A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMME

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 83, 24 April 1937, Page 19

A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMME

m 1 mr, 111 Affects Country and Town Alike • , , — 1 CORRELATION OF MAPS An indication of the importance of the results of the various surveys wherein. lies the justification oi the utilisation surveys from the viewpoint of the farmer, was given by Mr. Pohlen, who said that it was now possible to see the f Ulfilment of the confidence in the utilisation work, which the Direetor Dr. Grange, expressed in his address in Hastings some eighteen months ago. "I may say that the results may be viewed with no little satisf action because- they indieate that the programme originally deseribed as the most comprehensive ever undertaken in Kew Zealand, has become one of the most advanced seientifie suTveys ever undertaken in the world for the purposes of land utilisation and of * assisting primary producers," he said. "As the prosperity of the tOwns in New Zealand is so closely bound up in the prosperity of the farmer, the benefits to be derived from it by the business people a^re becoming increasitigly apparent. "The main surveys in progress are," said Mr. Pehlen, "the soil survey; farm management survey and pasture survey." The pasture survey maps the various pasture types. The farm management survey collects all existing information relating to the types _ of farming and farm practice being used on each soil type. The Object of the soil survey is to map out Hawke's Bay into a limited number of economic soil types, or as we usually tvy, to classify the area into its different kinds or elasses of country. The recent advance of soil science, or pedology, as it is called, has enabled ns to classify the soils according to what is termed their soil profile, which is simply a vertieal seetion of the soil fr'om the surface of the ground down to the parent rock.. "In a detailed survey such as is now being carried out in the Hastings orchard area, each individual soil profile is mappe'd as a soil type'as far as possible, although it may be necessary for economic purposes to group to-; gether a number of proiles differing but slightly from one another. In the regional soil survey of HaWke's Bay the soil' types ' mapped are usually, groups of very similar soil profileS with the same general character. The pedologist examines the soil profile by. means of an ordinary lin. wood auger to a depth of 3ft., and is able to recognise and distinguish it.by the variations in texture, eolour, moisture, etc., through that 3ft.

Work for Skilled Pedologist. "I will not weary you with a complete dcseription of our methods because they are Very teehnical. Suf6.be it to say that the skilled pedologist is able to distinguish the various soils by their topography, the shfipe of the hilis, the appearance of the slips, the type of pasture, soil outerops in cuttings, and hundreds of other details often indeseemable to any but the trained observer, although it is always necessary for him" to check his results by means of the auger and by consultation with the farmer. "In outlining the progress of the utilisation survey, oue . cannot emphasise the difficulties . whibh conf routed the workers at the commencemeut o'f this piOneering work. Hnder Dr. Grange, the soil survey had evolved over several years, and although the reconnaisanee survey was a new depar- 1 ture the main lines of proeedure had been determined, and it was, therefbre, a matter bf adaptation to the new conditions. "Farm management surveys and pasture surveys had been made previously, but never before had it been necessary on a large scale to tie down the information obtained to the only statie factor we have — the soils. However, Dr. Grange had, visualised the lines on which information could be correlated with soils, and it is a tribute to the teclmologists that they were able to adapt their methods and information to suit the needs of this advanced modern utilisation survey. "It was "hoped when the work in Hawke's Bay was first planned to complete it within a year or so. 'This meant that each man had to ma"p about 10 square miles per day. When the field Work began, it was realised that such rapid mapping was not as valuable as was necessary because the soil variations Were too great, and though for the purposes of a broad scheme for directing future land utilisation in Hawke's Bay such rapid mapping may have had some value, it would not have fulfilled the object of assisting the farmers. If the work was to be of ahy use to the farmer, it was realised that it must be put into a form that would indieate. to him the types of soil on his property. The work, therefore, had to be slowed down -eonsiderably. Rome was* not built in a day, nor Was it possible to map the 5000 square miles of Hawke's Bay, to colleet the Volume of existing praetice, to analyse it, and relate it to the soils where correlations existed, to form a construetive plan for future land utilisation in Hawke's Bay, and, to disseminate the information to the . pnblic, all in a little over 12 months. What Maps ReveaL "The soil map shows the types of soil and their distribution in Hawke's Bay, and this map will rfemain ossentially the same, for all time, so far as we are concerned, except in so far as more v detailed speeial surveys .are required. It is this static nfitfure of the soil map that gives it a fundapiental place in the utilisation surveys. Other things being equal, each soil type is for practical purposes uniform from the point of view of top-dressing requiremeuts, the crops it will grow, the pastures it will carry, and other factors direetly related to the soil. As the soil. types do not change, it follows that the more farm practice can be correlated with the soils, the easier it wil] be to indieate the farm praetice that should be adopted on any farm in any part of H&Wke's Bay, That Such

