THE FERTILE NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18772, 28 July 1924, Page 12

THE FERTILE NORTH.

'■ t jf: ' ' " '-"""" ' ( V ALU £ OF TH E; SO ILS. - VALUE' , C)F, THE. .SOILS. ; GUM AND ' OJHER LANDS. The farm school conducted by the New Zealand Department of Agriculture ]i in conjunction with the Northern Wairoa Experimental Model Farm Society recently held at Dargaville was a pronounced success. It was the first of .its kind to to held in North Auckland, and naturally drew much attention to tfc'e-agri-cultural resources and methods of farming in this portion -of New Zealand. - ;; Some very important information was, given regarding, the possibilities, of the. North by Mr. TJ H. Patterson' and by Mr. H. Cockayne ip£ the New Zealand Department of Agriculture. Mr. Patterson dealt with the soils of the North ;; Auckland of which ho said there was a great diversity. The great alluvial fiats and tho extensive swamps, the limestone country and the large forest original [ V forest-areas presented no greater problems than they did . elsewhere, but . the gumiands required special treatment. He : stated thz);t crop 3 such as swfrdes, turnips, kohlrabi, kale, rape, maize, sorghum, milJet, oats, barley and vetches have been successfully grown on gum soils and good . : pasture established. /1 '• > -It should be remembered thafc Mr. Pat" tenson's remarks apply not to the botter class of gum soils of which there are large areas in the North suitable for any or all classes of farming but to- the poorer and more intractable types such • as are. included in: what are known ;! as the pipe clay ; areas. Mr. ; : Patterson has been .doing excellent work on this class of. soil at the Government Experimental Farm, at Puwera, near ' Whangarei, and ho gave a most interesting account of this to those who gathered at ts'ae farm school. "Good paifture, he stated, " had been grown at Puwera consuiting of ryegrass, cocksfoot, crested dogstail, brown top and clovers, with paspahm getting stronger each year, and spreading through the sward.. palum," he said, "associated with w 0 clover and lotus major was considered the most suitable as a main grass m the pastures of North Auckland," Ha further disserted that pasture laid down on the • poor class of land at Puwera at a cost of about £8 per acre carried at the rate of slightly under a cattle beast to two - acres. Auckland, : j

Mr. A. H. Cockayne, also referring to' the soils of North Auckland, remarked that it was handicapped to a certain extent by having such a varnt-y of soils. This, however, would in tir.nis be overcome and the farmer who laboured under difficulties to-day would become educated by experience and make the particular class of land he occupied more productive in consequence. . . ' _ " ' ? S In dealing " with the uses to which North Auckland soil was put he said that only one and three quarter million acres (out of a total of over 3,800,000 acres) was improved ind carrying grass and crop. He estimated that during this past ten years., the increase in the area of North Auckland pasture was nearly 500,000 acres, while during the . same period the capital value of land and jits improvements ia the same district had incraased from £9,000,000 to £18,000,000. ' " It was quite'clear," stated Mr. Cockayne, "that the future of North Auckland was wrapped up in dairying, but there must be a revolution in feeding inethods ibefore thi3 industry would reach its full developments In the North at the present time only one acre of hay is saved •for every fifty cows, afdd only one acre, of fdiddor or " root crops is grown to every hundred acres of grass." Praise lor P&spalum. - Mr; Cockayne paid a great tribute to that much debated grass paiipalum dilatatum, for he declared that when paspalum -r, was properly managed in connection with English grasses and clovers, it should ' make North Auckland the highest butterfat producing district in New Zealand.. HSlhis is what we have asserted in these .' columns for raauy years. It is; prob■V: «'ole that other semi-tropical grasses will be introduced into North Auckland which : : ; ;jxnay prove as valuable if not more valu- : ible than paspalixm. Tho North Auckland land district con- . :tains 4,478,200: acres of which about I <:3,800,000 are included in the great peninti i'Eula which'lies to the North of Auckland ; ' city. Only about omi third of the total • area of the- land district is cultivated, and only a portion of the cultivated land ; is; devoted to dairying and yet the district is carrying at the present ; time 196,932 dairy cows, and the quality of the ■ 'butter produced ranks as high as any in SZNew Zealand. It will be seen, therefore, | '.what' immense scope the North, offers for ■ -settlement and development. •=• • If . men desire an easy form of dairy ■ fsTining they can—by growing paspalum '- and other semi-tropical grasses for the ' warmest porV.ion. of the. year, . English grasses aiid clovers through the major portion of tha year,and prairie grass, • western wolth, and similar .grasses, •"•through the winter—carry their dairy ]'■stock, well on pasture alonei, and produce t more butter-fat per acre thivn any other part of New Zealand. Further,,if intensive "I ■; farming is practised, the cljmatic condi- ; tions will enable-the'Widest range of fod:der. crops and roots to be r grown, and thus • < lift up stock-carrying capacity per, acre to a standard unattainable in the colder • portions of the Dominion. i; • .';'L(Bctiireß' l»y, ; l!*perts.; ; The lectures given by tho Government officials at the DargaviUe Farm School, I and the evidence put forward by practical •v agriculturists in the district have done a great deal, not only to educate tho f settlers of North Auckland in better 'i< methods of farming and in better ways of '■Utilising their climatic advantages, but they havo done much' to convince those who have fof so leng looked upon North Auckland as rather a doubtful , field for • the: agiiculturif-t, that it offers wonderful opportunities for those who will utilise jits resources on modern lines. - Much was said of the possibilities be- ■ :(cio dairying in North Auckland, and too ' little perhaps was' said about sheep, yet :i there be little doubt that it offers : Wonderful scope for fat lamb raising. The "experience of this North Auckland ■MeatEreezing Company goes to show that lambs of the' primest quality can be : iquickly and cheaply reared in districts 'as far" north and further north than Bay s tif Islands or H'okianga, and for those " who do not. <:are for ;the regular routine of milking are ample opportunities in the raising of sheep. It is to be hoped that at the next farm school in the North, or even apart from any official j gathering, the people of North Auckland -wiil do something to draw public attenX tion to tho sheep farming possibilities : offered by their mild climate .and their " great extent" of idle lands; .