N.Z. PASTURES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 847, 16 December 1929, Page 10

N.Z. PASTURES

NEW SOUTH WALES OFFICIAL TO STUDY SEEDS FLAX ATTRACTS AUSTRALIANS New Zealand flax may be cultivated in New South Wales. Its culture is one of the subjects which has brought Mr. J. N. Whittet, agrostologist to the New South Wales Department of Agriculture, to New Zealand. He arrived in Auckland by the Niagara this morning and will spend some time here studying pasture improvement in the Dominion. Imperial Chemical Industries of Australia and New Zealand and the New Zealand Department of Agriculture have both offered Mr. Whittet their assistance and co-operation, and he will be accompanied through the Dominion by departmental officers. Mr. Whittet will make an exhaustive study of the selection and improvement of grasses and clovers in New Zealand, the production of grass and clover seed with a view to future importation of such seed into New South Wales, the use of fertilisers for topdressing pastures and the effect of ergotised pastures on stock. New Zealand grasses and clovers are held in high esteem by New South Wales pastoralists, and it is thought that after Mr. Whittet has made his investigations a considerable export trade from New Zealand may result. During his tour of the Dominion, Air. Whittet will also make a complete study of Nfew Zealand flax, as it is thought that this plant may be suitable for cultivation in New South Wales, where the fibre can be used for rope-making and other purposes.