PERMANENT PASTURES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15488, 14 December 1910, Page 13

PERMANENT PASTURES.

It is difficult/ to give precise rules for laying down land to grass: the treatment must vary greatly under different conditions. From fifteen to twenty species of plants are usually included in the mixture for permanent pastures; and it is clear that nob only will the final result depend upon the species chosen, and upon the proportions in which they wore originally present, but also on the soil, the manure, the seasons and tho manner in which the pastures have been grazed. PREPARATION. OF THE LAND. deiore the subject of the seeds-mix-ture proper is considered it will be convenient to refer briefly to some points connected with the preparation of the land. Good grass seeds are expensive, but bad grass seeds arc still more so, and hence the only way in which the cost of any particular mixture may bo lessoned is by reducing tho seed-rate. It is plain that if tho number of seeds is reduced, closo attention must be given to the,' preliminary cultivation. In the first plaee. it. is necessary that I the soil ehould bo thoroughly cleaned, and that annual weeds, as well as couch, should be destroyed. Small and slow-growing grasses are much more readily injured by annuals than are such vigorous plants as wheat or oats. In the second place, a fine tilth and a fine surface will be necessary. If the ground is rough, a number of the seeds must perish: bare patches will thus be formed, which will subsequently extend and disfigure tho pasture. If the soil is soft and open, seeds may be buried too deeply, and the "plant" will be thin. A further important consideration in preparing land for grass and clover plants is the manurial condition of soil. Although grasses are benefited by nitrogenous manures, it will seldom bo desirable to apply such manures, either just before or immediately after sowing the seeds. Tho first effect of the manuring would be to increase tho quantity of straw produced by the corn crop with which the seeds have been sown, and thus to repress rather than aid the young pasture plants. Phosphatic manures, such as basic slag or superphosphate, on tho other hand, should be used liberally, and may perhaps bo best applied to the preceding root crop. If the root crop has not roceived either of these artificial manures, one or otTler may be worked into the land in the winter months be- : fore sowing the seeds. In dry districts and on light soils, 3-oewt of superphosphate should be applied, but for most soils '!-dcwt of basic slag may bo recommended. * HOW TO BUY GRASS SEEDS. The purchasers of grass seeds may broadly be divided into two classes, those who let. others choose their seedsmixture, and those who select their own. First there are those who have no knowledge of grasses, and who, for various reasons, are unable to give the subject personal consideration. This large class may be recommended to go to those seedsmen who i have made grasses a speciality, state. | their requirements, and leave tho selection of tho seeds to the merchant. The cautions which may be given to a farmer of this class are the following:—Be quite sure of your seedsman, ! remember that grass-seeds are liable to impurities, and are frequent! v of low quality; further, that these ' defects, though easily detected by the expert, may not bo within the knowledge of tho ordinary trader. A merchant may be perfectly honest, but if ho has not given close attention to grass-seeds and their impurities he may supply unsatisfactory seeds. When finotations are asked for, tho seeds of tho best seedsmen may appear to be expensive, but a man who has no special knowledge must pay for the special knowledge of others, and in tho case of grass-seed;; this knowledge is usually well worth paying for. By sowing good seeds, and by fanning well, the farmer who has no special knowledge may succeed in forming good pastures, 'even upon land of medium quality; but he cannot expect to obtain cither the brst or the mosc economical results, and ho will seldom succeed on poor land, or upon land that has not been liberally manured. To bo successful in forming pastures, the farmer must understand tho special cultivation required by pasture plants, and must treat the;h with the same intelligence that he now bestows on corn and roots. THE STAGES IN A PASTURE'S i EXISTENCE.

The hints which follow are addressed to farmers who wish to choose their own seeds and improvo on their present system of laying down land in grass. These hints aro based on an article recently published in tho Journal of the Board ot Agriculture. It was pointed out in that article that a pasture passes through threo clearly defined stages of existence, that a somewhat different type of herbage is associated with each stage, and that the management must vary wii-h the type of herbage which may cover tho soil at any given time.

The first stage of the pasture's existence lasts for from two to throe years, and on almost all soils ryegrass and red clover predominate in tho herbage. The red clover «oon begins to disappear, and a rapid change then sots in; the soil appears to have become exhausted, ryegrass gets poor and thin, and, for a time, the deterioration is very marked. This second stage of poverty may last for from three or four years on good soil up to ten or twenty years on poor land ; indeed, on very poor, neglected pastures, the second stage will continue indefinitely. The characteristic of the second stage is the absence of turf, so that everywhere bare soil shows through the herbage. This barrenness is nearly always very marked on those pastures' on which white clover does not grow freely. On soils of fair to good quality, fertility gradually accumulates with rest, and a turf begins to form. This siowh' thickens, until on fine land, after an interval of perhaps twenty to thirty years, it forms tho Tich velvety covering of perennial ryegrass and white clover characteristic of our best pastures; or it may bo tho rougher mixture of permanent glasses, clovers and weeds, which are common on secondrate land." SEEDS-MIXTURES.

