QUICK GROWTH

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 117, 13 November 1929, Page 12

QUICK GROWTH

MASSEY COLLEGE

NEW BUILDINGS RISING

SCIENCE AND THE SOIL

Since its inception, barely two years ago, the Massey Agricultural College at Palmorston North has made great strides, and amply proved its worth, and now that the much-needed new buildings have actually begun to take shape, it is not difficult to visualise what the future holds in store. There is arising a new college worthy of the great purpose for which it is intended, wherein the best scientific brains of the country will lend their aid to those who intend to make a living from the soil. The value to the agricultural interests of the country of ihe research work which has already been done is incalculable, but it is nothing to what should bo ultimately achieved.

At the beginning of 1928 the Batchelor homestead was opened as an embryonic agricultural college with' a mere handful of students and a skeleton staff. To-day there are close ,on a couple of hundred students and a largely augmented staff of specialists. To-day new buildings and temporary laboratories surround the old homestead, and the farm itself ia a scene of thriving agricultural activity both on the practical and on the experimental side. Across the road on the magnificent M'Hardy property, generously given to the college ■by the people of Palmerston North, the contractors have lost no time in getting to work on the new college buildings. Built with an eye to the future needs of the country, these buildings when completed should serve for many a generation to come.. They are to be finished within 18 months from the date of the letting of the contract, and those who have tho interests of the country really at heart will not grudge one penny of the expenditure. The first step in the new building operations was to remove the ll'Hardy homestead from the site .intended for the college. This necessitated cutting the building in two. One half was moved to a fresh site several chains away to make ° a principal's residence. The other half did not have such a long journey, and it now forms a temporary administrative block. In this way nothing of the buildings existing on the site was wasted, for they were too good for that, and even the old foundation stones have been utilised to form rockeries. Deep excavations on the site of the old homestead and the initial stages of extensive ferro-conerete work mark tho outlines of the new buildings. The main block will bo on a site probably without equal in New Zealand when its purpose is considered. All round are soils of practically every sort that is likely to confront' the farmer, and these will bo ideal for the tuition of students. A winding avenue of beautiful trees, between which are masses of flowering bulbs, leads up to the eminence on /which the new college buildings will stand, and from which a glorious panoramic view is obtained. On one side lies an area of beautiful bush, which is to be retained as a scenic reserve. Through this runs a picturesque stream, and a judicious planting has been made of native and other t#ees. In fact, trees abound on the property, and the greatest care has been taken not to sacrifice any unnecessarily. Round the central campus other buildings will later rear their heads, as the future development of the college requires additional accommodation. At present the main block is being erected, with a building on a lower level, intended to serve as a residence for tho caretaker and as a place where the students can eat during and after the day's work. Their recreations, even at this early stage, have not been overlooked, and a fine football field has been levelled ready for sowing. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS. Crossing the main road again to the Bachelor estate, those who knew this place only a few years ago would hardly recognise it now. Since it was acquired by the Government for agricultural purposes, miles of substantial fencing as well as roads and bridges have been constructed, and on it is being; carried out agricultural work of many diverse kinds. It is being carried on from two distinct points of view. One is that the agricultural student should have the opportunity of learning all phases of farming and of being instructed in all the latest agricultural developments. The other °is that the scientists, the Agricultural and Scientific and Industrial Research Departments, working hand in hand, should have full scope for .their experimental activities, the fruits of which will do much towards solving many of the Dominion's knotty agricultural problems. As all classes of land are on the estate, from terrace lands to rich alluvial flats, experimental work, as well as instructional work, is facilitated. There are plots which show by their luxurious growth the results of top-dressing,; the wonderful growth of grass contrasting with rush-covered paddocks which have not been treated. Some paddocks have been ploughed and resownf others merely treated with chemical manures. All have a tale to tell to the expert in agricultural chemistry. The results may not be spectacular, but they are of vast importance, and the fact that some of the finest stud sheep in New Zealand have been bred on the farm speaks for itself, as does also the fact that the Massey Memorial College figured more than once on the prize-list at the ' recent Manawatu Show. WHAT THE MAORI KNEW. There are experimental plots of many .another kind, the range of scientific experiment being very large. Perhaps 'some of the most interesting'are those devoted to the growing of many kinds of flax in order to find out wihch type is best suited for commercial purpose. In the course of these experiements it has transpired that the Maori of old knew many a wrinkle about the cultivation of flax that the modern scientist ': is only just beginning to find out. It has been found that the kind of flax which produces the strongest fibre, and that is what the Maori used to aim at just as the modern grower does, cannot be grown from seed, for it will not come true by this method of propagation. It must bo cultivated vegetativoly by root division if good results are to be achieved, and the Maori knew this long before the pakeha found it out.

But there are other flax problems which are being tackled by modern scientific means—problems which the Maori had no means of solving. These include a fight against the various pests and diseases to whioh flax is subject, and upon their solution may be said almost to depend the future of the flax industry, ana with the aid of science it has a great future ahead of it. WIDE RANGE OF ACTIVITIES. Visitors, both farmers and others, to the Massey Agricultural College are many, and all find something to learn or something to interest them. Some will be most interested in the dairy building, where at the. present time concentration is being made upon cheese experiments. Here also are tried out new types of dairy machinery and of flooring materials suitable for dairies. The model milking-sheds show the farmer the ideal towards which he should strive. Then there is the new wool-

.shed, and a model hen community where the occupants have every inducement to break all previous records in the egglaying line.

Pigs, too, have much attention paid to them. There are sties such as are demanded by the most exacting of pig experts, and there are sties which the average farmer could build from the material usually found on.a farm, and sties in' between these extremes. All serve their purpose for experimental or demonstration purposes, and the pigs seem equally content and well-liking in whichever they happen to be. During a tour rotfnd the farm (and it takes a long time to do it thoroughly) the visitor may be struck by the curious appearance of some of the sheep. One side or one end of the animal may have been shorn and the other left, giving the animal a lopsided appearance. This does not represent carelessness on the part of shearers: it has been done with a purpose during the course of the scientific work being carried out in connection with fleeces, and it serves to exemplify yet another of the many phases of activity being carried on at Palmerston North.