LAND DETERIORATION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 April 1925, Page 5

LAND DETERIORATION.

IX BACK COUNTRY

REGENERATION WORK DE-

SCRIBED

One of the biggest problems that have confronted the farmer in the back blocks where settlement has been going on for a number of years has been the wearing out of the pastures in many parts of hill country and the consequent reversion to fern and second growth. Various reasons may be assigned for this circumstance, but, whether it be the result of deforestation of country where farming could not be profitably he carried on, the want of stocking and working when the pastures were down, or some cause that was too strong for the farmer, the problem is there, and its solution, has been tackled by (he Department of Agriculture with an energy and determination that deserve much commendation.

The matter was referred to by the Alinister of Lands (Hon. A. D. AlcLeod) when he was in the district, and he then said he was awaiting the report of the Commission set up by the Government before making a decision in regard to the problem. However, meantime good _ earnest work has been done and is being done by the officers of the department. -Most intimately connected with the experimental work is Mr Bruce Levy, the department’s agrostologist ox 1 expert in pastures, and he has been associated with Mr A. J. Glasson and under the general guidance of Mr J. W. Deem. This week Air Deem went out with Mr Glasson —Alr/R. H. Hooper, editor of the Journal, was also of the party — on a visit of inspection, to see the country and decide on further work to be done. A Star representative also accompanied the party. During the whole of Tuesday the party toured many parts of the Whangamomona, ICohuratahi and Tahora valley and ridges, and by dint of very hard going were able to see over half a dozen of the affected areas which were selected for experiments in regrassing. The outline of the work tackled was to select typical areas, where hard fern, bracken, manuka or other growth are spreading, and to co-operate with the owners in burning, regrassing and top-dressing' the department finding seed and manure or a portion of these materials, and the owners doing a share of the work in places or the whole of it in others. The department ■ thus- hope to'link up science and analytical knowledge with the practical experience of the settlers who have been able to succeed in grassing and holding their pastures. The officers of the department supervise the sowing and manuring and record the results. The selection of areas has. been made by consultation between them and the settlers. Mr Levy is confident that the results will ultimaely be successful. He has been actively and closely in touch with the work on the spot since the inceptiort of the scheme. Air Deem, afterhis visit to the area and his. tour of close inspection,. reports a decided and marked improvement. The grasses sown last year are coming away very well in many parts and establishing themselves even in very rough areas. In each district selected —and these extend for many miles from Te Wera behind Tahora to , the north and both east and west—plots of from six to 20 acres have been selected and subdivided into small sections, the grass sown being altered in mixture so that it can be observed which secure the best results.- . . The leading settlers in the district are working cordially and . wholeheartedly in co-operation with the departmental officers. Even on the best farms—and some of. them are in very fine condition and in good heart, the pastures looking really well and green 'and showing the results of good, efficient, common-sense farming—there are patches of country where the secondary growth appears and is setting them a problem to solve. Every settler,'therefore, is keenly interested in successfully combatting the pest. . , Several of them agreed with Mr Deem that progress is being made, and that the country is generally improving in those parts where work has been done. In the original grassing the seed selected were evidently -not those suited to the soil and able to ; so consolidate themselves that they coujd resist the invasion of the second growth. One great part of the problem now is to prove by actual experience ' what grasses are likely to be able to do- this, and in that work lies largely the work of the department and its officers. Certainly the results so far secured appear very hopeful. • It is a Bvobleni that naturally affects most intimately the settlers in the affected localities, and these are large and widely spread, hut it is one also that is of intense and'vital interest to the whole Dominion. The effective settlement of so huge an area meaxw a very great deal to the whole of 'the neople of New Zealand.' It must therefore ho considered a work of national importance, and all the help and advice that the department can give must l>c '-at the service of the settlers. Tlieir work so far shows that the department are put to overcome the difficulty if this is within their powers.