The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1887.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2286, 5 March 1887, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1887.

Harvest operations may now be said to be completed and threshing fairly commenced. The weather has been excellent for harvest work, and with the exception of one or two comparatively light showers, it has been a period of continuous and uninterrupted sunshine. Crops of wheat are yielding well, from thirty to forty-five bushels per acre being the general results of threshing. The crop yielding forty-five was winter wheat, thus showing the superior advantages of sowing in winter instead of late in the spring, as is usually done. .But irrespective of the yield being much heavier, the Auckland millers are said to prefer the winter sorts to those of spring growth. So much so that report says one extensive buyer, who has lately returned from abroad, has declined to bu}' any wheat grown in Waikato —we presume on account of its being generally, in fact almost entirely, spring' sown. If the report is correct it

would have been just as well if that gentlemen had intimated to the farmors his objection to spring grown Avheat last year, so that they might have made preparations accordingly. It may be that America and things American have so fascinated him during his recent travels that nothing locally produced is considered of sufficient merit, and the public of New Zealand are to eat broad made from Californian wheat. We don't know that this really is the case, but report says so. If true, it is not very encouraging to colonial producer, and if untrue it is unfair to the gentleman in question, unless indeed a superior article can be imported at a less cost than it can be purchased at home.

New Zealand wheat, and Waikato wheat in particular is considered by practical men to be of excellent quality, and its production on an extensive scale ought to receive every con sideration at the hands of the consumer. Of course if the millers say, and they ought to know, that winter sown wheat is better for milling purposes than spring sown, it is clearly the duty of farmers to grow the former. And in doing so it may be more to their advantage than at first sight it may appear. Taking into consideration the frequency of dry summers to which we have been accustomed of late years, late sowing of spring wheat is certainly a risky practice. The dry weather sets in before the plants have made sufficient growth to be. independent of the necessary showers so needful for the development of a full crop. Under the present system of cultivation, that of following turnips with wheat, it is hardly possible, except in a few cases, to get in the crop sufficiently early, the turnips being required to carry the stock well into spriug, and allow the paddocks time to grow to prevent the stock receiving a check when the turnips are exhausted. Then the question arises, if too late for spring what is to be done with the land after the turnips are eaten off, and before it is time to sow in the following winter? There are several crops that might be grown to advantage during the interval, such as rape, mustard, or some quick growing turnip, which would come in exceedingly useful for putting weaned lambs on, or fattening wethers or other sheep. This has been done with success in Waikato, and, provided that proper cultivation is practised and a little quickening manure used, with plenty of seed, say 3 or 41bs. of rape or 10 or 171bs. of mustard to the acre, drilled in as in done with turnips, there need be no fear of the result.

Of late years complaints have frequently been made that larks and other pests prevent rape from being grown as formerly, but the cause to a very great extent, if not entirely, is due to careless farming. In some parts of England, especially on light soils, rape cultivation is considered to be the best possible preparation for a wheat crop. There the land receives the same treatment and manure for rape as for turnips, and excellent crops are the result. In fact, in some districts, rape is as regularly grown and as highly valued as turnips, and more so when the production of mutton is the object in view. In writing thus we have no intention of advising farmers to entirely throw over the old system of wheat growing, because, in many instances, the results have been entirely satisfactory. But with due deference to the many practical farmers we have in Waikato, we say that in view of the desire of some of the millers, if not all, to buy winter instead of spring wheat, and the fact that there is far more certainty in the production of a full crop—taking into consideration all the circumstances with which, we have to deal—would it not be advisable to give the growing of winter wheat a fair trial, and test the question Avhether or not the new departure would give us a better market, a heavier crop, and by subjecting the land to a longer rotation and more thorough tillage, better and more enduring l pastures ?