GRASS AS A CROP

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 169, 6 April 1918, Page 12

GRASS AS A CROP

WHAT CAN COMPETE AGAINST ;. ' , IT? Mr. A. H. Cockayne, State Biologist, fists written an interesting article on / thk subject o£ the grass lands of Neiv Zealand. Herewith are a few brief ex- | tracts 1 ."When conditions are exceptionally favourable for grass development there is in New Zealand 110 crop that can successfully competc against it under all f circumstances, except perhaps lucerne 1 and yellow-fleshed and swede turnips. To compete successfully against grass a 1 crop must cost less per grass ton than does a ton of grass under similar circumstances. ■ Exceptionally good ; crops of nearly all the grass-supple-mentary crops can compete successfully against grass, but when the averago , crop is considered the net earning ; power of a grass-supplementary crop i rarely exceeds that of grass. . . . "In order to secure the full earn-jng-power of the feed produced on grass land it is generally necessary to provide grass-supplementary crops, the actual earning power of which is often considerably less than their cost. The case of hay is a striking example. It can only earn between 16s. and £1 ner ton ' with -a grass ton at 45., and its co 1 . is always greater, but without it +'• earning power of all the rest of the ; grass produced would be diminished. ; Let us take, for the'sako of argument, I the "case of rape growing, in which 8 I tons per acre is about the averago yield, j This means that the average earning ] power of an acre of rape is 32s Against this ther" is the loss of grass ! —say, 2 tons, daring the time the rape i - occupies the' ground—so that it does wit? really earn more, than 245., which : is less than the averago cost of production. Nevertheless, rape growing is essential, as its loss ia more than covi ered owing to its securing a full earn- ; ing power for. grass land during, the \ ?est of the year. If, however, on a'

farm requiring 100 tons of rape, 100 tons of grass ; could be grown at the required time; the production of rape would not be entertained. ''The position can noiv be stated as follows: (1) When grass land undergoes . no crucial periods, grass-supple-mentary crops are not nccessary. (2| The longer and moro'acute the crucial periods the greater will be tho necessity for supplementary feed. (3) When grass land undergoes crucial periods and no supplementary crops are growing there is a great loss in the earning powers of the feed produced.'