TESTS MADE IN IRRIGATION

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22851, 26 October 1939, Page 3

TESTS MADE IN IRRIGATION

WATERING SCHEME AT

WINCHMORE

SATISFACTORY RESULTS OBTAINED

Striking testimony to the value of irrigation in certain parts of Canterbury is provided by the results of experiments carried out on a demonstration plot on the farm of Mr W.

R. Hammond, of Winchmore. The land on which the tests are being carried out is 36 acres in area, and is divided into checks, or sections, each about two-thirds of an acre in area. The checks, which arc about 40 feet wide and about 10 chains long, are treated in a variety of ways. Some have a certain amount of lime for manurial purposes, others have varying quantities of superphosphate. Four of the checks are not irrigated, and several are not manured.

The experiments are being conducted by Mr W. A. McKellar, Fields Superintendent to the Department of Agriculture, who acts in an advisory capacity. The area was laid out by the Public Works Department. The “border dyke” system is in use. Though more expensive, it is said to be far more effective than the contour and border ditch systems in use elsewhere. Tests in the weight of the grass grown in watered and non-watered areas are carried out. Last year the ratio of the weight of -grass grown in the irrigated area to that on the non-irrigated area, was 10 to one.

Country surrounding Mr Hammond’s farm carries about one and a half sheep to the acre. In 1937-38, the number of sheep to the acre carried on the land under irrigation was seven and a half; in 1938-39 it was nine. Further proof of the value of the watering has been its effect on the grass grub. Some areas nearby, wher there is no irrigation, have been' bared completely of grass, but where the water has been, there have been only slight attacks, and the watering appears to keep the grub down.

Water is sent through the dykes about every three weeks, at the rate of eight cubic feet a second. The period of the flow is about 15 hours. In the Levels irrigation scheme, the cost of the watering was from one penny to threepence a cusec hour.

The scheme was first put into operation in February, 1937. Mr Hammond interids to put an area of 15 acres down in irrigated lucerne to carry the sheep over the winter.