RECLAIMING SAND AREAS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1596, 13 November 1912, Page 10

RECLAIMING SAND AREAS.

; DEPARTMENTAL EXPERIMENTS, , Some- notes of particular interest to owners of sand areas are given liy Mr. A. Hacpherson, of tke Agricultural Department; in the latest "Journal" of, the Department. Mr. Macpherson Bays;— Prom a national point of. view there is a great .economic need of bringing into profitable use the vast coastal sand areas lying eastward from Christchurck, and found m many other localities in a country, such as iNew Zealand, which has a great sea lrontage, conditions which are also found in the neighbourhood of many of our rivers. Throughout tho special are* above referred.to there aro many extent ."sive. fertile depressions producing splendid pastures, yielding heavy crops of hay, and; growing line roots, • while there are other low-lying portions, some of. which are of a peaty formation and are waterlogged. This report will deal'with.the I .extensive sand-flats and sand-dunes where the sand has been blown into, ridges varying from narrow drifts to groat sandhills, areas'which immediately adjoin, and ia most- instances surround, the depressions. ■ Soine years' ago these sand flats and .dunes, .were sown with the seeds of--leguminous plants—lupin, gorse, and broom—which grew, seeded, and rapidly spread, bu that throughout tho whole area tho sands have been fairly well covered for.a number of years; -and are thus prevented from "b'eiiig" .'drifted by tho wind. This growth oi' leguminous plants,.in addition to stop"ping any movement of the sand, has been gradually adding the. desired humus us well'.is enriching the sand by the. nitrogen gathered from the atmosphere by means of the bacteria in the root nodules. Up to the ""present timo no serious at. tempt,.has been made by the owners or -the occupiers'of sand-areas to bring tkcsu into.profitable, use. Apparently they do not realise that such areas are not barren, but already contain sufficient plant food to give excellent results if property managed and suitable'crops be grown. In the spring' of 1911 tho Department of Agriculture, in order to encourage the cultivation of lucerne throughout the Dominion, and to'- test the vaiuo. of this: forage plant under varying conditions of sbil.'and climate, offered to supply farmers,' free, of oost, with sufficient seed, lime, and'inoculated soil to test one acrp. In the South Island' about seventy test 3 were carried,out. Two of these were conducted on the sand areas referred to, one at the Government institution, Te Oranga Home, Bui-wood, and the other on the. farih of Mr. H. Hartnell, Bromley. - , ■;' These plots were chosen to bring to tho notice of people occupying sandy soilsin the' neighbourhood, .principally dairy farmers, that these were capable of being profitably utilised, and would Brow ex. cellent lucerne crops, the stand-by of themost successful dairy farmers m some 'other parts of the world. _ About one. acre was sown with lucerne at each place on loose shifting sand. -The area in both case 3 was divided into according to tho scheme set forth by the Department, one plot being sown ■ with 6eed' only, the second plot with seed and 751b. of •inoculated soil,' the third plot with seed and 3501b. of lime, and the fourth plot with seed, 751b., inoculated, soil, and 3501b. of lime. The seeding was at the rate of 15lb. per acre; : At Te Oranga Home, just as tho lu-. cerno was-brairding in last; spring, a severe gale-'of wind was experienced, ■wjaich, carried away the, surfaco .of the area—the sand as well as the;plants—to a ; ;depth of over, lin.' It .was .at first, thought the experiment was Turned, but within a few days the lucerne-seed; and the few seedlings which remained asserted tliemselves, and the stand to-day, one ■year afterwards, is very fair indeed. The test plots ' on Mri vHartnell's farm haw ddfif'splendialy." .Three-.outtiings were obtained last season, from, the-acre, and this 'spring? eleven moßtte aftenthe sowing, tho crop is 16in. high, and is an excellent stand. In neither of the two experimental areas mentioned can any difference be detected; so far between, the- differently treated 'plots', which- indicates that lucerne can be grown on these sandy soils without the, application of inoculated soil, or, indeed, of lime., . .!, ■' It should be emphasised that the above gratifying'results were obtained without any'special.humus—to bind tke'sand and provide a good seed-bed—having been artifically provided. Thus the lucern has > thrived with a modicunr of hurnus—provided,by decayed foliage of lupins', gorse,'and broom—with no lime and with :no -inoculated soil. The apparent need at the. present time is something to bind the sand and prevent it drifting, even when, the lucerne is well establisehd. This, I believe,-will,, be-secured by ploughing in light branches of young plants of the legumes growing in the neighbourhoodlupin, broom, and gorse. For green-man-I firing the lupin has no superior, and in Europe,. especially along the Mediterranean, is extensively used for this.purpose. In some sections of western Europe it has effectively restored to fertility sterile sandy soil, very similar in character to tho sand country being dealt with at Christchurch. Seeds of the lupins employed in the Northern Hemisphere for ploughing in are being imported by tho Department for the purpose of growing for, ploughing in on sand experimental areas. - ' . ;Gorse and broom aro not so valuable's lupin for green-manuring, but are decidedly useful 1 where the lupin is not available. Wherever possible the lupin- is being employed at Burwood and Bromley".' '• , . ' The sand areas being - dealt with aro largely covered, whole <>r in part, by either lupin, gbfse, or broom, and in preparing the sand for lucerne the above plants have to be removed. Here considerable caution is required, as the sand must bo kept protected as.long as possible, until sufficient humus has been created to bind the-sand and thus prevent it drifting. ;\Y"here lucerne has, already. been established, on the bare sand—having been sown in drills—humus is being provided by .digging in between the. drills small branches of .lupin. One precaution,must always be taken: If a hill is.to be dealt with any plant. covering 6hould not, be removed till some humus-providing ma-, tcrial has been dug in. Of. course, other crops than lucerne should succeed in sand country. Experiments are now in progress at both Burwood and. Bromley with potatoes, carrots, and parsnips.-' For humus-creating purposes rye,-rape, and white mustard - aTe ; being grown -for subsequent ploughing-' in/' .-The-work at Burwood and Bromley— where the conditions are very similar to those :of 'the - vast aTea'- of 6and-covered countryiin the district—is boing carefully conducted, an exact record bein» kept of each stage of its progress, in order that an- accurate history may bo available as a guide to those desiring to carry on reclamation operations on a practical scale, and as a reliable guide in future experimental work. ..•''•