BETTER PASTURES.

Matamata Record, Volume XVI, Issue 1444, 24 July 1933, Page 6

BETTER PASTURES.

WHAT RYEGRASS NEEDS. Unfortunately too many . pastures used for silage purposes are carrying inferior grasses, and have not the luxuriant leaf growth at the ideal grass silage (says a Southern writer). ' It is probably no exaggeration to say that 75 cent, of our pastures contain no true perennial ryegrass, and really satisfactory results will never be obtained from these pastures until they have been reseeded to the best types ,of grasses. The most successful way of establishing desirable pasture is assuredly with the plough, but w T e cannot see that the growing of a turnip-crop,, is the best method of making a soil, especially a light one, suitable for ryegrass.

Ryegrass revels in a rich, wellcompacted soil. Obviously the crop to grow is one that will make the land more suitable for the great ryegrass crops aimed at. In England Italian rye and red clover is coming rapidly into favour as a soiling crop and it would be an excellent crop in this country in preparing the soil for the valuable perennial rye. Great bulk of winter grass will be secured by using imported Western Wolths seed instead of ordinary Italian rye. With the residue of such a crop ploughed in the added humus would be a decided advantage on the lighter soils. Over two hundred years ago it was said to be the practice in Staffordshire to grow a crop of peas and fold pigs on this. A magnificent grass crop always followed. The legume enriched the soil and the remarkably well-balanced pig manure greatly increased the fertility, while the consolidation of the soil by the pigs, with their small hooves and heavy bodies, made for just the conditions ryegrass demands. Here is a suggestion. Pick out the poorest field, grow a crop of peas, fold pigs on the crop, harrow well and seed to certified rye and New Zealand white clover. This would assuredly be an ideal way of establishing ryegrass on the lighter soils, and in the most economical way. The greatest need of our light soils is humus, and on growing a crop preparatory to laying such land down to permanent grass the crop should not exhaust the natural humus, but be a builder of humus.