THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1921. EXPERIMENTAL FARM.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4334, 26 October 1921, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1921. EXPERIMENTAL FARM.

Most people who. have a firsthand knowledge of the peat country on the Hauraki Plains, and the way it is being f armed at present, will agree with Mr H. Poland (M.P. for Ohinemun) when he states (see report elsewhere in this issue) that no good reason has been advanced for why an experimental farm should not be formed on the Plains. It is common knowledge that, owing to the lack of instruction as to how best to deal with the peal lands on the Plains, many of the settlers are labouring at a disadvantage. It is rather surprising to note the Minister of Agriculture stating that the experiments at Ruakura provide sufficient data for the guidance of farmers on the Plains, seeing that the two classes of land are very different the one from the other. It is quite a good proposition that Ruakura should be developed into an agricultural college, which would be as central for such an institution as* the people of this district could reasonably expect, but this in nowise disposes of any of the arguments in favour of experimental farms on different classes of country. The Plains is a land of wonderful promise, and if this great tract of country is to be developed with profit to the nation there will need to be wide and intensive practical education and experiment carried on right on the spot, so that the knowledge so gained may be easily made available, and assimilable through* actual demonstration. The subject of an experimental farm on the Plains is one that should be followed up, for there is little doubt that, with the aid of scientific methods and principles, the production could be increased eight-fold. The mishandling of so large' and potentially productive an area is not a matter of purely local concern : it is a nation’s loss, and as such should command the attention of constructive statesmanship.