ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 246, 8 December 1847, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. New Plymouth, Nov. 20, 1847. Sir, — The interest you take in the progress and advancement of all the New Zealand settlements, will, I trust, lead to the insertion in your valuable paper, of the following remarks on a subject of a considerable importance. In Mr. Grimstone's excellent work, "The Southern Settlements of New Zealand," at page 52, there is a table showing the average yield of the crops in each settlement for 1846, Wellington and New Plymouth are thus contrasted : Produce per acre. bs. wheat bs. barley bs. oats tons potatoes Wellington 40 I 35 I 52 I 10 New Plymouth 25 | 25 | 30 | 5 Heie the harvest of 1846 was deficient, and in taking the yield for New Plymouth as above, an excellent guess has been made for everything exceptpotatoes, which should be increased about three tons per acre. I think that Mr. Grimstone has been less fortunate for Wellington. A yield of 40 bushels of wheat per acre, is seldom, perhaps never obtained, as the average crop of a whole district even in the finest parts of England or America. Mr. Grimstone says, " that the average yield at Wellington in 1845 and 1846 was 4o bushels; in 1844, 45 bushels per acre." About two months before the harvest of 1845, I was particularly struck with the appearance of the grain crops around Wellington, especially at Karori. I should not have guessed the average of anything at more than 20 bushels per acre : and although it is easy to imagine that the Hutt valley, (a more fertile spot,) would produce finer crops, yet, if any portion of the district fell off to 20 bushels, the yield on some other parts must have been truly prodigious _ It would, however, be improper to question the accuracy < f Mr. Grimstone's figures, ,from the little I saw; and "40 and 45 Bushels per acre as the average yield of the whole district" might not have excited more doubt than admiration, except for a letter which appeared in the Independent of the 16th ultimo. The author appears to be conversant with the subject on which he writes, and he states, that 20 bushels, and not 80," (as once expected) is the average yield of an acre of wheat round Wellington. A table, professing to show the comparative yield of crops in the different settlements, should also show the comparative costof producing them. I presume that nearly the whole of the 495 acres of wheat grown at Wellington in 1846, was timber land ; which I think cannot be cleared and cropped effectually for less than i£lo per acre ; whereas nearly the whole' of the 839 acres grown at Taranaki was fern land, which can be cleared and cropped in the best style for £4 : 10s. per acre ; and this cost will be materially reduced, when cattle cease to be nearly £100 per cent, dearer here than in other settlements. As farming becomes better understood, and reduced more to a system, I think that the fern lands of this district will certainly yield an average of 30 bushels of wheat per acre. The heaviest crop, to my knowledge, that has yet been obtained on any large piece, (of course without manure,) was 448 bushels from 8 acres — 56 bushels; but this season, at Glanavon (the Messrs. Davy's) there is a field of 20 acres which promises 60 bushels per acre. So little bush land has been cultivated, that it would be premature, as yet, to express a very decided opinion as to the extent of its powers ; the crops have been heavier than on fein land, though not generally so fine in quality. I have heard that a labourer has grown nearly 64 bushels on an acre, and know that potatoes yield from 12 to 16 tons. Wellington enjoys so many great advantages in its commanding position, noble harbour, and contiguity to fine grazing districts, that no reluctance need be shown in admittingthe truth, — that owing to the heavy timber and rugged character of the country around, rendering cultivation a work of hand labour, agricultural produce can never be raised so cheaply there, as itwill eventually be supplied from the fertile plains of Taranaki. I am, Sir, very respectfully your's, Charles Hursthouse.