HARVEST OUTLOOK IN CANTERBURY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 22

HARVEST OUTLOOK IN CANTERBURY.

DROUGHT IN THE NORTH. WELCOME RAINS IN THE SOUTH'. MASTESTON, January 16. The drought continue*, and the farmer* are bewailing the prolonged absence of rain. NELSON, January 1& The shortage of water' throughout th« distriot is becoming very serious. Well»> water courses and springs on which eettiers are dependent are now exhausted, and unless rain comes soon the position will be very grave. The milk supply ts falling off to an alarming extent in consequence of the dryness of the pastures. CHRISTCHUROH, January 14. This was another blistering, ho.t day, following a promise of rain last evening, but the clouds dispersed, and all hopes were disappointed. Many reports from country district® show that grass fires aie burning, but as yet no very serious damage haa been done. In spite of the exceptoinally dry weather everywhere reported some heavy yields of oate have been reaped. Two at Southbridge were very heavy, one yielding 67 bushels and another 74 .bushels to the acre. There will be a good deal ol threshing from the stook this year. January 17. There_is a change in the weather. Rain fell for two hours last night, and it was showery again this morning ASHBURTON, January 16. A welcome change in the weather occurred this afternoon, wfoen showers began to fall, and by 7 o'clock heavy rain had set in, with every prospect of continuing overnight at least. To «11 appearances the fall is general throughout the county, ».nd though it cannot now help the oropw, fe^d and pasture end root crops will be> greatly benefited, and it is expected that store sheep will advance in price immediately. TIMARU, January 17. Heavy ram fell throughout South Canterbury last night for some hours, .bZiit being registered at Tinwru and .4-7 » few miles out. The rain will do great good to the pastures and root crops, though somewhat late to benefit the cereals, a, large- proportion of which are already harvested. _ OAMARU, January 16. Rain commenced to fall heavily at 4 p.n*. today, and continued till 8 o'clock, withr prospects of a further fall. The root crops and pastures will be benefited, but the eereaf crops, without rain, promise pood yields in most parts of the district abov* the average. The wheat crops, with good weather, will be considerably above tha average, and the oat crops are good. January 17. A good fall of rain was registered in North Otago on Thursday afternoon and evening, the gauge showing nearly half am inch. The rain was light 40 miles from the coa&t, but the fall was fairly extensive, and will <k> a great deal of good in the way of freshening up feed and allowing! wheat and oats, which were ripening toe* fast, to fill properly. A fair amount of oats haa now been cut, and wheat ie likely to bow to the sickle in 10 days or a forfi* msht's time. CROMWELL, January 17. A splendid shower for a couple of Jiourf yesterday hae made a decided change int. the temperature, and the great heat of tha last few weeks will now be done with foe another year. The change is a very -wet* come one, for the heat has been, very

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trying; Shearing and harvesting are now in full swing, but as shearers are very scare© the stations are not getting through as quickly as they should. There is every prospect of a really good harvest, and the crops will be quite up to the average. Some of the yields of wheat at Hawea will he large.