GORSE-COVERED LAND BROUGHT IN WITH MACHINERY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 58, 19 June 1950, Page 7

GORSE-COVERED LAND BROUGHT IN WITH MACHINERY

About ten thousand acres of stony land covered by gorse, and in some cases by manuka also, has been cleared and brought into production by the use of heavy machinery in New Zealand during the past eight years. The method, which is described in the monthly issue of “The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture,” may be applicable under similar conditions in other parts of the country.

The gorse is burnt in January or February, sometimes being crushed with a heavy roller as well. Ploughing with a heavy plough is begun about two months later. By this time the burnt remains are brittle and break up fairly easily. The land is ploughed as deeply as possible and levelled by the use of old traction-engine wheels dragged behind a crawler tractor. Some contractors favour sowing grass after this initial cultivation and leaving the land for three years before ploughing it again. The usual type of seed sower is used, fitted with rubber-shod wheels to lessen the jar on the machine on the stony ground. A chain-type harrow is used to cover the seed. Other contractors favour bulldozing or picking the heavier stones from the area and sowing barley or chou moellier instead of grass. If this method is used, the area is ploughed again after these crops, but not as deeply as in the first ploughing and with a lighter plough. The land is levelled by the trac-tion-engine jjyheel method, stones being handled in the same way as for the first crop. The land is then put down to permanent pasture, this time being rolled with a fif-teen-ton roller after the seed has been sown. The result is an area very nearly level. A roller weighing only three tons is favoured by some contractors.

Once a good pasture is established the gorse causes no further worry, as any small seedlings that come up are eaten by grazing stock. Sheep are most suitable for grazing such land. On some areas where the stones are not too big, good crops of oats are being grown and harvested. The cost of the first ploughing is given as £5 to £6 an acre.