PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

Evening Star, Issue 20986, 28 December 1931, Page 2

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

' H.Z. GRASSLAND FARMING' USEFUL BOOK FOR FARMERS New Zealand, like a number of the Empire’s primary-producing countries, is almost entirely dependent on exports of the land for her very existence, and in common with these countries she is depending on her grassland for the bulk of her exports. The Empire Marketing Board, which has rendered y-oman service in agricultural research in tho Empire, has been largely responsible for the growing realisation of the importance of pastures and grassland management in the economic life of tho Empire. Remembering the almost complete dependehce of New Zealand on her pastures, it is extraordinary to think that, up till the present, no one volume has been published giving the practical side of grassland management work in the dominion. This defect has now been made good by the publication of ‘ Grassland Farming in New Zealand,’ written by C. Bernard, associate editor of the ‘ New Zealand Dairy Produce Exporter.’ Mr Barnard's work is widely kno- i to farmers in New Zealand, for prior to his joining the * Dairy Exporter 1 he was writing extensively for-.newspapers and farming journals m .Now Zealand and Australia, and he is one of the very few agricultural writers in New Zealand who has had extensive practical experience of farming. ‘ Grassland Farming in New Zealand ’ is essentially a book for the _ practical farmer, and while it deals briefly with the theories underlying our present system of grassland management, its main purpose has been apparently to provide farmers with an outline of what has been accomplished so far in New Zealand, and some suggestions as to the methods that are likely to prove profitable in practice. _ This purpose has been admirably achieved, the text has been kept down to a minimum, and has been written in a readable style that should appeal to the man on the land. The book carries a foreword by Mr A. H. Cockayne, Assistant DirectorGeneral of Agriculture, which alone is sufficient endorsement of the soundness of the views expressed. It is a well recognised fact that in the small band of grassland research workers in tho British Empire Mr Cockayne ranks very high indeed, and overseas authorities have several times suggested that the work being done in New Zealand is equal to anything' being accomplished in any country. Mr Cockayne draws particular attention to tho possibilities of strain in grasses and clovers, from tho viewpoint of further our production, and draws attention in a striking way to future possibilities when he says:— “ The production of grass and its elaboration into butter-fat, meat, and iWool is the main business of New Zealand. It: significance lies in the fact that tho application of past experience, linked with modern scientific conceptions, is capable of rapidly extending this business on a profitable basis, even with a permanence of low prices. During the past few years butter-fat production, for instance, has doubled on the same total .area of land, and there is no reason why a redoubling or more of production should not take place equally rapidly by the general adoption of those practices involved in what can be conveniently termed modern grassland management. In probably no other country in the world are the essential factors concerned with increasing production from grassland being given greater consideration than in New Zealand.' However, we have still a long way to travel before that consideration becomes a complete practical actuality, who it is borne in mind that in the case of butter-fat our average production is well under 1001 b per acre,, while farms that are carrying out modern practice on an intensive scale are regularly reaching a figure of 2501 b per acre or better. ‘ “ The development of high-yielding leafy strains of grasses and clovers, capable of withstanding close grazing, topdressing, surface cultivation, grazing of herbage at its _ highest nutritive point, the conservation of all surplus growth, herd testing, and rational methods of disease control are tho paramount factors leading to increased per acre production. None of the factors have as yet generally been exploited beyond whr.t one may term their initial stage, • and it is the duty of New Zealand’s grassland farming to incorporate them all to the fullest extent in our future practice. On their skilful manipulation and development largely depends tho future of New. Zealand, and such being the case, publications such as this one, which has been prepared by the Dairy Exporter,’ dealing from the practical and ‘ experience ’ viewpoint of tho position as it has developed .'up to the present time, are of significant value. Effective grassland management. m New Zealand demands great attention to fertilisers, and it is pliosphatic manuring that lias made possible the tremendous increases in production that have been such a feature of the past

decade. Mr Barnard, details very clearly the effect of various systems of management, and shows that phosphatic manuring alone will almost invariably give increases of considerable magnitude, which makes their use highly profitable. His opinion is that under the conditions existing in most parts of New Zealand superphosphate has proved tho most useful and profitable fertiliser, and he suggests that scientifically accurate trials of superphosphate and basic slag on the lines of the department’s wellknown Marten experiments should bo carried out in Taranaki to see whether the widespread use of slag is economically sound. There is great diversity of opinion in New Zealand at the moment as to tho efficacy of nitrogenous fertilisers under our conditions. This aspect of grassland management is well handled, and the practical experiences on a number of highly successful intensively managed farms are quoted. Probably the most useful portion of the book to the average farmer will he the chapter dealing with practical examples of different types of grassland management in a number of districts. The author makes it clear that there is no one hard-and-fast system which is applicable to tho whole of Now Zealand, and that the development of intensive management and consequent increasing of production must depend on a number of factors, such as soil, climate, and last, hut by no means least, finance. This book can certainly be recommended tq every thinking, farmer, for it is essentially practical. Changes in farming methods come about very slowly in most countries, and . the remarkable production increases registered in New Zealand during recent years have no parallel. They are proof positive of the willingness of New Zealand farmers to adopt new ideas and adapt their 'system of farming along those lines which have been proved most profitable. It is through reading of the experiences of others that progress can be made most rapidly, and for that reason a book of this nature should make practically a universal appeal.

