GRAIN GROWING IN OTAGO AND CANTERBURY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5642, 30 April 1879, Page 3

GRAIN GROWING IN OTAGO AND CANTERBURY.

(From the Otago Witness.)

Although the agricultural (statistics for the whole colony are not yet complete, we have the results which are, rqost important to those engaged in the produce trade, namely, the figures For , Canterbury., and Otago. Taking the two provincial districts together, premising that Otago includes Southland, we have ,a smaller crop this year of wheat by 370,000 biv-hels, and'a larger crop of oats by two million bushels, while barley shows a slight increase, and potatoes are nearly exactly the same as last year. The total grain produce of the : two rival agricultural provinces sums up to the astonishing aggregate of thirteen and a half million bushels; Canterbury claims seven millions and a quarter of. this total, and Otago six millions and a quarter ; Oan’erbury growing the largest. quantity of wheat,and Otago the largest, quantity of oats, and Otago shows by far the largest yields per acre in both wheat and oats. The value of all this grain .is unfortunately, oni the,, average, not much over half-a-crowu a bushel, taking wheat and oats together ; but even at that low valuation it is worth about £1,700,000 sterling. Of wheat.,we ought to have, nearly three millions of bushels for export after providing for our own wants, even supposing that no Australian flour vyere imported Our prices! must therefore be entirely,-ruled ; by the English market. Oats will equally be ruled by the Melbourne market ; but we have no means of measuring our local consumption of these. Barley is comparatively an insignificant crop, and shows little sign of increasing to any large extent ; and. potatoes, in round numbers, represent fifty thousand tons for both years; but these are grown also in other provinces extensively, and the crop for the whole colony will be much larger than this. We shall defer further comment till the grand totals are published, and will only now add that we think the Registrar-General and his subordinates have this year taken their time, about these very important statistics. <