there, but farmers will "have to get the lambs away from the mothers or they may not get them away at all. Catch crops 'will have to be gone in for as they were some years ago, i Emerald rye. Italian rye-grass, Cape j barley and oats all lend themselves to I the providing of fodder for sheep, and , they may be sown at any time during the autumn. I have had a walk through some of the crops in my own district, and find that the winds have done more damage than I anticipated. Many paddocks have at least a third of their area of crop knocked down by the gales, and, needless to say, the portions that are flattened out are absolutely wasted. The grain was only commencing to form, and consequently i the heads that are blown down con- ' tain no grain whatever. Had the dam--1 ago occurred a littlo later it is probable that the grain might have been . far enough advanced to go into tho | bags as seconds at threshing time. crops have been so badly treated oy the wind that some farmers are of j opinion that the Hessian fly must have been present, causing the straw to break off the more easily when the wind came. So far T have not noticed any Hessian fly present, and 1 believe that the wind caused the damage, having come just at a time when the straw j was the least able to stand it.

Some of the crops that look well from the road prove to be of little account when one gets over the fence and walks through thorn. They are very short and thin, and will be difficult to reap. There are many paddocks that will not: go more than fifteen bushels mi ;<.cvr, and the. average yield will rot be more than twenty bushels an acre by present appearances, and even that estimate may be affected a very great deal by the weather that we get. from this out.- If the winds do not return, and if a few showers with cool days come, the grain will till, but it is quite possible for a few hot days to pinch il, as was the ease some years, ago. The crops are very healthy. The straw looks clean and there should be no waste on account of blight. Harvesting will be got over quickly', and the work will be quite a contrast to what it was last year. Those who have their ground rolled and in good order for the reaping machine will find that they will be able to save more stuff than those who have neglected to work the surface of their land down.

The increase in the wheat area is very nearly 23.000 acres, hut it is doubtful if all of that increased area will be reaped, because of tho dry weather, and because some of it has already been used for sheep feed. By the way. I notice that some sheep owners 'are already giving their sheep hay. a sure sign of a dry time. To return to the wheat, the area under crop with a twenty-bushel yield will not give us sufficient wheat for our own use by some three million bushels. That amount will have to be procured from somewhere, and it is quite probable that we shall hare to pay something like a million pounds for our import requirements during the coining season. That is a lot of money to go out of the country, particularly at such a time as this.' Tt is a thousand pities that we had not a surplus instead of a deficiency during the coming season. Tt seems to be almost an unpatriotic action to draw our wheal supplies from other parts, when the Old Land will require special consideration in that direction. As for the price during the coming year, there can be no doubt that farmers will resent the sum being fixed at less than what wheat can be imported into the country for. Farmers will not favourably view a proposal to pay outside wheat-grow-ers more for their wheat than they themselves are allowed to receive. There will sure to be a deadlock if this course is proposed. The only way to keep down prices and to fix them at the import level is to ascertain as soon as possible after harvest what wheat there is in the country, and then to take steps to get. in what will supp/v the deficiency. Small farmevs will he particularly anxious to get import value for their wheat, and in view of the smallnoss of tlie yield tho price to pay will have to be- much higher than it is at present. Let us hope that everyone will do -their best to put in as much wheat as possible during the coming year, because the staff of life is almost sure to be in short simply for some years to come, even if the war is ended soon, which God grant.