WAIKATO PEAT LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18387, 1 May 1923, Page 12

WAIKATO PEAT LANDS.

RESULT OF DEVELOPMENT.

(WASTE MADE PRODUCTIVE.

DRAINAGE AND HARD WORK. [B* TIXZaRAPH.OWN correspondent. ] HAMILTON, Monday. ' The story of how peat swamp land lyjjjg between Gordonton and Motumaolio in the Morrinsville district was brought into a state of productivity was recounted by Mr. J. Matthews, chairman of the Woodlands Drainage Board, recently. Mr. Matthews said he owned a block of 1000 acres on the Gordonton Swamp, nine miles from Morrinsville. Of .this land he had developed and was using 300 acres for dairying and grazing purposes. His plan was to first drain the land. When this was' done he put two heavy wide-wheeled tractors over it. The tractors did tho same work as stock did in consolidating the peat, only they did it in much faster time. There was very little timber in the land he owned. The discs were then run over the surface, and Yorkshire fog grass seed was surface sown. Mr. Matthews said he had found Yorkshire fog to form an excellent basis for pasture, and the stock he owned had done well on it. In fact he had not had a beast ill on the place. The dairy cows had also milked well when grazed on fog pasture. Mr. Matthews went on to say that when he took the land up, he could not place a beast on it owing to the water. After several years' work he was now &b\6 to milk 40 cows and run a large number of young stock on the place. Process of Subsidence. On the Gordonton land the raw peat ■ was near the surface and the soil was not so good as that a foot deeper. If in process of cultivation the lower strata of soil could be brought to the surface he thought much more satisfactory returns could be obtained. The land was subsiding all the time as the water was drained from it, and when he had been absent from the place for six months he had noticed a distinct difference on his return. A3 showing the gradual process that had been going on in the Waikato, Mr. Matthews said that a resident who had been formerly employed by the Woodlands Estate had told him that 40 years ago Waverly Island, a piece of dry land in the middle of the ' Kuakura Swamp, consisted of 62 acres. The area of dry lard on the island was now 800 acres. deferring to the work being carried on by , his neighbours at Gordonton, Mr. Matthews said one man was building up a ; herd of Friesians, some of which had given* over 4001b. of butter-fat each this season. Another man had 55 acres on wliich he was milking 20 cows. Fine crops of turnips, millet, and maize had been grown on the land, which in point of j production compared very favourably with that of fully-improved land on higher levels, Peat land, needed lime, but this should be applied after the plough had gone over the land. Values had advanced considerably in consequence of the improvements that had been carried out, and it was significant thiJt in that district , none of the original settlers who had ' taken up the land in its 1 -unimproved state had been compelled through the economic stress of the last two years to give •up their holdings as many of their less fortunate kindred on higher.-priced lands had been obliged to do. ■ Oalilornian Methods. Mr. Matthews said he recently had been visited by an American who was looking for suitable peat swamp land for cropping purposes. The visitor had said his object was to grow " vegetable crops suitable for canning and marketing. This visitor described the Waikato peat lands as remarkably similar to those of California. The climate was almost the same, except that in summer there was greater heat in California. The Americans, he said, believed in wide, shallow drains and liked to keep the water as near the surface as possible. They built drains 30ft. wide and from 3ft. to sft. deep. On peat land in California asparagus was grown in large quantities and canned for the market. In conclusion, Mr. Matthews said that as chairman of a drainage board, he had great )' difficulty in satisfying the many, demands he received from farmers in the district for more drains. The board had done much useful work, and was prosecuting its activities as fast as its finances would allow. Mr. Matthews expressed grea'. faith in the future of the Waikato swamp lauds, and said that with the application of money and hard work, great changes can be wrought in a few years.