DISTRICT NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1916, Page 3

DISTRICT NEWS.

* NORFOLK ROAD. . ADDRKSS BY ACUiICUI/fU'RAL LV .STIiLTTOI!. (I'i'oni Our Own Correspondent). On Thursday evening, August 31. Mr. I!. U. Sergei, tlie New Plymouth 'i'eehuieal College's agricultural instructor, addressed ,i meeting of Makctawa settlers at the Norfolk lload .School. when, in cpite of a very dark night and threatening sky, there was a fair gathering to hear hi in. Mr. Sergei began his address by reference to some of the principal points advanced by him when he last mot the Maketawa settlers and lectured 011 the renewing of old and laying down of new pastures, and gave instances of good results obtained in various parts of I'aranak'i by farmers who had followed the methods then recommended by him which bad come to bis knowledge' in the meanwhile. lie urged his hearers to try for their own satisfaction tint effect of discing, rolling and harrowing old pastures, as well as top dressing them and sowing lresh grass seed. ff to]) dressing was resorted to phosphate of lime should he n prominent ingredient of the manure used. 'Speaking of his own experience, be told ot an experiment carried 'out by himself in conjunction with Mr. A. Wilkinson when lie (Mr. Sergei) was farming near Kltham. He had fenced oil' two four-acre paddocks of really good pasture, top dressed one with slag and superphosphate and left the other in its natural state. On each of these lots two cows were grazed and their milk weighed anfl tested. Both paddocks yeilded abundant food and appeared very nearly equal, but after a while the cows were changed over, those on the dressed portion were put on the undressed and vice versa, when it was found that the cows transferred to the dressed paddock increased their yeild and the others decreased, which be argued tended to show that though without dressing the quantity of fodder might be as great the manuring made a marked difference to the quality. 'He also told liis hearers that the fanner who bad won the Toko Settlers' Association competition for average yeild of butter-fat for last season did not do much cropping, but relied ehielly on bis pastures to feed his cows, and 011 the care and top dressing of the pastures to make them capable of doing so. In regard to laying down now pastures after cropping, Mr. Sergei reminded his audience that in his last address he had advised discing the land rather than ploughing, except where, as is sometimes the ease after turnips, the growth of rubbish hiul got very rank, and said that when visiting a. settler's place at Toko in the late spring of 1915 he had found that the owner's son was ploughing the land 011 which swedes had been grown, preparatory to sowing it down to grass, and that at his request the owner had disced half the land without first ploughing it, and that though it was really late for a thoroughly satisfactory test, the disced portion of the land had come nn equally well with the ploughed por tion. so that a saving of time and labor was scored if 110 other advantage were gained. Four well known Lepperton farmers were next referred to whose practice was to disc their cropped land, roll it, sow the grass seed and cross roll. Whhi sowing down, in whatever manlier, lime should always he applied. Mr. Sergei also referred to the bovs turnip growing competition for llllli promoted by the Technical College, and said that it was rather disappointing as only •iU boys competed, but he hoped for a better entry this coming season and asked those present to forward the scheme if opportunity offered.

After referring to the analysis of the soil in faranaki, so far its it lias gone at pre-ent. and showing that apparently tlu. principal ([ilVcronco between the soils of the various localities hitherto tested lav m the quantity of lime content.-,, Ml". Sergei /compared the figures available with those given for the average in England by tile highest authorities, and argued from those premises that Taranaki land needs phosphates more than anv other plant food. Jo work a farm to its utmost capacity was probably impracticable in New Zealand under existing circumstances, nevertheless, it was wonderul how much was really done by men farming small areas, men who grew a si'.oession of quickly grown fodder crops ami hauled them oil' the land on which they were grown to the stock. Such men generally found it wise to sow some kind of legume with ench crop, and would probably begin the season with a crop of 'barley and vetches' followed by oats and peas, which mixture would be repeated with a larger proportion or peas as the warmer weather came or., A mixed crop of horse-beans vetches and peas, all legumes, had, when tried, proved an excellent fodder crop l Vith some maize was a favorite green crop, but iu practice, though not in theory, sorghum was found more profitable. A settler near Egmont Village who had jown one half of a paddock "iu maize and the other in sorghum, found that the latter being slower growing came in most usefully when the maize was done. L'or later fodder still would come white turnips, while for late autumn another resort could be made to oats and vetches, also quick growinggrasses such as Italian rye. lie strongly advocated hauling the crop;, to the stock as giving better returns than feeding off. and being boiler lor the pasture. Mr. Sergei pointed out the fac-t that the cow, who by being highly fed was induced to milk to her utmost, transmitted her milking characteristic-, to her progeny. The object of each landowner -hould lie to increase the output of his land, and lie must .study the best methods for so doing. At Toko the farmer* had an association under whose auspices annual competition-, in the district were held ill the following; products: lliglie',' average butter fat, best crops of mangolds. .iwedcs and carrot". Such competitions held in a comparatively small area were probably more useful as instruction than those that brought about comparison of the products of widely separated places where dilVerence in conditions of climate and soil were more than could be brought into the ordinary man's smmninh up of the results. lie hoped that associations on lines similar to that at Toko would be formed in many of the districts which centred round a factory, as was the case at Maketava factory. Such associations would be of great educational value to the fanners, and would strengthen the larger bodies*such as the Tarauaki A. and i l . Society, and .vould render their exhibitions of much greater interest to the farmers all round. After Mr. Sergei finished his address, several questions were put to him )n the subjects ho had touched on, showing that, if small, the audience was attentive. The desirability of holding the next meeting at the Maketawa factory >vas mooted, ,and will be decided .before Mr. Serael is due toe again.