AGRICULTURAL MATTERS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4950, 12 March 1926, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL MATTERS.

CONDITIONS ON PLAINS.

ADDRESS BY EXPERT. At tire invitation of the Farmers’ Veterinary Club Mr T. H. Patterson, of the Department of Agriculture, visited Nga.tea on Tuesday last to discuss matters of interest with the settlers.

During the afternoon a visit was made to the section reserved, when the district was opened up, for the purpose or an experimental farm, and during the evening about thirty farmers were addressed in the- Ngatea Hall.

In explaining the objects of the ■meeting Mr A. J. Andrews, who presided, said that 'the Veterinary Club h,ad invited Mr Patterson to be present. Mr Patterspn had outlined to the speaker that it was the duty of the settlers ,to make a suitable case to the Agricultural Department, so that it- would take the necessary action to deal with the many problems confronting settlers of the district.

Mr Patterson said that he had been asked to visit Ngatea to hear the special problems the settlers were up against. He would therefore like to be asked queft-ions. Any new difficulties that had not come under ithe notice of the department were matters 'for experiment, and it would be the duty of the department to conduct suitable experiments.

Mr Andrews said that the fundamental problem that required explanation was why most of thei farms on the Plaints- were not producing as much now ais- they did years ago under the same conditions, as far as was known. Mr Patterson said to diagnose the case thoroughly would be difficult without an examination of the district. Possibly if some farmers present gave their experiences he migh.t be able to deal with the matter. He would not like to pay that farming methods were not what they should be. In some cases farms were sadly lacking in drainage, as the failure in rye gra,ss, cocksfoot, clovers, and even maize, indicated.

Mi - J. Whitmore expressed the opinion that drainage was not the sole cause. It did no ; t apply to the Kopuarahi district, where'there were farms' now producing much more .than they did a few years ago. He would not like to see the statement tha.t the farms were, going back appear in the press, as it .was by no. means general. In the Kopuarahi district the farms were producing well,/but it was to be understood that manure was freely, used, Mr F. Wa'lla.ce asked for an explanation of the effect of different manures on farms that had been thoroughly drained.

■ After drawing attention to the wastage of manure urn undrained land Mr Patterson isaid' that while some plants would live in. winter and isome on ,wet land it was desirable jto use the better class of grasses, isuch- .as, timothy, meadow foxtail, poa trivialis, paspalum, lotus major, strawberry clover’ ,etc. These are the .grasses that should be planted in preference to ry grass, which could be introduced by the carting, out of rye grass hay grown on the drier parts of the farm. He had also seen during the day farmsm with netter drainage that, if the production was decreasing, was due to la.ck of manure. He would recommend the use of basic slag, super, or ground phosphate.on such country.The quickest , results in spring manuring w.as obtained from the use of, super and lime. For cropping where a quick acting manure was required super could be used. Bonedust, said the speaker, was advisable for maize. Modern .dairying made great demands on animals —a greater demand than Nature ever intended, and this needed replacing in the soilFor everyy 500 lbs of milk taken off the farm 9 lbs- of phosphoric acid or the conteirtis' oV half a .hundredweight of super were’ removed. Manuring was therefore, said the’ speaker, only meeting the demands, of modern high grade farming. The deficiencies had to be made up, otherwise some animals. suffered from a deficiency of certain essential mineral salts, and tailed to do well. On. peat lands this was very marked/.' Ari improvement in the health of stock could be made in varying degrees by medicinal treatment, prov ision of licks, removing to rough ffeed, topdressing with mineral, fertilisers, or by removing to other land.,- The quality of the water or a sb/or.tage may be a cause, but the speaker had an Open mind on the subject ' df the quality of ' the waters of t’fie district.

Touching on passalum, Mr Patterson said that when this grass overran some of the farms in North Auckland the owners thought that they were ruined. To-day those farms were the best producers, and the farmers whose land was not overrun considered themselves unlucky. In the Northern Wairpa paspalum had driven out tall 'fescue- If clovers were growing in paspalum it would not become sod-bound. Top-dressing produced a long season of excellent feed. There was no question, said Mr Patterson, of the quality of the paspalum, lotus major, reo grass, and cjover pastures ais demonstrated in the Kaitaia district. With annua,! topdressing paspalum diq not drive out the other grasses. There was no need to trouble about it spreading to other paddocks unless there were barren spaces. However, p.aspajum was better than weeds; but where there was a good sale of pasture paspalum would not take. In reply to a question Mr Patterson said that paspalum was hard to establish It was necessary to get a good grade of seed. IF sown in the autumn with other grasses it would take four- years; tp become established. If shut up for hay seeds were dropped. Eight to ten, pounds of paspalum, wityi rye grasses and clovers, should be sown in the autumn. On scalding of seed he had nothing to s.ay.

Mr Whitmore said that if paspalum Was going to take charge of the Plains it would have done so long ago considering the amount that had been planted.

For spring sowing, ’Mr Patterson advocated a mixture of rye grasses and clover, and only light stocking for sometime. Answering a question, Mr Patterson said that if other grasses could be established on peat, paspalum could be established by careful management.

Asked 1 his views on underground drainage, Mr Patterson said that this was expensive. Tiles cost £lO an acre. On unconsolidated peat underground drainage was not .advisable. To prevent the silting of tile drains it was a good plan to place the sods upside down above the pipes.

In the discussion that followed Mr Patterson said that the subject .appeared to be one worthy of investigation by. the department.

Mr Anderson urged the advisability of having experiments carried out by farmers under the supervision of departmental officers.

Mr G. T. Davidson urged that the department be requested 'to .acquire a.nd work a section of land in the distiict so that it could get first-hand information under all conditions. Mr Patterson, in reply to the chairman, said that in the Wairoa where soil conditions were similar to the Plains in regard to flooding and its effects, the settlers had secured a section of land and .the department had subsidised the farm and administered it through a board o!F control of which the chairman w.as an officer of .the department. This system also in vogue in Taranaki and was proving very satisfactory. Another method was for the department to take up an area as had been done on the gum lands’, and the; final alternative was the co-operative instruction method on- settlers’ farms. The work would be under the control of the’ department’s’ instructor for the district, and in such matters as drainage the Agricultural Department would co-operate with'’ the Lands Department.: There w.as likewise every prospect oif close co-operation with fa.rmers. The system was workingvery well in other districts, and if a request , for its establishment on the Plains was made it would 'receive careful consideration.

Mr G. T.' Davidson moved, Mr C. W. Schultz seconded, and it was decided that the Agricultural Department be requested to carry out experiments in farm drainage .and topdressing, arid that a piece of land be secured ; fcir .the purpose.. The meeting closed with a vote of ,tha.nkts- to Mr Patterson.