LUCERNE IN AUSTRALIA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1305, 7 December 1911, Page 8

LUCERNE IN AUSTRALIA.

•AN ADVANTAGE OVER NEW ZEALAND. A matter in which Australians have a great advantage over New Zealand,, farmers, says Mr. A. Q. Thompson, an e.\Now Zealander, 'who is,now a resident of Queensland, is the readiness with which lucerne, will'grow, and he is-very on- : thusiastie about the value of "lucerne as a foilder'for raising fat lambs in conjunction with other feed. In .his own &so ho has been delighted wiih the rapidity with, which-the lucerne, grew, bqtli ■ after ■ seeding and after ; tho first and ..subsequent, cuttings. This crop; he considers, is poing to have'a big influence Oil industry in the future. In New Zealand Italian rye. gross is verv ■ largely,availed of for tho purpose, the annual, being found fo be. more prolific, than the perennial. I!ape, of cour.se, and' the.-.inevitable.- oats also form a lampart of tho: fodder. Mr. Thompson has already proved oats to grow to perfection; in fact, ho found that tho returns from the area which he planted more than paid the value of tho land and all expensM connected with the crop in Ihe first vear. fhis -was also the same with the lucerne. When landowners aro being squeezed out of the Dominion, remarks tne Sydney Mail," this is -a verv significant fact and shows that-as timegoes on Australia must attract, a largo number of the younger generation of larmers from across tl)o water.