WONDER GRASS FOUND IN DARKEST AFRICA

CROP WORTH £lO A HEAD New grasses which may he of great value to stock-raising parts of tho Empire have recently been discovered in Bechuanaland, in the backblocks of South Africa. About a year ago the Empire Marketing Board made a grant to enable Dr PoleNvans, chief of the division of plant industry, to explore botanically the interior of Bechuanaland, a native territory of 275,000 square miles lying wedged between Southern Rhodesia, the Union, and tho South-west Africa. There arc less than 2,000 whites in tho whole of Bechuanaland, but countless native cattle. Thousands of cattle are driven 400 miles to market. They have to swim crocodile-infested rivers and risk attack from man-eating lions and tsetse flies. Parts of the Protectorate are terribly dry, and tho rainfall drops to less than lOin. It was in _ this dry area, near the Great Makarikari Lake, that Dr Pole-Evans made his discovery —or rather discoveries—for he brought hack over 100 different specimens of grass. One species was an exceptionally drought-resistant plant, a new type of woolly finger grass (Digitaria). There are about eighty-five different kinds of woolly finger grass already growing at Pretoria, but the new plant has an underground creeping root—a stolon—instead of tho ordinary root. It is thus able to store up moisture and nourishment for long periods and to “live on its fat” when the rains fail.

This grass has actually _ provided keep for stock after something like a year of uninterrupted drought. South African experts regard it as one of the most important botanical discoveries yet made in tho union. If woolly finger grass can be persuaded to flourish in Australia it may open up thousands of square miles of parched country ns a sheep-raising country. Other grasses which may prove interesting to New Zealand were brought back from Lake Makarikari. .Some are particularly rich in phosphorus. The natives say that grazing stock make for patches of the mineral-rich plants from miles around, and that those grasses provide _ keep when almost everything else is brown and dry. Bechuanaland is not tho only country where valuable may still remain unknown. Russia still holds great possibilities. A Canadian scientist, Dr O. M'Conkoy, makes this suggestion in a report, published by tho Empire Marketing Board, on grass. “The whole history of successful cereal breeding in Canada is one of introductions from Europe and Russia,” he says. Plants of immense value to the Empire may still await discovery in the vastness of the steppes. Dr M'Conkoy suggests a now kind of exploration—a search for economic plants. Dr M'Conkey lias made a thorough survey of scientific advances in grass management and breeding for the -Empire Marketing Board. Groat Britain alone imports about £375,000,000 worth of grass products a year,

representing a value of about £lO per head. Ninety-four per cent, of New Zealand’s exports consist of grassland products. One of the most important of these advances, he considers, is the breeding of “blue-blooded” grasses. Pedigree families are being evolved by Professor 8 tripled on at Aberystwyth, in Wales, which give a very much higher yield than ordinary plants. Great interest is, of course, being taken in those grasses in New Zealand, for many of them are likely to bo of immense value in increasing the carrying capacity of land.

Mr William Davies, Professor Stapledon’s right-hand man, is now in Australia working with tho Council of Scientific and Industrial Research on problems of improving Australia’s grasslands. He previously spent two years at Palmerston North working with Dr Bruce Levy. He has been appointed as Empire Grassland Officer by the Empire Marketing Board to help in the coordination of research all over the Empire.

Thousands of valuable pedigree plants of different species are growing at Aberystwyth in thirty glasshouses. Each head is tied up in a hag to prevent common pollen from gaining access to the prized flower heads. Bees, which are used to pollinate pedigree clovers, are washed by hand before they are allowed to enter tho royal precincts. Some of the now plants, if properly treated, may increase tho yield of pastures f y 50 to 100 per cent.

What do sheep like best for dinner? This is a serious scientific problem of direct interest to fanners. “ Portability trials” have been carried out at Aberystwyth to find out which grasses are particularly selected by sheep out of a pasture and which they leave alone. “ Timothy ” is the favourite. After timothy comes Italian ryegrass. Meadow foxtail rates third. “ Grass cakes ” are another now scientific contribution to better meals for farm animals. It has been found at Cambridge that the surplus of fresh young grass—which is very much richer in proteins than hay—can lie pressed into “ cakes ” which arc then used instead of concentrates during drought periods. As proteins are the most expensive and valuable constituents of animals’ meals, this discovery is of great importance as an economy, tor tho concentrate bill can bo eht down. British linns have designed machinery for the manufacture of those ‘‘ grass cakes.”