SCIENTIFIC STOCKING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19041, 11 June 1925, Page 14

SCIENTIFIC STOCKING.

NEW ZEALAND PASTURES. INTELLIGENT SYSTEM WANTED. THE EFFECT ON GRASSES. The artificial manuring of New Zealand pastures that has been allowed to deteriorate, may give almost immediate results, but those can bo no more maintained in the second place than in the igrst, without an intelligent system of stocking. The causes of deterioration in ||ie first place will ropcat themselves in the second, unless the proper prccaufeonary measures are taken. For all the cry about closer settlement, students of production know that subdivision into small holdings has often proved disastrous, becauso the small holder has not the, necessary command of stock. There are innumerable instances of this, where native lease holdings have reverted to the aboriginal owners. Be",;veon relinquishment and resumption there fell a period, sometimes unavoidable, Of inactivity during which the pastures went wild, fern and scrub .taking advantago of the absence of cattle to teassort themselves. , . It is patent even to the casual observer that, on North Island hill lands, the great pastoral implement'of control , is» the bullock, and lie must be applied with timely discretion, even as the. inanimateimplement is applied to agricultural lands. Evert he, however, has . his limitations, and when once the steep hill lands'have reverted to second growth, not all the fertiliser on Ngarii Island will enable him to reinstate the overthrown pastuies. Eair Chance Required. - Many people have hurriedly concluded .that grasses have died out, because the habit proved foreign and unsuitable, lhat is not always so, for in most cases they were never given a fair chance to embellish themselves, circumstances were made to favour their coaser neighbours. The great lesson we have to learn from the poorer bush lands is that immediate return from them, deluded many to the merits of the great open down lands ot a pumicious composition which have made the prosperity of the far-famedl Waikato The farmers of the open arable lands banked their money in their holdings. It, was their only form of investment, and from the land they reaped interest and -compound interest. These lands .were not impoverished by. the production of beef and wool, but were enriched and consolidated by artificial fertilsers, so that, up to a certain point, the more they productd the richer they became. This is the only science that can be economically .employed, and to-day ithe same process of grazing and manuring, the samo formula that < was practised' 30 years ■ ago by Waikato. farmers and managers of the big-estates from Wood lands to Matamata and Patatere is in operation. The first part of the system wa3 \ tho determining of suitable grasses, and then the best means of establishing and maintaining them. Practical Tests Needed. That tho system just quoted, is now to bo applied to run down pastoral lands in other localities is most gratifying. Variations may bo required, but necessarily the method over all must remain the .name. There is no, great mystery awaiting solution of improving worn-out pastures, but simple, practical tests are necessary v to demonstrate the margin between results and expenditure that means profit or lo£s. No one can afford to under-rate science in agriculture, especially intensivo agriculture, and it is cheering to know tho Hon. Minister for La,nds is prepared to demonstrate in' a large way oyer lands that, are already producing, for assuredly ho will not fall short of that'power in dealing with the still unsettled lands, that, Tike "those of Waikato, when once 'made productive can never be allowed to 'lapse to, infertility, by the very nature of thlm, so constituted upon our ascending scale of fertility. , A fair estimate of a inan may be made by his intentions, and it is certain the {Minister. for Lands will not halt merely upon his intention concerning one class of settled land in our • wonderfully pro--ductivo Dominion.