LUCERNE GROWING.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14834, 27 November 1913, Page 3

LUCERNE GROWING.

At the meeting of the Hospital Board yesterday, Mr J. D. Hall reported as follows on the subject of growing lucerne at Bottle Lake. Mr Hall said: "In responee to the wish of the Board I visited Bottle Lake Hospital and selected a niece of ground (about i an acre) for the experimental sowing of lucerne. Later on the ground was inspected- by Mr Macpherson of the Agricultural Department, who expressed himself satisfied with the ground selected; and he has provided lucerne seed of five varieties with lime and inoculated soil. The whole to be sown under the supervision of an officer from the Department. Mr Macpherson further recommends that an area of two or three acres bo cleared and sown this year with annual lupins (the Department to find the eeed) which should be ploughed in the autumn; and that potatoes be planted next Spring when he guarantees that a crop of not less than five tons per acre will be procured. So satisfied is he with the likely result that ho has provided 401b of seed potatoes to be planted this year so as to give proof of the possibilities of the ground. He further states that if the Board will be guided by his Department, ho will guarantee that the Bottle Lake property can be converted from waste land into a productive and remunerative property within fiyo years. It is necessary to point out that with proper treatment a rotation of crops may be grown on sand as on other ground. At Te Oranga, five tons of potatoes per acre was taken from a paddock of drift sand, and this year the same ground has been planted again and shows a good growth.'.' It was decided to go on with the experimental work.