In tho article above referred to it was pointed out that pastures must grow old, and that the mere sowing down of plants in the proportion in which they are found, or desired, in old pastures, will not make a pasture either good or permanent. Examples were given of experimental mixtures which had Tailed, and also of one which had succeeded. The particular mixture which succeeded was one recommended by Mr R. H. Elliot, of Clifton Park, which had been sown down on a poor clay soil, in one of the experiments conducted by tho Cambridge University Department of Aericultur©. MIXTURE FOK POOH CLAY SOILS. Xo. ot seeds iu

Total .... 33J 12,764 The reasons for recommending tho foregoing mixture of seeds are: —

(1) It is desirable to include in a

mixture for a permanent pasture* all good plants that have any chance, of success. Some, may disappear, but if they survive all will be of use, especially in the second stage of the pasture's growth. Sainfoin and lucerne arc most suitable for a southern climate and they would not grow upon a still, undra'ined, clay soil, but if the subsoil contains an abundance of chalk they may be recommended. (2) Both ryegrasses have been included, because they are quick-growing plants, which cover the surface, during the first two or three years. A covering is absolutely necessary on clay ' soils in dry districts, for if the sun j gets at the soil many of the less vigorI ous plants aro destroyed beforo they have time to become established. The I quantity of ryegrass recommended is small, because thick seeding tends to choke out all other grasses. Italian ryegrass is used, as most of it will disappear after the first year, and will allow permanent plants room to develop. (3) The quantity of tho larger permanent, grasses is much less than is usually recommended. A careful examination of a number of recently sown pastures has shown that when ryegrass is included in the mixture it is unnecessary to sow - much of tho slower growing grasses. (4) Timothy and tho two meadowgrasses havo been used in greater quantity than other permanent glasses because of their cheapness. When tho price per million is considered, these grasses and white clover form tho cheapest pasture plants. In moist seasons all four plauts grow well, but in dry summers timothy and tough-stalked meadow-grass are poor growers. In districts where the summer rainfall is low, the quantities of these two grasses recommended in tho above moisture should be reduced by one-half. (5) Deep-rooted plants—burnet, chicory and yarrow—are, useful in opening up the soil, admitting air, and promoting a healthy development of the roots of other plants.

The principles kept in view in preparing the above list of seeds were three in number. First, the necessity of covering the soil quickly and uniformly. Second, the necessity of preserving a good " plant " of white clover, which, with the assistance of suitable manures, may be made to occupy a large portion of tho soil during the second stage of the pasture's existence. Third, the introduction into the pasture of a large number of good plants, some of thorn, like cocksfoot, timothy and meadow fescue, especially useful in the second stage, and all more or less desirable in the mixed herbage of a permanent pasture.

The seeds-mixture is based upon the observation of the behaviour of pasture plants in a limited number of experiments. It cannot bo called •" scientific,'' it has not been tried and tested under different conditions, and its real purpose is to suggest a mixture for tho use of those who are beginrting the study of pasture plants and pastures. No great importance need be attached to the exact quantities of timothy, cocksfoot, etc., recommended. Certain quantities of rye-grass and clover have been specified as being the lowest quantities that could safely bo depended upon to produce a cover, but in the other eases, the object has been to introduce a sufficient stock of each of the plauts into the pasture, and they are not meant to occupy much of tho surface until the third or fourth year. As the mixture is intended for use on poor clay soils, and as such soils aro generally very deficient in phosphates, it will Ho desirable to use basic slag liberally on the young pasture. If the roots have been treated as above recommended, from 7-10 cwt of basic slag should be applied to the seeds in the autumn after tho coin crop has been cut; but if tho land has been manured immediately before sowing seeds, tho application of basic slag to tho young pasture may be delayed for a year. .Mixture for light and medium soils.— Tf c pasture on a clay soil is properly managed, while clover will cover the surface pretty uniformly about the third or fourth year after sowing, and it will often grow well on light loam soils in moist seasons; but under ordinary circumstances, white clover cannot be expected to cover nearly so large a proportion of the surface of light as of heavy soils. Chiefly for this reason. it is desirable to sow rather more grass on light soils than has been recommended in the above table, so that the place of clover may be taken by cocksfoot, the meadow grasses, hard fescue and crested dogstail, during the second stage of the pasture's development. l''or sowing down permanent pastures on light and medium soils in a district having an average rainfall of 2Sin-32in, the following mixture is suggested :--

Per Acre A pprox. Xo.

