STRATFORD DEMONSTRATION

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 13 February 1926, Page 4

STRATFORD DEMONSTRATION

FIRST FIELD DAY OF THE YEAR. By advertisement the committee cordially invites all interested to visit the farm next Thursday, 18th inst-., at 1.30 p.m. This _ wiq b© the first field day this year. Mr Deem will be present to explain to visitors any matters of interest. The numerous demonstrations of pasture establishment, pasture maintenance, and pastur© renovation have much interest to farmers. Sufficient time has now elapsed to permit conclusions being arrived at with reasonable confidence. Top-dress-ing with every available fertiliser has been employed and observations periodically recorded. 'The quantity of fertiliser used per acre has generally been moderate, but on some small areas jarger quantities have been used in the same paddocks for purposes of comparison. The results will indicate to visitors that the moderate quantity is more economical and profitable. Phosphate in different forms is most beneficial. Potash and nitrogenous fertilisers do not produce the benefit which they are reported to produce in some countries. Dime has been used with good results. Top-dressing is clearly the most important factor in pasture maintenance, but liberal harrowing is very important, and tore in grazing repays. Good cultivation is essential before sowing. This does not imply excessive cultivation, but the object shoo'd be to get a clean firm seed bed, in which the small grass seeds will not he buried too deeply, and where the young seedlings can obtain a firm roothold. in some land it .is a good practice to sow after a crop has been fed off without- ploughing, provided there are no weeds and a fair tilth can be got bv harrowing or discing. Ploughing in a growth of green crop lias been employed with good results. The varieties and .sorts of seeds are most important.' Visitors will see for themselves the wonderful difference in pasture from seeds from different .localities. In order to make observations as reliable as possible, a system of rapid calculation of the constituent plants in the pasture has been used. This system involves the counting of each, p ant at regular intervals in a specified space, and thus the observer can state with reasonable accuracy the proportion of pasture surface covered by the particular plant. Such information will be available to visitors on Thursday next.