CROPS IN CANTERBURY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 222, 13 January 1911, Page 2

CROPS IN CANTERBURY

BRIGHT PROSPECTS. Christcliurch, January 10. The cereal crops throughout 'North Canterbury are ripening rapidly, the past few days of hot weather, and especially the excessive heat experienced on Saturday and Sunday, having made a very perceptible change in the color I of the wheat. A good deal of reaping and some stacking have already been done, but the harvesting will 'not be general until this week. The crops are ripening a good healthy color, and no complaint of rust is heard. The reported appearance of the caterpillars in most parts of the southern district is, however, causing anxiety, but the pest being yet in an early stage of growth it is hoped that most of the oats and a good deal of the wheat will be harvested befgre they have developed in sufficient numbers to do serious harm. In regard to the mid-Canterbury district, a special correspondent of a local journal states that a careful analysis shows conclusively that the condition of the country at the present time is infinitely better than was the case at a corresponding period in 1909. The cereal and root crops are much in advance of what they were last year, the former by fully seven bushels per acre, and there is every reason to expect that prices for the new season's grain will compare favorably with the opening rates for the harvest of 1910. The prices at present ruling for fat lambs are better, and in the event of the successful in-gathering of the crops, it is safe to assume that the season will result more advantageously to farmers than its predecessors.