DOMINION PASTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18994, 16 April 1925, Page 12

DOMINION PASTURES.

SUBSIDISED MANURING. SOUND MINISTERIAL POLICY. A LONG-FELT NEED. A review of the whole of the circumstances connected with land settlement in tho Dominion leads to tho conclusion that never before in our history has the riccd for a strong guiding Administrative baud been so felt as to-day, when tho problem not only of how production may be maintained but increased on longsettled lands has to bt faced and satisfactorily solved. There is clear indication that tho present Minister for Lands has not only specialised in the matter of profitable tenures, but. that lio has gono far beyond that into difficult and intricate realm where production has reached its apparent maximum and halts over tho decline. Hero tho clear intellect of tho practical man, functioning aright, is essential to the application of such scientific knowledge as is at our service. We have long since convinced ourselves that a more academic knowledge of agriculture is little more than a futility without practical leadcr&h i p.

So far tho pioneers of development liavo had to depend upon their own unaided knowledge and resources, aud in tho face of direct expert prophecies of failures have demonstrated successfully tho resources of our varied and so-called unresponsive soils, in successful and profitable production. Yet no one, even among the hand of settlers who succeeded unaided but by their own indfjnitablo courago and enterprise, should grudge the Hon. Minister for Lands his conception for subsiding selected farmers to carry out experiments in fertilisers on a class of grazing land that has hitherto, to a great extent, remained untreated, while already making a clamant demand for treatment, A Perilous Condition.

Investigations mado by Mr. A. 11. Cockayne, director of tho fields division of tho Department of Agriculture, disclose tho fact that some millions of acres of pastoral lands in tho Dominion are in a perilous condition of retrogression, though not yet. beyond the hope of recall, and it •would be a ruinous policy to look idly on, accepting this as ti natural anti-climax to inestimable toil and expenditure. Tho late methods 'of settlement have been extremely hasty though the first inclination to produce was laudible. All round thero was evident a desire to bring in more and more lands rather than to maintain that whicli was already cleared and grassed at tho top of its capacity. There was always tho reserve land to fall back upon, so that finally tho farmer found himself possessed of an area of cleared land that was beyond his rnauagomont. Then with a dwindling carrying capacity per acre came the curse of second growth. Tho first lesson a pastoralist should learn is not from the chemist but from tho man who understands the science of applying and handling stock. Most bush pastureLands have not deteriorated through chemical starvation. It is all very well to say a farmer cannot go on forever taking beef and mutton and wool off his lands without putting something back in the way of artificial fertilisers. ''Forever" is a- long time, but for all the ago of our pastures; and they are comparatively young, they should not yet have reacned the starvation point. Bringing Back Pastures.

There is ample evidence that with proper .management pastures that have "gone back" may bo "brought back." Through bad management the native grasses may be permitted to dominate for a time. Yet under the proper proportion o£ sheep and cattle the Detter English grasses, if given a chance, will again assert themselves, for they are not dead though considerably outnumbered. Also the products of the pasture aro not all removed in beef and wool. Thero aro compensations more than those of direct fertility. Grave errors were originally made in rough clearing and cheap grassing with unsuitable mixture. Yet even these have been to some extent rectified by proper stocking and resting of the lands, assisted by subdivision. The pastoralist cannot be, and should not be, entirely dependent upon prescriptions for grass seed mixtures furnished by departmental experts to suit the various classes of soils. The agricultural expert of the Agricultural Department" is a valuable officer.within,his -limitations, but the management of stock, without which all pastoral science is unavailing, is a subject beyond hi 3 experience. It is a working knowledge of several sciences, combined with experience, that if going to keep this country at tho top of production. Take the case of the Wai-o-eka lands, lately brought under the notice of the Minister for Lands as having seriously deteriorated through second growth. These holdings have npt reverted because of infertility, and it is significant that the deputationists asked the Minister to assist the occupiers to purchase cattle, for reclamation purposes.

Treatments ol Sheep Lands. The difficulty about steep lands is a proper distribution of stock, but from the foregoing it will bo seen that tho means for profitable settlement are of little use without a knowledge of application, and it is in tho latter that many fail. As a rule, however, it will be found that each case presents also a minor difficulty, owing to lack of proper subdivision, fertilisation, stocking, seeding, as well as from » bad burning, and that which has a general influence on all, finance. The work that tho present Minister is directing now, should havo been under* taken long ago, but then, other Ministers wero busy in other ways, overlooking tho vital business of maintenance, which, with tho settlement of tho unoccupied areas that, at least, can never revert to second growth, is tho urgent, problem of to-day. Through tho investigation of expert farmers on commissions and the resulting publicity, much may be expected. Undoubtedly many settlers have failed to maintain their pastures through lack of means, and, as Mr. McLeod sensibly remarks, it would ho better for tho settlers to pay only a fraction of a penny per acre, rather than that their lands should revert to the Crown. It is clear from such remarks as this that tho Lands Department is not to be solely a revenue collecting machine, and that the Minister at tho head has a large heart as well as a good executive mind-