FROM GUM LANDS TO DAIRY PASTURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 204, 17 November 1927, Page 15

FROM GUM LANDS TO DAIRY PASTURE

GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTS NORTH AUCKLAND WORK The 300,000 acres of Crown lands in the North Auckland district might support 1,500 families of farmers. Actually there are a million acres of gum land in the Auckland Province. These figures were given by* Mr. T. 11. Patterson, inspector of the Department of Agriculture, in a lecture on “Conversion of Gum Lands into Dairy Farms, ’ given at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon to-day. Mr. Patterson explained that the gum lands north of Auckland varied from hard clay to sand. It was rather difficult to say why the lands v/ere barren. He was of tJig opinion that the kauri forests had been wiped out by fire at regular periods, and that practically all the humus had been burnt out of the soil. He described the ten years’ experiments with land at Puwera. PHOSPHATES BEST Phosphates had proved to be the best chemicals to add to the soil. By this, clover growth was encouraged and nitrogen was given to the soil in the most economical way. An excellent pasture had been made with ryegrass, clover and paspalum. A wide range of crops could be grown on the almost sub-tropical lands. Tobacco with a good type of leaf grew well, and cotton had been tried, but it did not quite mature. The best way of heating the land was to plough it once, disc and cultivate to bring the clods uppermost, and add 4ewt of basic clag and 3cwt* of superphosphate. After that two or 3c wt of phosphate would hold the country. A farm of 150 acres would cost £ls an acre to break up £3 10s to fence and the cost as a going concern with GO cows would be about £35 an acre. A dairy cow would go to two acres, so that each beast would be costing £7O. With young cows the yield of butterfat at Puwera had been 2831 b per cow. It worked out that the first year’s return would be £1,220 against an outlay of £l,o<_%L