THE COUNTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 148, 21 June 1912, Page 9

THE COUNTRY.

FERTILITY IN PASTURE LANDS.

EOW IT IS TO BE iIAIXTADCED. I i The manager of the Moumah.nki Hovjnmient Experimental Farm lias given ,oine valuable information and advice fccccrning Uie all-important question of maintaining the fertility oi pasture lands. He points out that pastures can ok improved in several ways, such a= ir.iininjr, liming, harrowing, manuring, ml also by the consumption of artiti■i?l and other foods by stock grazing ,a the In the improvement .if. pastures -thr- first essential is to see ihat the soil is properly drained. Al.icu»h no vegetation i-aii thrive, without i sufficient supply of water, neverthe- ;~- a superabundance of moisture has in injurious effect on many soils, theret'orrfit is essential that the surplus water nould be removed. This allows the rant roots to penetrate deeper into the .•nii, and. pr-epares the way for tillage. Another method of improving pasture ibk U by the application of lime. Al.hough not in itsell h fertiliser, lime is cry <>=ential in all plant foods, and within- iime plains cannot thrive. It eon(Bb the insoluble [Hani foods into solas, :■;:.! concrts thii liuni/) ;iiid sour ...aaliicina fa- foiniunu -in ninny of our .%.soiU. . lv al.-o a -M»t.s largely in the pSwerising and breaking up of the soil, ai U.oue joi.tiie grentest factors in the sicparatinn ot a iiood tilth, which is jf so great importume in the growing yj 'all crops, and especially in the gemiiJttioa.of dovei"".-.. rapp. and all line seeds. aim applied to grass land, lime favours ik grg>yth of leguDiinousi plant:-, has a powerful efl'ect i-.i ronovating the sward ;f turf, and it, a\~o helps to decompose ■iccirring matter. Aurxpcrt. refcrriiivi to the of lime •t> =omc of the Kothamstead experiments, i!ai» that n>siilts have demonstrated otViTnd-doubt) that v dressing of lime is *!wiliK»lJr- for gfraos lan-d in ■ilraoit ull aoil.M in ordiT to neutralise .' ne acidity produced by decaying veaeta•'ion. and aUo to enable other manures Jo exercise thHr full functions."' We '■ire it onalir authority of this reliable •xpert that the benefits to be derived 3om the manuring: of pastures may be ■.aid to be more indirect than otherwise. The nature of the herbage i- also very ;nuch influene.-d by the manures applied to it. Thus, when one kind of manure * applied, of one kind tend to predominate, and crowd out grasses of mother. It 'has Wn notP<l"that the '■Dore highly grass land is manured, the setter the good graces and clovers are Mimulated, and this eventually displaces llie coarser and inferior orasses. That •lie pastures of any field can bo largely bilged by the ap*p!icnlion of artificial glares is now an pscablishpd fact. Tt b over half a century since the late Sir Mα B. Laves commenced his famous aperimental work at Rothamstead. Mongst the other valuable works which ffere instituted was an expprime-nt with i"Mrares_on pasture land.-. The rpcorda w this particular ,>\-pprin.ieiit now ex»na to over sixty years. clo«c nn five tones as long us any available records li aay other experiments of the same mature.. The New Zealand Government fcpnf referred to h.id the plca-iirc of fflmparing the plots differently treated, »ad the sward on the imman'iirod plot "U no comparison whatever with many! ittbepther plots v.-h.i,.h had been treated Wh.thc necessary fertiliser ingredients.