CO-OPERATIVE EXPERIMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1531, 29 August 1912, Page 8

CO-OPERATIVE EXPERIMENTS.

PROGRESS IN TEE SOUTH ISLAND. (Prom Our Own Correspondent.) Chi'istcliurch, August 21. Just five seasons luivo passeu since iho Agricultural Department of Sew Zealand decided to go in lor extensive experimental work in co-operation with tanners in ailfere'nt. districts, and it win prsoabiy not uo Jong before tho officials in charge ol this important branch ol agricultural economy will bo able to publisn some important deductions from tiicso • experiments.. . So lar, it is ilo bo leareu, remarks Iho "Press," that tho magnitude of tlie work- of the agricultural experiments carried out on co-operative lines in the South Island has not been lully realised, and to a great extent this hus been caused by the policy enforced by past Ministers for Agriculture of reserving an elaborate secrecy as to what is being uone. It is rather , astonishing that tne Department has not recognised that tho value of any work that it carries out is nullified to a great extent it only a small proportion of the people who aro most interested in the results get to know anything about them. It was the I'jOi'-S ecason that the work of co-operative experiments was seriously started, and it ivas chiefly the South Canterbury and North Otugo iarmers who wcro enterprising enough to be tho first in tho field with their offers of help and assistance. The first experiments wero made with the growing of root crops, and an elaborate scheme of variety and innmirial tests was commenced that has been continued up to the present time. The conservatism of farmers was not so much in evidence in connection with tho co-op-erative experiments as might" have been imagined, and considerable interest was ar.ousod in the work. From small beginnings the schenio has become extensivo both in tho North and South Island, and in tho latter area for the J9ll-12 season just closed, a vast nunmer of plots have been sown in various farms. 'An elaborate report on tho matters appeared in the Department's Journal relating to root and fodder crops. Growing variety and mannrial tes-ts and plots aro situated in practically every district in the South Island; Tho total number of plots sown is no less than 4480, these being the fodder and grain crop tests, while thero are an additional 150 plots sown in the re-grassing experiments on the Mackenzie Plains, Central Otago, and on the West Coast. The species of fodder crops and others grown arc mangolds, potatoes, silver beet, chou moollier, buda kale, millet, maizo, Soya beans, cow peas, swede?, turnip, lucerne, rape, thousand-headed kale, marrow, horse-beans, pumpkins, kohl rabi, kodzn vine, Italian ryegrass, perennialised Italian ryegrass, Russian barley, carrots, grasses, clovere, and fodder plants, wheat, oats, phalaris conimutata, Shades grass, buck wheat, Cape barley, sugar beet, chicory, and.sheep's burnet. Tho Waitaki Boys' High School has 195 plots; Boys' High School, Rangiora, 124; and a largo number of farmers havo.plots numbering from 125 downward. The manu'ria! and variety tesle for grain were not stalled so early as tho root crop experiments, but they are in full swing now. The Department is inclined to wait for at least five years before it decides to publish any jeport which will givo deductions drawn from the experiments made. It. is hoped, however, that some, interesting information rpgardins root crops may bo available shortly, and up to the pre.-ant the Department claims to have established tho new fact that silver beet, buda kale, and chou moellier are generally excellent fodder crops for sheep and cattle, giving a very heavy weight of suitable and nutritious fodder. More time must elapse before tho deductions from the grain-growing experiments aro made public. • ...... Tho programme for the South Island for the coming season is on the same lines as ■it is a continuation of tho work dono in lflll-12. No specially-new varieties of fodder plants aro to be grown, but tin opportunity will.be taken to givo tho present one's an elaborate testing in scattered and widely different dis'ricts, whore the conditions of soil nnd climate as aro unlike as possible. Many more applications come in for experiments to bo carried out on the applicant's property than can possibly be granted under the present circumstances.