HILL PASTURES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 101, 29 March 1939, Page 4

HILL PASTURES.

PROBLEM OF DETERIORATION. CAUSES ANALYSED. (Written for the “Standard.”) Probably one of the greatest problems which confront the Dominion’s pastoralists to-day is the deterioration of hill country pastures. It is not by any means a. problem that has arisen recently, nor one in which the circumstances leading up to the present conditions were not foreseen. Neither has deterioration been rapid as some present-day exponents on tho subject would have us l>c!ievc. The process has been gradual ; consequently, like many other militating circumstances which by attention in tho incipient stages would easily ho arrested and improvement effected, deterioration has to-day reached the stage when it not only affects the financial position of the land-owner but lias become a problem of national importance. When we realise that the hill country farms, especially in the North Island, are the foundation of (he sheep-farming industry. it is somewhat surprising that hitherto such little attention, has boon focussed on bill country problems. The lowering of fertility obtained from the original forest burns ha s been general on practically the whole of hill country converted from bush to pasture, and there has been a gradual transition of these sward.to associations more suitable to the varying conditions, tending toward a stag© of comparative stability of lower productivity. Apart from second growth which has t.akerf more or less complete charge in many places, native and inferior grasses have become the dominant covering with better species persisting to a greater or lesser degree according to the fertility, the locality, and also frequently according to the relative cfficiencv of "individual management. Tn the Dominion ns in other countries the gradual passing of tho first flush of virgin fertility could not he altogether unexpected. Just as the fertility of the wheat lands of America has been depleted to the extent that they are not only valueless hut a. constant menace to the inhabitants, so is the deterioration of our hill eountrv pasture reflected m the quality and quantitv of wool it produces and in the conformation and stamina of stock grazing thereon. . While the original clearing and grassing of much hill country that has since been well managed—have proved successful financial ventures, there are large areas which have deteriorated bevond the point of farminc practicability. This is strikingly illustrated in the central part of the North Island where, owing to steepness of the country coupled with moist conditions, slips and second growth have made further farming operations altogether unpayable. There are many examples of country of this description on which some measure of afforestation is already clearly indicated. Such lands are now bevond the deterioration stage, inasmuch n.s young forest growth if becomingly ’established and a future generation will ultimately reap Nature’s second harvest of forest monarohs. On the less sleep hill pastures herbage generally lias deteriorated, and second growth is a recurring feature which must l>c grappled with in order to arrest the otherwise inevitable reversion to forest.

CAUSES OF DETERIORATION. Retrogression has lieen described as “a result or outcome of apathy, indifference, lack of ambition, etc. While any one of these ' traits may have individually and indirectly brought about land deterioration, thercT arc many other responsible causative factors of which lack of capital is not by any means the least important. An abundance of capital will not turn a bad farmer into a o-oocl one. On the other hand, theio is no doubt whatever that many good farmers have all along been handicapped by a lack of capital. This has become more and more apparent, especially to hill country farmers, 'these realise that a reasonable amount of capital is much more necessary in these days than it was when farming in the Dominion was in its infancy; at the time when the pre-sent-day deteriorated lands were in a state of virginity. . One of the fundamental troubles with New Zealand farming, and especially hill farming, has all along been that the majority 'of farmers have more land than they can farm pro pcrly. I would impress this on our young generation of farmers. They cannot legitimately put forward the excuse that they have not seen tho evils of starting tout on their own account with too much, land and too little capital. The folly of such a course has during recent years been verv fully demonstrated. Many hillcountry farmers acquired large, areas of land at the instigation of financia institutions. These supplied capital for the initial work of felling the bush, purchasing grass seed, wire, etc., and for a certain portion of fencing. Therein lay the first, and probably the most far-reaching mistake made in connection with hill farming. Apart from being ring fenced, most of the land was not adequately subdivided; consequently the pasture was stocked continuously, with tho result that the most palatable and best plants prematurely disappeared, leaving only the coarse grasses, while weeds and various plants of undesirable species gradually became established. ■ The second error maybe attributed to lack of knowledge regarding suitable species of grass and clover to sow. Too often no discrimination was used in the selection of seeds, and anything within the category of grass was sown. Many of these species were, purely temporay, and as annual and temporary grasses are more palatable than perennial and permanent species, selective grazing together with continuous and injudicious stocking very quickly denuded the pasture sward. Thus to foundation of permanent pasture was not laid and deterioration set in immediately. CAN DETERIORATION BE ARRESTED?

Deterioration of hill country pasture embodies a number of questions which it would bo. wise to review in sequence. (1) —Should we continue in endeavouring to farm steep country now badly eroded and those areas over which second growth has become dominant? I would say emphatically no. To do so only prolongs tho evil day. Meanwhile, men and women toil to merely exist, while the dismal spectre of failure gradually draws nearer until broken in laxly and spirit they submit to the inevitable. During the time they have laboured to wrest a living from the farm it has become a nursery of noxious weeds. Such land should bo abandoned to Nature s rehabilitation. (2) —Top-dressing is. regarded by some persons .ns the panacea for all troubles connected with hill lands. It must be recognised that there is a large area oMiill pasture inaccessible ill so far as the transport and distribution of fertilisers are concerned. This area may be maintained and perhaps some portion improved by judicious stocking and systematic spelling (resting) at certain periods. (3) —Area accessible where fertilisers can be convoyed by sledge or pack-