SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURAL METHODS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 23, 28 January 1911, Page 11

SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURAL METHODS.

#. . HON. T. MACKENZIE INTERVIEWED. [BY. TELEGRAPH — PRESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH, 27th January. Several matters relating to the policy of the Department of Agriculture of providing instruction in scientific agricultural methods are at present occupying the attention of the Minister in charge of the department, the Hon. T. Mackenzie. In an interview this morning th 6 Minister gave a reporter some information regarding several of his proposals. He explained that his object in going to Dunedin was to meet Messrs. Keith and Dunlop, two of the commissioners from Scotland, who visited the Commonwealth to report upon its possibilities as a field for emigration. They had come to the Dominion on a holiday visit, but he hoped that they would be kind enough to give him their viows on the most up-to-date methods of establishing and controlling experimental agricultural stations, and on questions relating to agricultural and pastoral interests. The visiting commissioners would arrive in Dunedin on the following day, and if their plans permitted he would endeavour to show them something of the country of Otago and Canterbury. He realised that the two gentlemen were on holiday, but he was hopeful that they would be of assistance in the department's efforts to improve the existing conditions. The possibilities of utilising what are generally regarded as waste lands in the Taupo district are 'being investigated by Mr. Mackenzie. He said that the experiments in tree-planting on the pumice lands of the district had been a great success, and he' hoped that the experiments which were being made would show that the neglected areas might be employed with profit for the production or grass and root crops. He did not expect big results, but he hoped to demonstrate a profitable fertility in the soil. Some excellent turnips grown in -parts of the district had been shown to him, but the roots were perhaps the product of exceptionally good portions. There was, however, good reason for believing that paspalum and some other secondary grasses could be established on the pumaceous soil.