FARM and garden.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1921, Page 10

FARM and garden.

SOIL SURVEYS. WHERE WE ARE LOSING MONEY. AN INTERESTING ADDRESS. At the annual conference of the New Zealand Council of Agriculture, a very valuable paper was delivered by Mr. L. J. Wild, M.A., B.SC., F.G.S. (late of Lincoln College), of the staff of the Training College, Christchurch. Following are the salient features of the address, which we commend to the attention of our farmer readers: There is running to waste year after year in this country valuable information which is in the minds of the farmers themselves, and of which use is never made, because there is no organisation to get the farmers together to find out all they can tell one another. It is admirable to have instructors in agriculture: it would be a still more admirable thing to have a live organisation to go ami obtain the information from the farmers themselves. If every farmer aimed at the same high standard as the best farmers, we should have, without further expense, a great increase in our agricultural output. It would be part of the work of the soil survey to answer this question: why is it that this soil responds in this particular way, as the farmer tells us it does?

To answer such a question examination is necessary both in the field and in the laboratory, for it means correlating the properties that the scientist in his laboratory finds with those that can be ascertained in the field and from the farmer. A knowledge of both aspects of the soil is required in order that this complete picture may be obtained.

As I stated in opening, soil survey work has gone on in America for 40 years. I have maps here showing the position of the work in America, indicating where complete soil surveys have been made, other areas where partial surveys have been made, and others where no survey has been made. This pamphlet of 24 pages of small type is merely a list of the countries where soil surveys have been completed, and a report upon any one of these areas can be obtained by the American Farmer free for the asking.

The general plan of; these reports is as follows: (1) A description of the general topography of the area; (2) the climate; (3) a general account of the agriculture; (4) a description of the soils and sub-soils; (5) remarks about drainage, irrigation, and any such engineering problems; (G) a summary. THE PRACTICAL USES. Now I would like to give you some of the practical uses which I think a soil survey could supply. In the first place, it consists of a stocktaking of the raw material from which agricultural products tare obtained. Upon that basis alone it can be justified. When a manufacturer proposes a new industry he first of all takes stock of the raw material (available. He then considers the matter of labor for working it up, and finally the distribution and sale of the manufactured article. "Yoii have talked a great deal in this conference about markets: that is the top-storey of the whole business of raising wealth through agriculture, but you cannot go on building up the top-storey indefinitely unless you look to the foundations, otherwise the structure will collapse. The foundation of the agricultural structure is the soil, which is surely worthy of study. That is what a soil survey aims at doing. The next use which a soil survey would supply is the interpretation of the experiments made on experimental areas, of which there are all too few in New Zealand at the present. At Moumahaki, for example, there ' is an admirable farm. Farmers from all parts of the North Island go there and see certain experiments tried as to* the 1 rotation of crops, the use of fertilisers, and so on; and they wonder how those methods would suit their own faVms. Some try them, in the hope of getting similar results, and are disappointed. That is on account of the varying soil conditions. Within five miles of Lincoln College, for example, there are three different, soil formations. The farmers have never had the soil formations marked off and explained for them, and they can readily be excused it they go home from a visit to Lincoln and try the same methods but find the result not as expected. What is wanted is an account showing exactly where the different soil formations begin and end, and also the series to which they belong; then a man would see exactly whether the results obtained on an experimental farm could be expected to apply on his own farm or not. Again taking Lincoln as an example, we have different soil formations even tiye miles away; but on the other hand there are quite similar conditions over 50 miles away, on formations belonging to the same series, and these facts the survey would bring out. Ihus a soil survey is essential for the fullest use to be made of results of experiments, and also for the avoidance of the misuse of such results. A CASE FROM ENGLAND. Let me now take a case from England. It became necessary during the war to grow as much wheat as possible and also as much beef as possible. There were available as fertilisers limited amounts of sulphate of ammonia and basic slag. Those in authority had to determine which farmers should be cured of “plough fright” and put to growing wheat and get the sulphate of ammonia which they knew was necessary for wheat-growing, and, on the other hand, who should be persuaded to grow cattle and receive the basic slag which they knew was necessary to grow cattle and receive the basic slag which they knew was necessary for grass land. But the authorities did not know where thev were, because they had not the knowledge about the various types of soils in .England which were suited to wheat and which should be kept in grass. They appointed commissioners to make what in effect were flying soil surveys, and practically a season was lost. Had the American system of soil surveys been in vogue in England, all the necessary data would have been available. A more or less similar thing occurred in New Zealand. In 1910 farmers were urged to grow -patriotic” wheat —whatever that might be and many of them did grow it. But a great many farmers, knowing something of prices, preferred to grow “unpatriotic” sheep. Men who held land suitable for wheat-growing grew sheep, and vice versa—it depended upon their pat-

