N.Z. PASTURES

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 34, 10 February 1933, Page 6

N.Z. PASTURES

Australian1 escpert 1 Impressed "

. (From "The Post's",, Representative.) SYDNEY, 2nd February. Mr. C. E. Ahrens, assistant agrostologist of the New South "Wales Department of Agriculture, has just returned from a tour of New Zealand and in an interview he said he was very much impressed with the way farmers in the Dominion regarded grass as an all-sufficient crop. The making of grass silage-. and: hay,'wheri: there .was an. abundance of- grass, was: the recognised practice, and intensive'grassland farming was becoming' more arid inoro popular.; The sub-division of: areas into three and five/acre paddocks, and the rotational raising of them was common'y regarded as the. only satisfactory method of dairying, while in New Zealand it was' almost invariably associated with fat laud raising. Allied practices,- including the application of fertilizer and mechanical treatment, such as frequent' harrowing, were, carried out extensively.

Mr. Ahrens: was definitely of the opinion that the dairy farmer in New South Wales equld considerably mr crease ;his production per. acre by following the principles of grassland farming adopted' in: New. Zealand. The loading dairy farmers in New. South "Wales were admittedly working oirthis plan, but the proportion was much smaller than in New Zealand. New Zealand certainly seemed to get the best out of its land. ''.."■ , . .

During the past.' year" Mr. Ahrens devoted much of his time- under the direction of Mr. J. N. Whittet1 tb research work involving the- use of fertilizers. By alternately mowing and grazing trial plots quantitative results were obtained; by chemical, analysis of samples of pasture qualitative results could be determined, and so the value of a particular fertilizer treatment estimated. This modified technique for pasture- investigation work was an outstanding feature of the work at tho plant research station Palmerston North and Mr. Ahrons welcomed tire opportunity of obtaining the latest delaids. lie also secured much .valuable information on tlie improvement of strains of various grasses and clovers, seed testing, and seed certiiicatiou work.