The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1234, 8 April 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1870.

By the courtesy of the superintendentcollector, D. Maceobie, Esq., we are enabled to place our readers in possession ofi the agricultural statistics of the province for- the present season. The importance of these statistics to the farmernas been so recently enlarged upon in our columns, that no necessity exists for,;again commending them to careful consideration, and the benefits to ! be derived therefrom are materially en- } Kanced by the fact of the results being | made known at this early stage of the seksbn— before any perceptible portion of the ; crop, jiaa found its way to market. Some of the other provinces have been slightly in advance of us in this respect, and their returns have been published by us, but the collectors here have had to contend with many obstacles to retard their work,in the shape of swpllen rivers, wet weather, &c, with which the farmers themselves are, unfortunately, only too familiar. On .the whole, the results arrived at are more satisfactory than most people would have anticipated, considering the long prevalence of the cry that the province was retrograding. Although not making such rapid strides in the process of cultivation i as some more favored localities, .it .is mbsT, gratifying to observe that, in'defiance , of so many depressing influences, Southland has made considerable advance. In proportion to the treadth sown, our average yield compares favorably with that reported of any other Ideality.' { So far as the great wheat-growing districts of, Australia are concerned; we-' leave them immeasurably behind, and there, would require to be a most astonishing difference in quality and cost of production to make up for the deficiency on their part of some 20 bushels per acre. But coming even nearer home, we find that in wheat Southland averages, with about 31 bushels, something like two bushels per acre more than Otago, although in oats .the. latter province has a slight advantage. In the barley crop the yield in both is about equal at 30 bushels; arid ~in both hay and potatoes Otago appears to have had 70kex the best crops, averaging fully l£._tons and 5 tons respectively to the 'acre. In proportion 1 to extent of general cultivation, number of| holdings, and extent of territory, however,. Southlandjhasbyfar the largest number of acres laid down in permanent pasture. The gross total? before usare :— " Number of holdings in the province, 533 ; land broken up,but not in crop, 8,506 i acres ; in wheat, 1023£ acres ; in oats, 1249 i acres, for green food or hay, and 83021 acres for grain ; in, barley, 2004| acre^ ;.jn hay, 12001 acres ; in. permanent pasture, including the land under Hay, 22,180 i acres ; in potatoes, 544| acres ; in otner crops, 1371^' acres. . Total under ' crpp and. grass, 37,876i~aeres — The. gross yield of: the various crops are given as^— Wheat, 32,5 dl bushels ? oats, bushels ; - barley,- 61,288 : bushels ; - hay, 14J76 tons; potatoes, 2667 tons. : These results' are made up from the returns of three; districts-Tr'Wailace, Eiverton, and Mataura. InrercarguT is returned as " nil," the garden patches within it being; top- trifling for consideration^ Mataura seems be the leading division of the prpvince, so far at least as agricultural prbduc? is concernedi as it more than; doubles the other two in nearly all the columns, The relative figures may be, given / thus ;— Wheat— Mataura, 638 acres, 21,117 bushels ;- -Eiverton, 295 acre£, £074' bushels^ Wallace, 89 acres, 3310_bu8he15.. ... tiafcs— Mataura, . 5288 acres, 156,931 bushels ; ; -Eiverton, 2382 "acres, 80,532 bushels ; Wallace, 631 acres, 20,619 bushels. Barley— Mataura, 628 acres, 173,338 bushels ; Biverton, 1273 acres, 40,735 bushels ; Wallace, 102 acres, 3215 bushels. Hay — Mataura; 765 acres, 945 tons ; Bivertori, 259 acres, 26i tons ; Wallace, 176 acres, 269, tons. In permanent grasses — Mataura, 17,960 acres ; Eivert9p,}3s63 acres ; Wallace* 656iacres. In potatoes — Mataura, 332 > acres, 1722 tons ; Eivertpnj 444 . aprjes, < 66,2, tons ; Wjallace, 67 acres, i 2£3 .tons, In other crops — Mataura, 1238! ;acres:; Eiverton, 117 acres; Wallace, 15 acres. / Total urider crop— M'ataura', ' ' 27^534 ' acres ; Eivertqni-82 v l2;acres;; "^Taljace, 2129 ,acrea, ; -The average yield -of. the several crops •per acre in the respectiveidistricts; stands abjout as follows :-^ln; i tHe Ma taura, wheat, 33 ; barley, 27 »; oats, 29 bushels , hay, 25 cwt ; and potatoes, 5 tons. In thje Eiverton district, Iwheat, 27 ; oats, 33 r barley, r 30 bushels s ;/hayy ! l ton, arid potatoes, 4| torisl ' In the Wallace district, it was per acre, wheat, 37: bushels ; oats, 32 bushels ; barleys 31 bushels ; hay, \\ tons, and potatoes 4 tons. This year we have grown less wheat by 158 .acres, and less potatoes by 4 acres than we did last year ; but- 462 .acres, more" oats, "and 12.25. acres more

barley ; while 1017 acres have been added to permanent pasture land. The quantity of wheat grown scarcely gives a sufficency for home consumption, but of oata and barley there should be a surplus for exportation which will more than that defect. On . the whole, it would appear that, even with the bad harvest weather, our agriculturalists have been tolerably successful in their operations, and the point with them now should be to extend their cultivation ■■ of the chief cereal, wheat, so as not only to stop the importation of all breadstuffs," but even to have some to spare, and to foster a, foreign market. for, their surplus grain. '