SWAMP LANDS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4913, 9 December 1925, Page 4

SWAMP LANDS.

PROCESS OF CULTIVATION Before the rich swamp lands lying alongside the Waihou River at Mangaiti can -be brought into productiveness something more than drainage will be necessary and many enemies will have to be subjugated before the dairy herds will be '■ seen grazing peacefully over green fields. When the water disappears the surface of the ground is found to_ be very uneven, being covered with numerous little knolls, while coarse vegetation occupies every foot of space. Some kind of cultivation is necessary before the land can be brought into usefulness. A good idea of the process by which the desired conditions are obtained can be gained-by a visit to Mr F. M. Strange’s farm at Mangaiti. Mr Strange is now breaking in about 60 acres of swamp land and this is being done by- means of huge harrows, which have along two sides strong knives. There are two harrows, one large and one small, and the nature of the ground determines which shall be used. The harrow is drawn by a powerful tractor, and as it, passes over the rough ground it levels the knolls, tears out the huge tufts .of growth, and disturbs the whole course of wild nature. All growth is so severely dealt with that the whole of the land treated is, within a few days covered with dry swamp grasses and rushes which, when the weather is favourable, can easily be burnt. After the fire the land has a very different appearance and the next stage in the process of cultivation is not so difficult for there is a comparatively even, surface’ to work upon. To drive the tractor with a harrow bounding in all directions behind it over the rough .ground is no easy matter,-but the work is done fairly quickly and no method more effective or economical could be adopted.