It is impossible to discuss here the variations that should bo made in tho above mixture in different districts, but it may be pointed out that roughstalked meadow grass is a poor plant on a hot, dry soiL and that lucerne, which is particularly useful under these conditions, is not adapted for northern pastures. On soils well supplied with lime, 5-101 b of unmillcd common sainfoin may be included in the above mixture. Unmilled sainfoin often contains burnet as an impurity, and if burnet can bo purchased cheaply in this way it, ma y also be sown with advantage. Tho mixture recommended for clay soils was made up in the usual way by taking a certain number of pounds of each seed; in tho foregoing tablo a second method of constructing the mixture is shown. The approximate number of germinating seeds to bo sown' has been fixed upon, and tho figures ill the oL " er columns have then been calculated. Tho pound is altogether unsuitable wb"» dealing with seeds. Net only

; does the number of seeds per pound vary widelv, but the number of plants, produced by a pound of different samples of tho same seed is liable to great fluctuation. Farmers are theretore recommended to consider number" and not "weight" when sowing, and to aim at a certain number ot plants of ryegrass, etc., not at a certain number of pounds nt seed, ltio .seed merchant should be asked to guarantee the purity and germinating power of his seeds, and then the approximate number of plants- that a pound will produce is easily ascertained. It is not intended that tne farmer should attempt by exact calculation and careful weighing to sow the meciso numbers given in the above* tab! ■ This would, of course, bo impossible, and if possible the attempt would he useless; for as has already been explained, soil, season and manuring" so affect tho young pasture that it usually bears no close relationship to tho particular mixture used in sowing, and a.few thousands of seeds more or less will not 1 make much difference. Why, then, it may be asked, should one trouble about the" percentage composition of the mixture:-' The reason for making'some attempt at precision is this: While soil, etc., affect the character of the pasture produced by any particular seedsmixture, the final result is in part duo to the influence of one plant upon another. Ryegrass will affect cocksfoot, for example, and red clover will affect white clover. In order, therefore, that we may bo able to explain the final results fully, we must know approximately the composition of the seedsmixture, and a mere record of tho number of pounds sown will not help us much because of tho variation in the quality of seeds. One reason why agriculturists know so little about seedsmixtures is that they have no experience to guide them. Some mixtures have been sown and have given good results, other mixtures have been sown and have failed. Very rarely can tho causes of success or failure be traced. Tho careful seedsman who knows tho exact composition of the seeds-mixture is unable- to follow its history after it passes into the hands of the farmer; tho farmer who knows all about tho effects of season and manure pays no heed to the composition of the mixture, and thus he is no more able to explain success or failure than the seedsman. Until agriculturists give more attention than they now do to the compounding of the seeds-mixture, wo shall be without that practical experience which is necessary to success in this, as in all departments of farming. Six to nine months after sowing tho seeds, light soils should receive from JJcwt to oewt superphosphate, and from 2cwt to 4cwt kainit per acre ; and these manures, in quantities varying with the condition of the herbage, must bo repeated at intervals of from ono to three years until the pasture becomes established. Nitrogenous manures may also be employed with advantage under certain conditions, but to use them successfully on pastures, a farmer must be well acquainted with their properties, and their general use is not to be recommended.

Piant. AY •ight. 1000. Italian ryegrass ■t 1.063 Perennial ryegrass e • 3 635 Timothy 1 1,307 Cocksfoot . . . 2 809 Meadow fescue 2 467 Tall fescue . i 120 Hard fescue 1 S55 Meadow foxtail . . 1 441 Tall oat-grasa i 62 Golden oat-grass i 280 Hough-sUlked meadow grass . i 1,626 Smooth-stalked meado n grass . i l.ORj Crested dogstail i 210 Perennial red clover lh .120 Alsiko clover . - . 11 1.035 White clover 2 1,43-1 Lucerne 1 210 Common sainfoin (unn iiicd) '. S 110 Burnet t 230 Chicory . 1 284 Yarrow . . . i 417

of germ. seed? Approx. iu 1000. Weight. Top Grasses— ]b. Perennial ryegrass . . 1.500 7 Cockefobi, ... 1,000 2J Timothy .... 750 $ Italian ryegrass . . 500 J Meadow foxtaii , . . 0.50 ~ Meadow fescue . . 030 1 Bottom Grasses— Hard fescue 1,500 2J Rough-stalked meadow graca 1,500 Smooth-stalked meadow (Trass . 1,500 1 Crested oogstai! . , 500 £ Golden oat-crass . . 25 0 1.5 Leguminous Plants— White clover . , % 3.000 •(} AUike clover , . , '750 I Perennial red clover . t 500 nx Lucerne . . . . 250 1J Modick 250 I Miscellaneous Plants— Yarrow .... 500 1_G Chicory .... 2S0 1 ToUl .... 15,003 29 1-3