TOO MUCH RAIN

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10230, 8 January 1927, Page 5

TOO MUCH RAIN

COMPLAINTS BY FARMERS

HARVESTING DELAYED AND OAT CROPS SUEriER.

To Poverty Bay farmers January generally usher* in a. period of not Ury weather when from all sides the L-.y goea out lar lam. January very olten finds milk checks reg s.e mg marked .decreases, grass dried and burnt up covering over U'.e lana, with station cattle dying as tney wander up and down creek beds, thirsting lor water.

• This year quite a different aspect is presented. Everywhere growth is prolific and rain falls practically daily. Yet farmers complain, and to some * extent they are justified. Harvesting operations have been considerably hampered by rain and many fine bay crops have been spoilt. Oat crops also are suffering ancl, unless the man on the. Poverty Day flats is granted a week or two fineweather without delay, losses will he heavy. Even now cut crops of lucerne, grass mixtures, and oats, are to be seen ruined before the owners had time to get them dried and stacked.

Of the agriculturists the maizegrower is practically the- only nonsufferer. A considerably increased area of Poverty Bay land lias been sown down in maize this season and practically everywhere it is doing well. Even maize cannot do withoutthe sun, however, and unless the weather improves many fine crops will develop into stem and tlio seed will hardly pay for the picking. Sun, and plenty of it, is certainly the sheepman' s'greatest need to-day He wants it to put strength into the grass and enable him to fatten his stock with greater rapidity. Quality before quantity is always the sheepfarmer’s attitude towards the pastures, and the green watery grass resulting from the prolonged wet spell is not to be preferred lor fattening purposes to the harder and stronger leaf produced by an occasional introduction to the hot sun.

Admittedly, the dairyman in most cases is also complaining about the rain. It makes the ground adjacent to his sheds muddy anil lie cannot harvest the lucerne, which lie doesn’t require on account of the prolific growth of grass. Apart from that he has little to complain of, for his cows are thriving and his cream compare more than favorably with similar periods in the history of bis operations. Rain in the summer is the dairyman’s greatest boon. Viewed from most aspects, therefore, it can be seen that the rain which has, up to the present, done much to increase the fanners’ seasonal returns, is threatening to outstay its welcome, and most sections of the farming community could do with ten days’ fine weather.