PROGRESS INTRODUCTION

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28896, 16 May 1959, Page 8

PROGRESS INTRODUCTION

and Halswell Farm, Ltd., at Halswell. Mr Davies said that next autumn it was planned to conduct a trial to determine the role of fertilisers. Mr N. L. Shillito, seed production officer of the department, suggested that where extra feed production was sought an upright cereal might be used such as Garton or Russet oats. These would tend to also hold up the grass and facilitate the holding of the feed. On Mr McCarthy’s property Mr Davies said he believed that a standard drill with Blackmore tips attached had performed well in comparison with the department’s high country drill. The operation of sod-seeding points was described by Mr C. J. Crosbie, the department’s machinery instructor. The interest of farmers in the method was obvious from an attendance of from u 40 to 50 under cold, damp conditions; One man from Amberley reported having sod-seeded 175 acres, trying nine cereals. He said his aim was to have feed for early lambing in June and July. Still another farmer from the Tai Tapu district described successfully sod-seeding Russet oats into hill country.