riotism. But if it did not pay the farnext year there was still a short,age of mer to grow wheat, it did not jny the country to have him grow wheat. He was only doing damage to his soil. The next year there was still a shortage of wheat. The shortage was one-seventh; so the authorities sent out notices saying, in effect, “You grew so many acres of wheat last year, and there was a shortage amounting to one-seventh. Will you please grow one-seventh larger acreage of wheat this year?” That is, the farmers who had already clone damage to their land were asked to continue the process. Other farmers who had not previously grown wheat did not receive these notices, and continued with sheep. Had we had the results of a soil survey, those in authority would have known where the most profitable wheat-growing could have been carried on; but no information was available on that point, and that is what happened. Take another example. We have in Canterbury a most energetic and enthusiastic advocate of lucerne-growing, Mr. Macpherson, who has done excellent work. I yield to no man in my enthusiasm for lucerne, but I think it is a pity that a man should go round in Canterbury- urging people to grow lucerne upon every kind of land, from gravel soils to heavy land. Lucerne will grow well on some soils, but in others soils it will not grow well. If a soil survey of Canterbury were available, they would know where lucerne should, be. grown, and the energy of the lucerne expert could be concentrated where it would pay best. .

THE CASE GF THE PURCHASER. Let us now take the case of men buying new farms —and this bears particularly on the case of new settlers, including returned soldiers. There are land agents who can make a man believe almost anything when they have a property for sale. To verify the description a personal visit is essential, though it may turn out that, arriving even in sight of the place, ho discovers it is unsuitable to his re;;airements. With the soil survey x established the new settlers would go first to the local office, and there he would find first a map of the district showing the various types of soils and their extent, then detailed maps showing the topography, the lie of the land, nature of sub-soil, water supply, and so on. He would also find reports giving descriptions of the soils and their characters and the method of treatment that farm experience and experiments have shown to be most suitable. Passing into the museum, he would be able to examine actual specimens of the types of soils, the characteristic crops of the district, the commonest weeds, and so on. All this information would be very useful in helping him to decide on the merits of the place, as it would afterwards be of still greater use supposing he decided to buy such a property and commence farming. He would, in short, be able to start off in possession of the accumulated wisdom of many years’ experience. Tn the United States special officers attached to the soil surveys are engaged searching for new parties in outside countries which may be suitable for growing in one part or another of America. if a plant were introduced into New Zealand to-day you would not know where it would do well without experiment of the “hit or miss” kind. If we had a knowledge of our soils we would be able to search in a more intelligent way in other countries if or plants which would be likely to do well here, and not merely wait for those which happened to be introduced. Another important point is that the work must hand in hand with experimental work. This is not purely an academic affair at all. It is a practical business. It is partly done in the laboratory in the analysis and description of the soils and it is partly done outside in the field. The, officials would be looking for information from the farmers. The results of .experiments would be co-ordinated and correlated with the results obtained in the laboratory so that a complete knowledge of the soil types would be obtained.

ANOTHER USE. There is another use for soil surveys. I know from experience that farmers now look upon a sod chemist with a good deal of suspicion. Twenty years or more ago they looked to him as the hope of their salvation. The chemist realises now, however, that he can do very little for the farmer by analysis' alone of his soil. The habit still persists, however, of sending in samples of soil in cocoa tins—that is the popular —with the request that the soil be analysed, and that the fertilisers suited to various specified crops be pointed out. This cannot be done. The chemist submits the soil to certain drastic chemical processes and finds out what quantities of certain constituents can be obtained from it in the laboratory; but what/the farmer wants to know is what the plant can get out of it in his fields. It is impossible to tell him that, unless one sees the soil in the field and studies all tbe conditions which make for soil fertility. The soil surveyor would ,have those cocoa tins full of soil and would have, analysis made, but he would find out also from the farmers of the district all the information they have, and he would compare his results with their results, and would find out what properties he observed in the laboratory brought about the results which the farmer said he got in the field. When that information was obtained he would be able to state what treatment was in individual cases required. The individual analysis oi soil is useless until the general soil survey is made, gnd a knowledge of the types obtained. - THE OUST GF THE SURVEY. Now, as to the cost of a soil survey. We have no experience on which to work in New Zealand, but in America it costs only a. matter of ten cents per acre. Some officials is Scotland went into the matter, and I will give you their conclusions. It was calculated quite recentlv that the work in Scotland would cost 3d an acre to give a complete soil survey, and that about 100 square miles could be done per man per year. That would probably apply to New Zealand. I know that Dr. Reakes will say we have not got the men to undertake this soil survey, and I want io ask why we have nQt got the men. It is because we have not got a system of education in New Zealand that is producing the men. We need not blame anybody for that but ourselves. Lord Bryce has said that a country gets the government it deserves, and I suggest we also get the type of education which we deserve. As a speaker said yesterday, quoting Professor Shelly of Canterbury “thp children in the country are given a second-class town education.” , . _ In my own fifteen years’ teaching ex-

perienee, perhaps the most important work I have been called upon to do, that as sole charge of a rural school of twenty-live children of all standards, was when I was presumably feast effi-cient---that is, when I was fresh from the Training College. You complain that young people from the country drift to the towns, but are we not training them for a city life? I know of several rural high schools where the teacher c ? Latin and French and so on is a full-time teacher, and who is, therefore, able to reside in the district and become an active member of the community. But thc instructor in agriculture comes up once a- week, for half a day or so. How can he, whose influence is so much needed in such communities, become a vital force?

