Page 6 Advertisements Column 2

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 313, 19 December 1936, Page 6

SUB- CLOVER Development of Stong Riverbed Land | GOOD RESULTS ■ Interesting comments dealing with I .he success of subterranean clover in i ;he South Island, where it has been in--1 iroduced comparatively •■ecently, is | tontained in an article in the Churcb- ; ■hurch "Press”, in view of the out- ! standing results obtained with su - ter- ! aiiean elover in Hawkes Bay, the folj owing quotations from the article will j ;e of interest: — i "A farmer during the week who grazes light stony nver-oed land, nien--.ioned to the writer that he had carried on a paddock of subterranean rig, it ihrough the winter six twes to the I icre. In a few years his flocK had ' aiore than doubled m size, and he had ! teed to spare. ’Subterranean is the ; natural covering lor scores of thouI sands of acres of light land on the ; plains,’ he remarked, ’and m anothei i to years, if farmcis wake up to ns value, the carrying capacity of such ; country will be much nnre than i doubled.’ i "A lew stands were inspected in the I Uolleston-Dunsandel distiict, and m j the Rakaia river-bed districts. ‘Stands’ i may be a mis-descriptiup, as on one ; property the area comprised 1500 a. res, j undoubtedly the largest belt of the i clover in one holding m tlu Doni nion. i Incidentally, with the aid oi 55 ac.es ' ot lucerne. 40 acres of turiiips. and a i small area of Montgomeryshire red [ clover, these 150 U acres, with 700 a.»es r at barren river-bed throw n in, are carj rynig practically 3000 sheep, a lair I proportion of them studs, and tue g-eut I bulk Hock breeding ewes. I "This notable acmevement has ben secured on the ‘Uakleigh’ estate oi the Canterbury Seed Company on the road ! between Leestmi and the liakaia I bridge. 'The better pact of the proper- [ ty was at one time obviously sub,,e"t | to frequent, if not p; nmuicmt alteni tion, from the* i’ahaia liver, hit t-.e I bulk of the 220(1 acres is p.aml, o'et river-bed, the natmal cavmmg v-i which was manuka, matagoun, mosand stones of varying siz.s Goise came along after the white man aid ! his lent a little colour. This i- the i condition of this river-bed country to- [ day. Its grazing value is apparently : nil, but it might be worth 25, ■ oi 30/- ■ an acre fur .shelter and on odd p eking. I “It is amazing to see this soil ot ! waste separated only by a t<nee Horn ; subterranean clover cairying three I and four ewes and lambs to the a< re I for quite long peiiods. The local I manager of the company, Mr H. Ncave, has every occasion to ttcl grati- ! tied with the results of bis policy of rei clamation. It. is only a little more than live years since Im started out with subterranean to clothe this waste, and most of his 1500 acres were sown i during the first two and a hall yiais I He sowed IJlb. of seed to the acre in' the earlier fields, with ryegrass or | cocksfoot. In the first >ear the dei velopment was slow as far as the subI terranean was concerned, but towards j the third year it had started to live I tip to its reputation, spreading thickiv I over the surface of the ground am! | gradually taking possession. The plant ; sorted out the better soil covering, and ! there is holds indisputed sway.