MANAGEMENT OF CRASS LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 473, 3 April 1909, Page 3

MANAGEMENT OF CRASS LANDS.

In a recent lecturo Mr. Kenneth J. J. Mackenzie, lecturer on agriculture at Cambridge University, declared that tho proper management of grass land might receive the attention of an intelligent man for a lifetime without satisfying hie thirst for knowledge. Up to the middle of the last century only two kinds of land were under permanent grass in anything liko vast areas—the worst because working it did not pay, and tho best because it yielded abundantly without, tho labour of ploughing. To-day there was a dill'ei'ont state of affairs. Scarcity of labour, low prices of corn, and the increased demand for "warm" milk had caused the laying down of a area of medium land. There had, moreover, been a great increase or grass land in'localities where the climate differed from what used to be considered essential and where the farmers used to look upon pasture or meadow as a mere adjunct, often not thought worthy of the best attention. Of such land he had most experience, and now had it especially ;in view. It was often forgotten that in pasture the grass was resorvod solely for grazing, while a meadow was cut/ every- year for hay. Tho distinction ' should bo observed in' practice as well as theory. In keeping down weeds, moro use might bo made of a j knowledge of botany than was at present-the case among grass farmers. Of tho many things that the thought he could loam in six months, the art of grazing deceived him more than any other. The judgment to know what class of stock to buy, how many animals to get, how cattle or sheep were doing, when they had best be ' 'drawn*' for sale, or whether they should continue to graze involved questions as to which the uninitiated woro unaware of theii own ignorance. Broadly speaking, it was advisable (1) to keep each pasture more - particularly for either cattle or sheep, (2) occasionally to introduce some sheep into a cattle pasture and vice versa, (3) to lot horses at the right timo eat tho grass which had becomo too rank for cattle. Referring to manuring, ho said' that as far as nastures were concerned, the farmer, by encouraging clovcr, was ablo to supply his land with what was otherwise the most expensive of all fertilisers, nitrogen, and to

do .so free of rost. Limo, so much and so properly appreciated by our ancestors, seemed strangely neglected by tho grassfarmers of to-day. Sinco 1890 land under grass in England had increased by nearly a million acres, but our practical knowledge of _ management was not what it might be. Scientific information was plentiful, but there was great difficulty in finding any general systematic practico on which to build up knowledge of the management of newlyfarmed pastures and meadows.