THE FERTILE RANGITIKEI.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 859, 4 July 1910, Page 8

THE FERTILE RANGITIKEI.

EXPERIMENTS AND CROPPING. A contributor whose mission en-tails many a country ride writes:— On my way south I crossed (.lie Eangitikei River at the Ouepuhi Bridge, and instead of going up the Tokornngi Hill by road, .took a short cut up a steep face where I had just previously .seen a .Maori riding. It brought me out on the Halcombe Bond close to Mr. Jolni Morrison's. I noticed on a portion of thut gentleman's farm an experimental plot of manuring with basic "*lag. It had beeu done somo two or three years ago, and a fence had been run between two sections. One of them had been dressed with about scwt. of basic slag, and the other had received no fertiliser. Now the difference between tho two sections ja very marked. There is a good growth of grass, of a rich, healthy colour ou the one, which is vory free of weeds and rubbish. The other section is just the opposite. It 6eoms that this experimenting in grass land is an outcome' of an action of the Halcombe branch of the Farmers' Union, of which Mr. Morrison is the chairman. The branch' is to be commended fdr having such a good objeotlesson in improving grass lands, and also in such a good position, as it is just on the road frontage, and no passer-by can fail to see it. it is evident that the effects of basic slag are of considerable duration, as this particular plot, which I have seen several times, seems to me to be improving each succeeding year. So that, although a heavy dressing may at first seem an expensive matter, when the initial cost is spread oyer a series of years, it is an economical method of renewing run-out grass lands. There aTe many thousands of acres of pasture which cannot be resown—hilly broken country cannot bo ploughed—but with manuring they can be brought to a much better carrying state. A large area of land has been ploughed this season in the districts between the Eangitikei and Manawatu Rivers, and a much increased acreage has been sown in oats compared with last year. Oats and chaff this year have been at a payable price compared with the previous season, and oats are being.sown again in large quantities. Less wheat,is boing sown. However, as I have often : said," cropping is a gamble; the farmer never knows where he is till the money is .in the bank. Turnips have, to a large extent, been most disappointing all over tho countryside. I have seen very few worth noting; in fact, what is to-day considered a good crop would, a few years ago, have been thonght hardly worth turning stock on to. I well remember, some fifteen yeaTS ago, seeing the most magnificent crop of soft turnips on the' farm of Mr. George Kidd, in tho Kiwitea. A man was walking across the paddock, and only his body from above the hips could bo seen. The turnnips wero something enormous: I have never seen such a crop since. Disease in turnips is a most serious thing, and many farmers despair of ever growing a crop again. But, as with everything else, the antidote will be found some day; or some variety more immune than others will be discovered. Farming, as we are being told every day, is becoming a more scientific profession all tho time; rule of thumb is deads brains are one of tho most, if not the most, important farm requirement, and the man who has them, and can use them, will como out on top.