PASTURES ON SAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 March 1939, Page 3

PASTURES ON SAND

EXPERIMENTS Ifl AUSTRAL./ A.

LJSGUMES PPFFJERRED.

A rpqeptly-issued bulletin of the (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research -.(Australia) discusses the establishment of pastures .on deep sands ip die upper South-East of South Australia.

' The' bulletin gives jthe results of investigations that were carried out over a period of five years, and concludes that the objective can be best obtained by the inclusion of fodder species such as lucerne, subterranean clover and “Wimmera” ryegrass v/ith the first, second or third cereal crop, depending on the local conditions of soil fertility and the effectiveness of the initial clearing.

It appears to be unquestionable that, whether in Australia or New Zealand, deep-rooting grass and legume species—especially the latter—are •the only .ones likely to prove permanent and profitable on sandy, pu,maceoUs and similar porous soils in which the level of soil moisture is deep and the -plant foo'd' scarce in the surface areas.

Legumes are particularly valuable on account of the humus and nitrogen which they introduce to the soil, enriching it so that nutritious shallowrooting plants can later establish and thrive.