Australian Crop Prospects.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 445, 12 February 1890, Page 3

Australian Crop Prospects.

There is every prospect of a phenomenally good season this year in many of the agricultural and pastoral districts of New South Wales. We hear from a reliable corres" pondenb in the Wellington (N.S.W.) dis brict that the crops in his part of the country are likely to give fabulous returns. In November last upon the estate of which he is manager, paddocks which have been under cultivation for fourteen yearhad yielded over three tons of wheaben hay to the acre, the growth of straw averaging six feet in length. Other paddocks it was estimated would exceed even this return and produce about four tons of hay per acre. The crops grown in the Wellington Flats showed a luxuriance not attained for many previous years. It is said that a Mr Nancarrow wrote to Sydney agents for a machine to cut and bind a crop seven feet high, and yielding six tons to the acre, but he could not obtain a machine that would do the work satisfactorily, according to one correspondent, until the “ Buckeye ” agent took up tho challenge. From the use of the “ Buckeye ” satisfactory results had so far been obtained.

Even self-sown crops in this wonderful district will,'it is reckoned, average about two tons to the acre in many instances, and altogether the farmers have cause for much thankfulness. Corn promises 100bushel3to the acre in many cases and potatoes are certain to be exceptionally good. Later news from Sydney confirms our cor respondent’s account. All over New South Wales an extremely prolific wheat yield is anticipated. One telegram states that at Narromine, 300 miles west of Sydney, a crop of 50 bushels to the acre will be reaped. In places in the Orange district there are equally large crops, and though the general results will fall short of the figure named, there is no reason to doubt that if the weather does nob spoil the grain at harvest, there will be an unusually heavy yield. Some damage has been done by rust, but the damage is not great. The harvest can hardly fail to be a very heavy one. Last year it was only 5-1 bushels per acre, the smallest return that had been received since 1871. The average wheat yield of the colony is 13-18 bushels per acre. The highest return for many years was 17-37 bushels per acre, obtained in 1887, and it is generally believed that the present yield will be quite as large and probably larger than in that year. In Victoria the case is apparently very different where red rust has seriously injured the wheat crops. The harvest returns, it is said, will be nothing like as good as was anticipated early in the season. By some it is estimated that the rust plague will make a difference of three million bushels in Victoria alone, while in South Australia also the same disease has enormously reduced the prospective wheat yield in that colony.