THE WESTERN DISTRICT.

Southland Times, Issue 1550, 12 March 1872, Page 3

THE WESTERN DISTRICT.

(from otjb own co-respondent.) March 9fch, 1872. "We have been hearing complaints from all parts of New Zealand about light crops, &c. We have as good a right, and perhaps as much cause, for complaining as any, if it would do us any good. It is a pity for Southland that there is not a little more truth in the character assigned to it by our Otago friends — a little more rain would have been very acceptable. The crops in this district, and particularly the late ones, are better than was at one time expected, but even yet a great many of them are too short to catch well with the machine. Although the area under crop is greater than last year, to all appearance the gross yield this year will not exceed one-half the amount in 1871 . Barley and oats are both very Bmall in the grain, but well colored. The season has been altogether too dry and bleak for ahaliow-rooted cereals. A great deal of the wheat either did not spring at all, or was cut off immediately after. What did grow has been less affected with the drought than the other cereals, and this is no doubfc to be attributed to the great depth to which it eends its roots. The area under oats is much greater than last year, while that under barley is less, and under wheat leas still. The caterpillar has made great havoc amongst the barley ; in many places onehalf the heads have been cut "off by them. It is not the barley they eat at all, but they cut the straw, about an inch below

the head, and then eat the straw downwards ; the head of course with its inch of straw falls to fche ground. On their first appearance they are green, and about an inch long, but by-and-bye they turn grer, and are from an inch and a half to two inches long. The different color may be accounted for by the different stages which the insect passes through, or it may be caused by the different color of the straw on which it feeds, as at its first appearance the straw is green, while at the end the straw is riper. They seem to have a time, and a set time, of something about three weeks' duration. For some years mostly all the barley within ■ a certain stage of maturing suffers during ] those weeks or days, while the earlier and later sown escapes. The reaping is far advanced, and stackyards are rising fast. A short continuance of the present fine weather will ! enable crops to be secured in the best of order. The season has been altogether too dry for root crops. The potatoes are so small that when they are turned up one feels half inclined to dig deeper, as if it was only the plums that had been reached. _^__^_________