BIG FARMING SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 242, 9 July 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

BIG FARMING SCHEME

Napier Lagoon Reclamation

INTERESTING INSPECTION

Au inspection of the farming activities of the Napier lagoon reclamation scheme proved of great interest, though undertaken with some misgivings, as accounts of a similar scheme carried out at 131UI1 some years ago had shown the difficulties of desalting to be very great indeed. A sight of the whole huge area was taken from Parke Island. It looked vast for 7500 acres. The drains are impressive, and it was stated that there are 900 miles of them. It seems an incredible distance. There is a very useful system ot roads, which are laid for immediate usefulness and with a view of eventual subdivision. . , A feature of the area is that it is owned by the Napier Harbour Board, drained and roaded and banked by the Public 'Works Department, and farmed by the Crown Lands Small Farms Board. Like other farm areas of the province, this too suffered from the April floods. The winter barley -was drowned out, the sugar beet trials were ruined. The loss of barley and other feed crops was a blow to the management. Stock Doing Well. What is of most interest to a farmer is how the stock are doing. Foot-rot with sheep and possibly some form of salt poisoning with both sheep and cattle might have been expected. But the very salty nature of the soil apparently, or else the gritty effect of its shells content, provides most healthy feet. "Foot troubles are nil,” said Mr. P. Brosnahan, manager of the farming operations on the area. Sheep here have done really well and cattle would have too but they were kept "working” all the time. Altogether 6600 sheep and 200 head of cattle were carried this past summer. The latter, two and three-year steers, were employed eating weeds and tall fescue. They have been now sent off to the hills. The hoggets on the property were doing nicely. Salt is the supreme problem here. The place can be thoroughly drained by straightforward engineering, with closespaced drains and flood-pump; But ever the salt rises to destroy pastures. A good autumn the pasture takes well, flourishes till summer, then dies off in patches as the salt rises to the surface. Brought up by capillary action, it forms a fine, crystallised skin on the ground surface. This has been the cause of many disappointments to those ill charge of the development.

- Apart from this the soil is well endowed. It is fertile and good to work. Barley grows well, sown at two bushels of seed and with 2cwt. of fertiliser an acre. Pastures sown in autumn' are given 2cwt. of fertiliser in the spring following.

The area is very open and windswept, and its low-lying position makes it cold on frosty nights. Shelter trees are being planted, and ngaios and willows appear promising, also tamarisk. By the homestead I saw within the fenced-off, uugrazed area some perfect cow pasture; just the normal pasture, benefited by spelling. This shows how well it can grow here. The sowings are principally of perennial rye, plus 341 b. white clover and 6i lb. cocksfoot. Good strikes are usual. The pastures appear, however, to need very careful grazing over the first eighteen months, to enable them to build up. As yet active farm development has been applied to but 3500 acres, and of this only a portion lias been cultivated. The soil is promising, and there seems no doubt but that this area will, within a reasonable time, be a rich contributor to Hawke’s Bay’s production.