THE MANAGEMENT OF CLAY LANDS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3752, 28 July 1869, Page 7

THE MANAGEMENT OF CLAY LANDS.

Clay soils are certainly heavj' and expensive ti Work, but they possess this advantage over s tils of : lighter texture, that without manure the Litter eooi gets exhausted, while the clay soils improve yea) after year— and with thu exception of the white, al. other clays aie productive. Tho settler before hi makes his pu.cha3e uhould inquire carefully ink thonjTCure of the soil — fckon weigh well the permanetfTadvautagoa to be derived from clay soils, that they keep the manura nearer to theroota of the plants, logs liable to be affeoted by severe drought, are less easily exhausted— for the deeper you go in tho olay in Now Zealand tho richer it seems to be. Eron on soils of strong black loam, whole the wheat crop averaged in tho thhd year twenty-threo bushek without manure, wo have seen the wheat higher and ranker above tho rest alorg the whole lino of drama ■s\ hero the yellow clay thrown from the under-drains had been iilled back again. Wheat, beans, clover, and grass succeed well on these soils. Against them must (jo taken into account the expense of drainage, the greater pow«r required to till them, and the iuxpiacticabihty of working them in all weithors. On the other hand the sandy soil 13 particularly adapted for the growth of potatoes, bailey, turnips, peaa, grass, and even clover for the first six or eight years, is eabily woiked, and at times when fiom excessive moistute it would be better for the farmer to sit over his lire than to attempt to cultivate his clay lands— now and again they aro subject, when sown, to loss of crop through drought, and the fertilising qualities of the manure applied to the surface sink through a poioussoil below a depth to which the roots descend. But there is an intermediate soil — the flax laud of New Zealand — which, itself not clay, but a retentive loam upon a clay subsoil, combines the advantages of the two former descriptions, with the defects oi either modified, as it ia more or less argillaceous or siliciou". This description of land is geuerally found in gentle slopes or ridges eovcied with heavy flax, more or lojs mixed with small manuka and iiisLos, koromiko, and weeds. The surface of this soil at auy rate will be indented with various shaped holes of all depths from six to thirty inches— caused, it i) supposed, by the burning into the soil of th^roots cf the previous crop of flax when destroyed by fire. Another is loam of a lighter texture upon a clay bottom, the natural growth on which is the tupaki and koromiko, with only occasional plant 3 o£ flax. There ia also the shell giound, or a black loam mixed throughout with small shells — thisjtoo, when a clay lcam and resting upon a clay subsoil, is a valuable kind* But in a sandy loam the presence of shells, unless in a very small propoi tion, is cot desirable. With respect to colour in the choice of a soil there has aKaj3 bean a prejudice in favour of a black one, but the reader will bear in mind that, in New Zealand at least, he will mett with black, rich-looking, friable &011 of a character by no means commensurate with its appearance. The depth of this soil varies from two to iive feer, lequnes thorough draining and the application of lime, aud is admit ably adapted for laying down in pasture and the growth of pot\toos, after (but not before) the application of manure ; but it is not suited for th 1 cultivation of cereals, though of course by the introduction of turnips aud sheep Buch soils will eventually become valuable for all purposes, except the growth of wheat. For the present it is enough to say that the ciop of the third year, on such soil will not compare favourably Trull the crop of even tho first jear on clays, or the three intei mediate soils mentioned above. It would appear from the timber which h found underlyingjsuch soil, that kauri has been the prevailing growth at Borne antecedent period, Some descriptions of black soil contain more h,umus tlisu others, but any general supeiiortty in them will fest, we believe, upon the fact that black absorbs heat whereas white reflects it. This rule will also hold good m like ratio with resptct to the intermediate colours, aa they vary from one extreme to the other. But there are some descriptions of soil, and to some considerable extent, which aro to all practical preseutuae, except as cattle run», utteily valueless. Id would seem thafc n°aily the who'e ot the open lauds of this province have boon, at no groat distance of time, covered with fore Us which have been destioycd by fire— that it depended much on the nature of woods bo destioyed wht-ther tho action of the fire was detrimental or otherwise to tho Poil on which they were grown. Accoulingly, wherever tiee.'i of the kauri aro" found in the open soil, either by the presence of its gum or the remain? of the trf c itself, above or below tho top soil, or by those small raised mounds of hard impeivioiv. soil wh.ch point t> the spot wheio the tree stood at the time of i*,3 upheavement, — whtrever thi'-ie are found we shall likewise tind the soil to bo inferior 111 qiuhty, varying, we believe, for better or woise inexact p. oportiou us the original forest was qtnoro or less hf avy, and the action of the lire consaa uently m^ie or less intcn-o. Wo have another o esciiption of a friable bio,vn soil, of li^lit texture, m verlytng apiuous subsoil of simihr nature, only ore cloHely cemented, and on which the action of fire is apparent. Kauri has been the prevailing timber on such land. At present it produces a stinted of ti-tree, fern, and a plant of the fuchsia species which has an oval-shaptd loaf of a light green color, and be.ira ciu-tersof yollow iiuwois. This plant U also a sign of sterility, and 11 known by many .settlors »b the >( poverty plant," As a general rule, tha growth indigenous to tho soil will indioite ita richness or exhaustion at the present moment;, but it must depend upon the claes to which the soil and subsoil belong, whethor in tho latter caso it be worth while to re^toro it to a condition of fertility. Flax, tupaki, koromiko or New Zealand willow (which very much resembles the English privet), fein over four feot in height, are all indications of a good soil. But perhaps the more deairable location for the nowly an ived emigrant, moie especially if his capital be small, ia the forest or heavy bush of the province of Auckland. _ Here he will be sure of au immediate return for his labour— the land, as soon as cleared, beinsr in excellent conditioa for the production of the usual crops and vegetables witho ib the necessity of the application of manure. The only exception to thi3 rule is where the fores!; consists largely of kauri, but this, if within six or seven miles of wa'er carriage, would of itself be too valuable a property to have escaped the notice of largo capitalists for the sake of the timber alone. As howevir the cultivation of clay lands in the old country is brought to such perfection, and ia so well explained in every work on farming, it will not be necci&ary for in to say much morn on thafc Bubject. We will conclude, therefore, that you have determined to settle on or to cultivate bush land; and as this work of manrging bu3h land is peculiar to the colony of New Zealand" at least to this hemisphere, we will cimmence by giving the experience of a thorough practical and successful settler.— — " May's Guide to Farming,"