PASTURE CULTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1919, Page 7

PASTURE CULTURE.

LAYING DOWN AND AFTER CARE.

(Being a lecture delivered by Mr. J. W. Deem, of the Agricultural Department, at New Plymouth on June 12, 1919, in connection with the Taranaki A. and P. Society's Winter Show.) Mr. Deem prefaced his lecture with an explanation that he did not feel capable of doing justice to the subject, but hoped what he had to say would induce farmers to give the question their best consideration. He then emphasised the importance of the subject by reason of the fact that out of 167,755 acres of improved land in the Taranaki county no less than 149,533 acreß are in permanent pasture, as against 18,242 in al) other forms of crops.

.ROTATION. A permanent pasture should, whenever possible, follow a root or fodder crop that has been fed off, for preference a rape or kale crop. The very worst practice is to sow down to pasture a field from which has just been removed a grain or other cereal crop, or, as one frequently sees, a paddock that has been cropped for several years, or until it is badly infested with weeds and so impoverished that it will not grow further crops, is sown down to pasture and the farmer is surprised that his take of grass is poor. It would be better farming to sow the field in temporary pasture, with a liberal seeding of clover. This would give good grazing for a year or two, and would then permit of a good growth of clover being turned under to build up the land for the permanent mixture. In any ca6e, this or something (similar should be done to get the land in good heart before an expensive permanent 'pasture is laid down.

PREPARATION.

If the land las been in Tape or toile and is fairly clean, all that is required is to give the field a light discing, roll well and sow the seed, or sow on the hard surface. This is one of the best ways to get a good pasture. The feeding off of the previous crop gives the land the necessary consolidation, while the droppings are all near the surface and readily available as manure for the young grass. In most other cases it will be necessary to plough. This should be well done, care being taken to effectively cover all weeds and other growths. The land should then be worked down fine by mean«! of disc and tine harrows, then well rolled in preparation for the seed. The grfeat essential is to get a seed bed that is fine and firm, so that clovers and other small seeds will not bo covered too deeply. For Taranaki soils there is nothing better than the Cambridge roller to make a good seed bed. After the seed is sown, the field may again be rolled and finished with a light birai or chain harrow, or if the land is very firm, all that is necessary is to cover with a brush harrow. If no roller is available, a flock of sheep may be driven up and down the field a few times to provide the necessary consolidation.

TIME AND METHOD OF SOWING.

Sowing may be done in spring or autumn, but, on the whole, from the middle of February to the middle of April will be found the most successful. Autumn sowing provides a long growing, period and permits the young B-aRa to wt well established before there is danger of a dry Generally speaking, it is better to sow graas without a cover crop, but in exposed positions, or when the sowing is late in the Beason, it is advisable to sow a bushel of oats or barley to afford shelterSometimes half a pound of rape or buda kale is sown, and this can be recommended especially when the pasture ia being put down in spring.

MIXTURES,

This is a very important feature, and one on which there is a great diversity of opinion and room for considerable experiment. At, the same time there are certain definite facts that must not be lost sight of, and two of the most important of these are that temporary grasses must, as far as possible,, be avoided in a permanent pasture, and that the mixture must have a liberal supply of clovers. If a lot of temporary grasses are sown, they will make rapid growth and smother a great deal of the •lower-growing permanent grasses, with the result that when the temporary grasses have died out there will be many bare patches, which soon become infested with weeds and other undesirable growths. One frequently hears farmers say that clover is natural to their land, and that it is a waste of time and money sowing it. ■ Let me say right here that there, never was a greater mistake. It hasbeen proved by experiments in various parts of the world that, no matter how prone your land is to clover, it still pays to sow a liberal seeding in preference to waiting for the clovers to establish themselves. These experiments have shown conclusively that clover sown with permanent grasses has the power to collect or make available plant food which exercises a great influence on the grasses and causes them to grow with greatlv increased vigor, with the result that thev quickly establish themselves i#nd a much better permanent pasture is pbtained. True, if your land naturally clover, you will get a fair stand j«f it in a year or two, but your grasses will be weak and thin in comparison with those grown on a field that had clover sown with them. This was demonstrated by a recent experiment at Weraroa.

fiic quantities of seed usually sown in raranaki run from 30 to 50 lbs, but le tendency ia to the heavier sowing, "i deciding how much seed to sow a ■■eat deal depends on the preparation of | !e seed bed. If this is well prepared, !"rty pounds will give bettor results nan fifty on a rough and badly prepared >e<. (or a. reasonably well prepared field I would recommend about 40 lbs of seed for North Taranaki, made up as follows: Cocksfoot 16 lbs, timothy 2 lbs, perennial rye 9 lbs, Italian rye 3 lbs, cowgrasa o lbs, white clover 2 lbs, lotus cornloulatus I lb, dogstall 2 lbs. If ls ,^ r ° n S ° r river flats the cocksfoot cquld be reduced, the dogstail cut out, and the rye and timothy increased and a little meadow fescue and meadow foxtail added, sav 3 lbs of the former and 2 lbs of the latter. On the other hand, if the land is very light the cocksfoot and dogstail should 'be innreas<?d by four and two pounds respectively, and for wet or swampy situations lotus major should be added or substituted for lotifs cormculatus. Many farmers object to dogstail on the ground that it has a bad habit of running up to seed. This is to some extent true, especially the first yeaT, but if properly controlled at this period it, to a great extent, loses this habit. It is one of our earliest greases, very nutritious and well liked by stock, and makes a, very useful bottom grass, and,' although more adapted

for sheep pasture, it provides quite a lot of cattle feed and is a much batter filler or bottom grass than fescues and similar grasses.

