Agriculture in South Australia. 



487 



bushels in New South Wales, or of twenty bushels in New 

 Zealand. 



The wheat harvest of 1896-7 was a failure, owing to severe 

 drought. Over 600,000 acres, or more than a third of the 

 entire crop, remained unreaped, and it became necessary for 

 the Government to provide seed-wheat for many farmers who 

 would not otherwise have been able to crop their land. 

 These advances were made by way of loans secured on land, 

 under the administration of the local district councils. The 

 total quantity of grain reaped was 2,804,493 bushels, repre- 

 renting r66 bushels per acre sown, or 2*58 bushels per acre 

 reaped. In 1892-3, the last year in which similar statistics 

 were collected, the harvest yielded 9,240,108 bushels, or 6*o8 

 bushels per acre, that season being a fair average. 



The following table exhibits in summary form the South 

 Australian wheat harvests during the last seven years for 

 which figures are available : — 



Year. 



Area. 



Produce. 



Yield per 

 Acre. 





Acres. 



Bushels. 



Bushels. 



1883-4 



1,846,151 



14,649,230 



7 '93 



18S4-5 



1,942,453 



14,621,755 



7'53 



1889-90 



1,842,961 



14,577,358 



7-91 



1890-1 



1,673,573 



9,399,389 



5-62 



1891-2 



1,552,423 



6,436,488 



4-i5 



1892-3 - - - - - . 



[,520,580 



9,240,108 



6-o8 



1896-7 - - - - - - 



1,693,045 



2,804,493 



r66 



The hay crop in South Australia is, after wheat, the most 

 important. In ordinary seasons the crop usually yields one 

 ton to the acre, but only half this quantity was obtained in 

 1896-7. After favourable seasons a fair reserve of cereal hay 

 is made as an insurance against the heavy losses in draught 

 and dairy stock which follow the oft-recurring periods of 

 drought. 



Oats can only be grown successfully in the cooler parts of 

 the colony, and the crop now forms an important item in the 

 production of the southern districts and in Yorke Peninsula, 

 the area sown having increased to 40,215 acres. The area 

 under barley was 14,484 acres, but the cultivation of this 

 crop does not make much progress. 



