LUCERNE IN NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 981, 23 November 1910, Page 8

LUCERNE IN NEW ZEALAND.

f . . ' STATE EXPERIMENTS. ..: !/, According to the latest-number of the > Journal of Agriculture,'": the following i - »T9 . the' results ' .of experiments v ivith ; lucerne.at the MoumahhKi State Farm. ' The'report 'is made by Mr. 8.. Clifton < I'rovious to 1903 several attempts had j been, made here to grown lucerne ,on a : comparatively large'. scale, but--they all j'. resulted in failure. In the above-men- . tioned. year a small plot was - sown,., 45 i, yards by 25 yards in extent, and this !• V- ,-na? been a pronounced ' success. This, j, season five heavy crops have been;'cut; , As,these cuttings were not weighed prei . vions to my taking over the management, ; I am unable to give'the exact weight, .but I. can, safely state that it.was suoh ; as would satisfy the most'exacting. The f success of this small plot warrants 'a ; . further-effort on a larger scale*. It must 1 V 1 -be •. remembered, however.'. ;that a. small .plot- can be given attention that it'is not'-possible- to give to a larger, area; also, the present plot is in-a sheltered ■'. /position'. .Seven acresare' now beingi . prepared-for this crop.. The field under ! . ' preparation- previously 'grew- a mixture j : of :peas, tares, 'and barley. ' This was i.'.' 'partly'eaten, off !lj- bullodks,'.'and the retrainder ploughed under. .' One'ton per i latere;'of unburnt "limestone .was |tlien sown, and well harrowed : in. After !. ' dying in' this state'for ..a month it was i ." Wfeain;harrowed to. destroy the weeds that !. [had; germinated in 'the meanSmie. It iwas.then ploughed about.din. deep.. The ' object of : the shallow' ploughing, was to 'cut all weeds and yet -not bring the ■ ploughed-under crop, to the surface—this .■will be, done later on..' v . According to , American reports, the - success attending the . application. :of ground unburnt limestone , to' lucerne ;• - irops has been phenomenal. I should - . prefer sowing this crop .-in the 1 autumn, ibut for various reasons.l'.was unable to carry this out. < 1 am of opinion that if lucerne can only'; be established on, this land, turnipgrowing may be. profitably, abandoned, ■ and club-root and other "blights'ignored. If'lucerne can be established here—and I-Mhink it can—a heavy stock could be' . carried at a minimum of cost, and : the 6oil, instead of gradually impoverished, would'- have , a.- greatly-in- . creased;, fertility... If cultivation .of this - poor, light soil has to be continued, the fertility cannot be. kept up , by,., applica- ./ tions-of fertilisers, althoughsome authorities would have us believe, its can. Scientists, however, have not yet demonstrated that anything elk can take the place of farmyard .manure,' althouffh nowadays the artificial fertiliser- is so : much brought to the front-that some are inclined : to look'on-dung as being, old- . fashioned,, and entirely ou.t .of date.. If the application of organic matter in some' form is entirely neglected for . certain; periods—longer or shorter ' in- pro- . - . pbrtibn to the richness or poverty of the 6oil—there is only . one . result possible, and■'that is a gradual decrease in the yield 1 and quality of crops.. I' am well 'aware that is out .of the question . on. many New Zealand-farms, and when neither applications of dung nor : jjrow- - ing of leguminous crops'is practised, the, '. .' 3andj ( will be more easily improved with the "green side" permanently ' on thetop;:" In all new countries - intensive : farming must gradually. take. the place ' of ' tb» .■ "take-all-and-gire-nothing'' stylo, . .. and .the - former - cannot be carried outi ' with.'tho. a-ssistance' 0f,.-'fertilisers alone ; on such-soils as this.- Many; of .the best Continental market gardens" were - origin- . -, ally;-very |)dor,' but. have been brought 'to' the.very highest point of fertility by the' < growing and digging-under. 'of i successive . leguminous crops.