New Power Machines Hasten Development Of Taranaki Lands

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 29 (Supplement)

New Power Machines Hasten Development Of Taranaki Lands

MUCH rapid and efRcient work has been done in Taranaki by the aid of power plants and skilled operators. Although it is only in recent months that the more powerful type of bulldozer has made its appearance to cope with really difficu t countrv hundreds of acres have been re-claimed from tall goise, fern and blackberry by smaller tractors. Hundreds of other acres, either inaccessible to or beyond the scope of horses, have been stumped, cleared, disced and sown m ciops. Yet a thnd class of country in high land reverted to scrub and second grov th has been successfully converted to productivity by the use of crawler-drawn giant discs and plenty of determmation.

Not only has the advent of these new machines enabled miracles to be performerf in the development of farm land, but many seasons have been saved in the speed at which the work has progressed. Picture, for instance, 50 acres of gorse, eight feet high, as thick in the branch as a man's arm, and so densely grown as to prevent a passage being forced through i*. That was the condition of an area of land near Riverlea last autumn. For years it had been out of production and was looked upon as a hopeless proposition to tackle with the implements then available. To-day it is carrying an excellent crop. At Tariki, a diflerent type of land is rapidly being made available to take its part in Taranaki's war production effort. Here, a considcrable area has alieady been stumped and cleared, and big machines are daily adding to the piles of waste torn from the grudging soil in the form of long buried trees, rata roots and stumps. Where these obstruc-

tions to the plough formerly lurked, huge cavities have been filled in, drainage has been instituted and the land left clean for swedes or grass. The highland behind Urenui contained many acres of inaccessible land growing plenty of weeds, fern and scrub. but offering little in the way of feed for sheep or cattle. Through the use of catterpillar tractors and the replaccment of the plough by giant discs, large blocks have been thoroughly prepared as seed beds, and have since yielded their increase. On one such area of 60 acres, 130 steers were carried through last winter, and the area has now been laid down in good strains of grass. These three examples could be multiplied many-fold to illustrate how effective has been the application of modern methods and new means to the defiance of stubborn unprofitable land. They supply instances that justify the use of brute force when other systems are unavailing.

September is a month that suggests many things besides the opening of the spring racing season. To the farrrer it means another season in full swing, and to those who depend on tractor power for their field work it suggests a time for mechanical stocktaking. Normally, one very seldom has to complain about tractor motors being run too hot. It is far too common to find them excessively cool, with all the attendant evils which result. But in September, if by reason of any fault there is a tendency to overheat, it will surely become apparent.

A Saving Factor. Thdse people, who, because of the splendid season so far experienced, are predicting "something waiting round the corner," should remember that even if exceptionally adverse weather conditions descend upon Taranaki, the record distribution of fertiliser that took place both during the autumn and the early spring will act as a factor to offset a shortage of feed likely to result from any such visitation.