The Taupo Plains

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 202, 10 August 1927, Page 8

The Taupo Plains

Can They Be Profitably Utilised ? By “Sundowner" (Written lur the Tribune. All Kights Keserved.)

"DECENTLY, when passing over a J ' stretch of the pumice plains in the Taupo neighbourhood, mv companion remarked oh the enormous waste area occupied bv this practically barren plain. ♦ Truly, it does look rather a desolate and hopeless waste, useless alike to man and beast, unless one considers the straggling mobs of weedy wild horses as stock. His remark raised the eternal Question of how this area, and others of a somewhat similar nature, could be dealt with to bring them into profitable occupation. AFFORESTATION OR GRAZING? Afforestation may in years to come prove a valuable undertaking on this class of land, although ft would seem that the cost of haulage to the marketing centres of both thinnings and mature timber will always be a severe handicap. Were it possible to utilise it for the production of live stock, even in limited numbers, this would seem to hold most prospect of financial benefit to the country, and the problem of transit to market would not be of such a serious character, for the products are of immensely greater value bulk for bulk. Manv optimists nave from time to time advocated different treatments for This class of poor pumice land, and some have backed their opinions with more or less success bv taking up areas for farming and experimental purposes.

TOP DRESSING. , Top dressings witr, various chemical manures have proved moderately successful, and have proved at least that the legumes will thrive on this country but to ensure continued prolificacy the application of these manures must be continued iiider nitely and constitute a big annual outlay in money and labour HOW NATURE DOES IT. Before we can evolve anv metlfod of converting this light pumlice area into anything approaching permanent pasture land, we must remember that, comparatively speaking, it is the very newest of our soil, and we must turn back through the ages and see if we can learn how Nature built up such areas through the long process of time to fruitfulness First, according to scientists, came the lichens. In process of time their death and decav fertilsed the surface soil sufficiently to support mosses, these the same process of decav giving food for a stronger and superior class of growth such as the sparse tussock, monawau and manuka scrub, which now clothe these plaints, and to an extent provide sustenance for insect, bird and animal life, which both in life and death add rapidly to the soil’s fertility. Once this stag" is reached, the decav of leaves and plants, the <ominglin with them of animal and organic manures, tends to rapi<‘ raise the fertility of the surface soil and make it more retentive of moisture. In the»» conditions the useful soil bacteria can thrive and acting both on vegetable and mineral constituents in the earth, provide conditions in which higher forms of vegetation can thrive. WHAT FORESTS DO. The next cycle in nature is the establishment of forests, each, in succession thriving more luxuriantly than its predecessor on the everenriching mould, until the state is reached where man comes and destroys the forest, and’ in its stead clothes the land with pasture. HUMUS PRODUCTION PARAMOUNT. In all this process the paramount object of nature appears to be. first to produce and then to rapidly increase the humus content of the soil, until the state is reached when 4-he dense forest supplies this in abundance. At the same time the increasing vegetation and the presence of accumulated humus in the soil encourages an increase of animal and insect life, which both from its excrements and at its death, provides the necessary balance of organic manure. The paramount necessity. however, is an addition of humus tn the soil and according to the rapidity of the accumulation of this humus, so rapidly does the Quality of the soil improve. CAN MAN SPEED IT UP? If the foregoing is admitted, the problem arises, how can man speed up the addition of humus to soil such as that of the Taupo plains, so that it may become sufficiently fertile to support permanent, nutritious grasses within a comparatively short space of time? The process which nature employs is so slow, though sure, that it would be manv generations, and probably thousands of years, before it would become available, and meantime man delavs fhis slow progress bv burning such growth as he can. thus destroying its humus value.

Nature has provided us with plants and grasses, notably legumes, amongst which the lupins, clovers, peas, vetches, r.tc., are classed., which demand little from the soil towards their growth other than moisture. Most of this family also have the extremely valuable ability of extracting nitrogen from the air and imprisoning it in themselves and in the soil surrounding their roots. Further, all are renowned for rapid, succulent growth.

GREEN MANURING. B.V the growing ami ploughing under of these growths to encourage Uie rapid formation of humus, men have succeded in all carts of the world in converting sandy, arid wastes to fertile pasture land, which is enabled to support the animal life which supplies the needed organicmanure. In the building up of fertile sod suitable for the establishment of permanent pasture. Nature requires generations of vegetable life and death that the supply of soil nourishment may be inexhaustible. We must not expect that one growth and turning under of green manure, however luxuriant the growth may have been, will provide anything more than a comparatively temporary increase in fertility, but its periodic repetition, aided bv the increased pasture growth and animal manure, will rapidly accomplish whijt uncontrolled nature would take hundreds of years to do. TOP DRESSING HELPS Tod dressing with fertilisers will, of course, speed ud this process of soil building, for it both encourages luxuriant growth and at , the same time gives the plant the ability to extract more virtue from the sun’s rays This latter peculiarity can be confirmed bv anv observer who notices the deeper-green colouring of grasses which are liberally snpnlied with phosphate. It is wrong, howevr. to commence, with a chemical manure when the soil demands humus, for on the presence of the latter depends first th 4 moistureretentive quality of the soil, then the bacterial life which makes both mineral and vegetable available and finally the nitrogen and potash which is so essential in plant life. There is no doubt in the writer’s mind that the day is not far distant when much of this apparently useless pumice land will be carrying profitable flocks and herds, and the suestion of the permanency of the nasture will depend' solely on the amoupt of green manure which the farmer ploughs under.

SUITABLE GRASSES. Ploughing of such soil, with the object of laying it down in pasture cannot be undertaken without the necessity for subsequent compacting of the surface to provide a suitable bed in which the grass will thrive. Only deep-rooted grasses will thrive in loose surface soil, and most of the deep-rooting varieties are coarse and of low nutritive value. Such grasses, however, are far from useless, and as in course of time the surface again becomes solidified bv animal trampling or the employment of mechanical means, the better grasses can be introduced. SUITABLE BREEDS OF STOCK. Dealing with such poor land as we have under consideration, especially when it it situated in a locality where the winter season is long and comparatively severe, the adaptability of stock to the climate and pasture is a feature that must bv no means be overlooked. Such variations of climate and feed can lie found in Great Britain as we have in New Zealand and there on the barren uplands and moors, they have evolved breeds of sheep and cattle which survive and are profitable under the most adverse conditions. The sheep may not produce such heavy fleeces or such weighty carcases as those breeds kept on the lowlands, but this is somewhat compensated for bv the finer quality of both wool and meat One or more of these hardy breeds should lie introduced to New Zealand for the stocking of such areas, when improved. as we have under consideration. It would’ seem to he a reckless nolicv to attempt to acclimatise such sheep as the Romnev. the Lincoln, or anv of our long-woolled sheep to such a locality.