THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1907. IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8548, 4 October 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1907. IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LAND.

It is very apparent that large areas of pasture land in New Zealand have deteriorated, and it is time that farmers turned their attention to renewing their fertility. Probably there is no branch of agriculture more neglected than that referred to, and yet, according both to scientific experiments and practical experience, it is far easier and less costly to improve pastures, even to the extent of forcing the maximum production, than to carry out moderately good farming on arable land. It has been found bj experiments that the effect of manures on bad pastures was to bring the better grasses into existence and to exterminate inferior species and weeds. The best kinds of meadow grasses, with clover, seem to come of their own accord. They seem to spring into existence as readily to manuring, as weeds would do on neglected arable land. Many a farmer has been puzzled at seemingly spontaneous generation of fresh plants, where they had no apparent existence, by merely applying the conditions and food they thrive best on. It has been found that the application of chemical fertilisers in moderate quantities has largely increased the yield of hay crops. In one case where 6cwt. of superphosphate was applied per acre on land which was in a bad state with moss, the result was the disappearance of the moss and a splendid growth of [ white clover succeeded, causing an | increase in value of the land to £2 per acre. In another instance, 4cwt. of superphosphate per acre was applied over the whole farm, the result being that the land value increased fourfold. The application of lewt. of sulphate of potash and 4cwt. of basic slag gave an increase of 17cwt. of hay, the unmanured land yielding 22£cwt. per acre, the other 39cwt., the cost of manure being 225. In another experiment, 4cwt. of kainit, 2cwt. of superphosphate, and lewt. of nitrate of soda increased the yield from 27cwt. per acre to 53cwt., the cost of manure being only 265. These cases are quoted from experiments made in England, and numerous

others could be related of the beneficial advantages derived from this use of chemical fertilisers. These facts should appeal to the agricultural and pastoral farmers of the Dominion, as the best grasses have run out on thousands of acres of land. The cause of this might reasonably be entertainsd as being due to their being only utilised as mere runs for cattle and sheep, and that they are not worth a moderate outlay to increase their productiveness. No doubt the majority of those who occupy such lands fail to take into consideration the fact that mineral manures continually applied would effect a marked and beneficent change in the herbage, and such a change is accomplished not by cost of hoeing and manual labour, but simply by applying the. manure which causes clovers and the best meadow grasses to spring into existence to fight with and expel the weeds. The oldfashioned method, adopted in some cases of top-dressing the surface and using farmyard manure, however, good it may be, must give place to the more scientific and direct application of mineral manures as being by far the easier, cheaper and more effectual method.