And what is thc University doing? The four University Colleges of New Zealand have among them four professors of Latin, four of French, sundry professors or lecturers of Hebrew and Greek. There are four professors of mathematics, of economics, of history, of all the sciences; and there are numerous assistants. There are schools of medicine, law, and accountancy; of engineering, mining, and even of music. But there is no University School of Agriculture, and no Professor of Agriculture. Truly the University of New Zealand provides an intellectual banquet, and. even goes into the highways and byways calling guests to the feast. The farmer alone is passed over. Agriculture is. like Cinderella in the old fairy tale—sitting at home by cold ashes. Surely the main aim of education in this country should be education of the rural community for a rural life by persons trained, to appreciate the fullness of rural life.

“SOME DAY.” But to return to the subject of soil survey. The idea of a soil survey is possibly a new one to many of you, and it may therefore astound you to know that for about 50 years a geological survey has fostered the interests of the mining industry. I believe the total product of the mining industry in this country is worth about £ 1,000,000 per annum, while agricultural and pastoral exports yield a return of thirty to forty millions, and that without counting the produce consumed locally. Yet there has been a geological survey, but no soil survey. The staff of the geological survey includes and has always included some of the most distinguished scientific men of their day in New Zealand, and a very large number of bulletins and reports have been published during the last fifty years. I have three of them here. You will notice that they are magnificent volumes prepared by distinguished geologists, beautifully printed and lavishly illustrated. Here is one, entitled “The Earlier Mesozoic Flora of New Zealand,” written ’the leading authority in this subject in the world. I have no doubt many of yoti are interested in the Earlier Mesozoic flora —that is,' the plants that flourished in this country some ages ago, certainly not less than twenty million years ago. Having spent some little time in the study of geology, I am able, in a humble way, to appreciate this beautiful volume and to feel grateful to a Government department that wisely realises the ability of science to contribute to the development of a. national industry. But as an agriculturist I could appreciate still more a volume, comparable to this one in its completeness, having for its subject some of the grasses of present-day Now Zealand, and as author Mr. Alfred Cockayne. This next bulletin is on “The Buller-Mokihinui Sub-division,” one of the coal-producing areas of New Zealand. J. would ask if any of you can obtain an account of the soils of your district that can compare with this report. The third volume here is an account of “The Limestone Resources of New Zealand.” It contains all that is known on the, subject. Some day it will be of extreme value to the farmer, for it gives complete information about the nature, quality, and suitability for working of every occurrence of limestone in the country. I say “some day,” because we must first wait till the soils of the country have been studied with sufficient completeness to enable us to know where lime is required, and the quantity. We must wait for the soil survey/ No one grudges the geological survey to the mining district, even if, as agriculturists with a sense of our need, we envy the other industry its good fortune.

PRODUCTION IN AUCKLAND. The quantity of new season’s butter received into Auckland grading stores to the end of August was 29,500 boxes, as compared with 18,485 for the corresponding period of the previous season, an increase of 11,015 boxes. According to the Herald, during the first five days of the present month 8470 boxes have been received. It will thus be seen that this season’s early production of butter is of a larger scale than that of last season, and if favorable weather is experienced, a record output should again be made this season. Last season’s production of 766,414 boxes was easily a record for the Auckland district, but the excellent start made by the dairy farmers this season is distinctly promising. The cheese output this season, on the other hand, will probably be less than that of last. The majority of the dairy •factories are equipped with the dual plant, and a number that were last year producing cheese have this year turned to the manufacture of butter. The quantity of cheese received at the grading stores to the end of August this year was 543 crates, as compared with 2535 crates for the corresponding period of last season, a decrease of 1992. During the first five days of the present month 239 crates were received. The exports of new season’s butter from Auckland to date total 21,751 boxes.

A movement is on foot in the Manawatu district to have culls from dairy herds branded by a Government officer, it is felt that this would prevent other dairymen from buying a good-looking cow at . auction when the animal had been thrown out of a herd because it was not a good milk producer. Dairymen have proved to their cost that a good dairy cow cannot always .be judged by its appearance. “I am afraid we are not doing enough to induce the youths to remain in the conutry districts,” remarked Mr. William Perry, of Penrose, to an Age reporter. “We are not giving them enough instruction. I think that one of the best ways to do this is to encourage the agricultural club system. It has many advantages. It interests boys, and by interesting them we get the parents interested. I think the club proposal has much to commend it. There are far too many boys making for the towns, instead of remaining in the country. It is a matter that will have to engage our serious atteutiox u