MANURING AND AFTER CARE. When sowing a permanent pasture, especially when the seeding does not follow a feij-off erop, such as rape, it is necessary to give from 2 to 3 cwts of a good phosphatic manure, such as basic slag, basic super, guano, or a good proprietary grass manure; or if the land haa been recently limed it may be treated with ordinary superphosphate. Having sown your pasture and secured a good take, the after care and treatment is of the utmost importance. During the first year considerable care is necessary to see that the field is not too closely, and, ou the other hand, equal care must bo taken to see that it does not nm up to seed. The ideal conditions are to k«ep it nicely fed off so as to induce 6tooling, and at the time time avoid it being eaten bare enough to permit ol Lhe slower maturing grasses being pulled up by the roots or eaten out before they are properly established. Frequent rolling with a heavy roller will be tound benefiicial, especially during the first year. Established pastures should be gone over with the tripod harrows several j times in the year, but particularly in the fall and spring, so that all droppings may be evenly spread over the field and rough tufts of grass and other growths broken up. Having established a good pasture, great care should be pxercised to preserve it by means of judicious top-dressing. It is a great mistake to refrain from top-dressing until your pasture is showing bad signs of wear. It is far better to start early and keep the pasture in pood heart by frequent light' dressings tlinn to wait until a lot of your plants have died and then give a heavy dressing. A couple of hundredweights of one of the manures mentioned above every second, or third year should keep the pasture ip good condition, or, if you are in a position to get lime at a reasonable rate, apply, every four or five years, «ix to eight hundredweights of carbonate of lime, followed by two hundredweights of superphosphate every two or three years. When the pasture gets old and the clovers are running out a certain amount of renovation can be done by discing in the spring (having the discs filmost straight) and broadcasting a few pounds of clover, following up by rolling and top-dressing with manure.

PASTURES ON LAND WHICH CANNOT BE PLOUGHED,

The renewing and care of these pastures presents very great difficulties. When the bush is first felled and burnt it is possible to get a good seeding, and every care should be taken to see that plenty of good seed is put on at this: period, as never again in the history of the land will such an opportunity offer, und any subsequent attempts at renewing must bo .more or less patchy and a matter of expediency. Where the land is in small holdings and well fenced aiucli can be done by letting the grass go to seed now and again, to be followed by heavy trampling of stock during the autumn after the seed lias ripened. Again, a great deal can be done by feeding out hay on these faces during the winter and spring and by the dunging )f cattle that have bfen feeding where clover and other seeds are ripe. IF, on the other hand, the area is large and badly infested with bracken or blackberry, more must be attempted in the way of introducing grasses -that will seed and stand burning. Foremost amongst these are danthonia. paspalum, creeping bent, crested dogstail, and pott pretensis. In some cases where it is difficult to get paspalum started it may be found expedient to plant small areas much after the style of planting marram grass to hold sand and protect these plants for a year or two or until they are properly established. They will then spread by root and seed. As much topdressing as possible should be done on this class of land so as to encourage stock to graze on the steeper portions, but it is recognised that, for economic reasons, this must, of necessity, be limited. Where the land is properly fenced sheep will greatly assist in the maintenance of pastures in rough positions.

PASPALUM.

While I admit that paspalum is a very useful pass in many districts I am opposed to including it in general mixtures for fear that it might ultimately take possession of large areas and become a nuisance. That it should have a place on many of the farms in North Taranaki I am convinced, but i should prefer to see it restricted, as far as possible, to certain definite areas. For this reason I should suggest that, instead of putting a pound in an ordinary mixture, a certain field or fields should be set apart for paspalum where it could be properly controlled. If it were feared thkt it would spread from these areas a good headland of ordinary permanent grass could be sown around the paddock and the paspalum put in the centre., as paspalum by itself would not produce a great deal of feed for the first couple of years, the following mixture is suggested: Timothy 2 lbs, perennial rye 10 lbs, Italian rye 10 lbs, cowgrass ii lbs, cocksfoot 4 lbs, paspalum (i to 10 lbs according to quality of seed. The headland suggested above will, to a great extent, prevent the paspalum from creeping isto the adjoining paddock. It will also facilitate the use of the mowing machine should it lie found neceasary to use this to control the paspalum.