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Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 April 1938, Page 3

For some months now the British farmer has been receiving Government assistance toward the purchase of fertilisers for pasture improvement. At a recent meeting of the Council of Agriculture for England, it was decided to ask the Government to go one further and to consider the extension of the Land Fertility Scheme by offering grants toward the ploughing up and re-sowing of worn-out permanent pastures. It is suggested that the Government might offer a contribution of £1 per acre, subject to suitable conditions, such as inspection and approval by country authorities, the use of specified seed mixtures and the establishment of a sound pasture. Pollination of plants in exactly the manner desired plays an important part in some of the undertakings of the Grasslands Division of the Plant Research Bureau, and extreme care must be exercised in this direction. Grasses which are pollinated by the action of the wind have to be kept in glass-houses, but clovers, for instance, may be grown in the gauze frames which allow them to be cut off from insects, and yet be growing in the open. Bees are the pollinating agents in that case, but only after they have been caught in the field, taken inside and bathed carefully until the pollen grains on their legs have either been washed off or have burst. In some instances, where a large number of plants have to be pollinated, a small hive of bees is shifted inside the glasshouse.