correlation existed was a fundamental principle on which the Hawke's Bay work was based. "Pastures change periodically, and the pasture map is therefore dynamic. Nevertheless, Mr. Madden, the agrostologist, has found that certain pastures follow certain ' Soils. Again, he finds that both poor and good pastures may occur on one soil type. By referriug to the farm management information it is possible to find out the methods used to get that particular soii type intp the good pasture, and so, other things being equal, we should be able to apply similar methods to raise a poor pasture to the saine level on the same soil type "The farm management map gives ns a picture of the types of farming now being carried on in various parts of Hawke's Bay. This map, to.o, is dynamic, and the distribution. of the types will change. Indeed, that is the reason for the utilisation ■ work. We have been accustomed to think that the best soils should be used for orchards and intensive farming, the next best country for dairying, the next for fat lambs, and the poorer elasses for other grades of sheep farming, other things, bf course, being equal. And yet, Mr. Elliott 's information shows that the types of farming have no marked correlation' with the soil types, and the importance of economic factors in this respect has been emphasised. Still, the evidenee shows that in Hawke's Bay farming has not yet been completely adjusted to the soils. That is another fundamental principle on whieh the utilisation work was based, and the work that has now been , done has confirmed the §onndness of the principles involved. One might expeet land utilisation in Hawke's Bay to proceed in the direction of adapting farm types to soils, where possible, taking economic factors into" aecount. It might even be possible, eeonomically, to move the boundaries of more lucrative types. of farming gradually into those that are not so lucrative. "Until the work is compjeted, the data colleeted, and all the results analysed and checked, the more outstanding results. of the survey cannot very well be made available. But to instance the rainificatidns bf the survey one may mention certain of the iines along which investigation is proceeding. Some Points of Investigation. " (1). It has been explained how the types of farming are not adjusted to soil types, but that farm praetice is notably to be correlated with the soils, and this is the main reason for the utilisation survey, attd naturally the main investigation undertaken. "(2). Mauy low-lying areas in Hawke's Bav aro subject to .floodiug, and the possibility iB being considered of making some systematic arraugernent whereby people higher up the main rivers let those on low-lying areas further down, ltnow When -the river reaches a certain level, so that stoek can be moved with sufficient rapidity to avoid loss. "(3). In the Hastings orchard areas the height of the' water table appears to spoil many good soils for orchard purposes, according to the still somewhat inbomplete inforlnatibh of Mr. Atkinson, who is responsible for the orchard management surveys. The soil survey h'as mapped out old stream eourses during their' work, and these have a natural fall. Thus, it may be

possible tb indieate natural drainage channels, aUd the sbiis concerned could possibly be made well drained and ■ideal orehard soils, though, of • course, mueh work has to be done before coUstriictive suggestions' can be ma.de. "(4). In parts of the back country of Hawke's Bay,' erosion is proceeding apac'e. Iii "many cases the hills have been stripped bare of soil and the bedrock is exposed. Oue might suggest that the future fate of much of this high country is for it to become bare soilrless rock, if the erosion is not prevented by afforestation or by ■ allowing the seiub to come. back in certain cases. The run-off on the bare rock faces is 100 per cent., and " rVjth increasing denudation, flobding must iherease on the lower plains. I understand the Public "Works Department is investigating this problem in North- , ern Hawke's Bay.' " (5). The location of economic lime deposits has been kept in xnind with sueeessfui results. "(6). Finally, one. might mention the ineidence of stoek diseases in Hawke's Bay. Many of these, partieularly deficiency diseases, are . related direetly, or indirectly, to the soils and the liability of a soil to particular diseases, and the methods of cothbating them can be indicated Mr. Maefarlane, zoologist of the Agricultural Department, in co-operating with the soil survey, is carrying out an investigation on fluke, and he has reason to believe that evfen the distribution of this flat worm within Hawke's Bay may be correlated with the . soilsj because it depends upon the distribution of a host snail which, in tttrn, requires certain. types of swampy localities, and \ these, finally, appear to be' distinctly related to the soils. "In eoncltisibn, may I suggest that the solution of almost any of the main •pfoblems that are feceiving attention, would save- Hawke's Bay more than suffieidnt to pay the cost of the entire land utilisation surveys," said Mr. Pohlen.