UTILISING GUMLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19549, 31 January 1927, Page 14

UTILISING GUMLANDS.

MAKING CHEAP PASTURE. EXPERIMENT AT PUREWA. SOME IMPORTANT RESULTS. Tho work carried out at the Puwora Experimental Farm near Whangartsi in the way of finding oui the best method of utilising the waste gumlands of Auckland has attracted a largo amount of attention but by no means so much as; the important results already won demand. Mr. T. H. Pater,son, instructor in agriculture for tbo Auckland district, who has been directing tho operations at Puwera, has demonstrated beyond all doubt what he set forth some years - ago to show, namely, that even the poorest type of gumland in Auckland covfid be turned to useful farm land at a moderate cost. The results won at the Puwera farm prove definitely that apparently intractable gumland of a pipeclay character can be turned into good pasture at a cost not fficceeding *ls an ace which cost includes substantial boundary and divisional fences and in some cases a' cortain amount of draining. It has also been proved that the rasture made is of a permanent character, with a tendency to improve, and that it will satisfactorily carry a dairy cow to two acres and that cows milked or. the pasture made at Puwera have yielded between 2201b. and 2501b. of butterfat. To the averaga layman in this country who has not been educated to think anything about ;'arming or farming problems, the figures just quoted mean nothing. In fact it is doubtful whether they would ever attract his notice. But if Auckland merchants and manufacturers desire to see their own affair;; prosper, and to see their business and .their city expand in the future as it has expanded ic> ihe past they cannot afford to ignore them. It is well w r ortb. while considering seriously what is the significance of pasture at £ls an acre and two acres of pasture keeping a dairy cow. Before tbs slump in laud values, it was generally conceded that land sufficient to keep one cow was worth £IOO. That is, if two acres were required, the land was worth £SO an acre, if three acres were required, the land was worth about £33 per acre, and so on. Land values have come down to some extent, but some American dairying experts who recently visited New Zealand estimated the value of enough land to keep a cow at £BO. Now if two acres of Puwera gumland can be made to keep a cow at a cost of £ls an acre, it means only £3O per cow against £BO, or a difference of £SO per cow, which would mean on a herd of 60 cows a saving of £l5O per year in interest alone as against the higher priced land. Prospect for Dairy Produce. There is more than the saving of £l5O year ou a moderate-sized dairy fanu. The Crown own approximately JO,OOO acres of unoccupied and unused gumland and private individuals, co-operations and Maoris own still more, occupied perhaps, but not used, so we have a total of over 600,000 acres of land to which tho figures we have bees dealing will apply. Assuming that of this area 300,000 acres are ploughablß and the proportion of arable country is greater than this, it would mean that Auckland could keep 150,000 more dairy cows which, on an average of 2001b. butterfat per season, would mean a total increase in the value of dairy produce not far short of £2,000,000 per year. Theses figures go to show that the gumlands of North Auckland are worth serious attention for the whole nation would benefit by such an increase of national wealth.' To some people they may seem extravagant, but they are not. The bulk of the gumlands in North Auckland and in South Auckland, too, are infinitely superior to the pipeclay area at Puwer&, and could be broken in at a much 'ess cost per .o and, moreover, they co'i) 59 made to carry more than a cow t+-vo acres and to yield more than 1101b. or lv£;b. of butterfat per acre, The Northern part of the Auckland district from the Lower Waikato to Cape Maria Van Dieman possesses such a mild climate that pasture grasses grow through the greater part of the year; moreover, the same climatic conditions enable two subtropical grasses to flourish, namely, Paspalum diiatatum and Kikuyii, which produce more feed per acre than any other grasses so far introduced into New Zealand and furthermore yield green, succulent, nutritious stock ' feed in the hottest part of the year, when English grasses are dry and withered. Apart from | this the mild climate enables a very great range of valuable forage plants to be grown should these be needed to supplernild climate enables dairy cows and all ment grass, and further still the same other kinds of domestic stock to thrive on less feed than is required in colder j districts. Gumlsnds Previously Worked. The figures given regarding the cost of turning gumlands into pasture are based on the working of the poorest and most intractable kind of gumland and the general public may be under tho impression that the work done at Puwera is the only work accomplished on gumland and the only proof that , gumlands are capable of being turned to' agricultural use. Such an impression is entirely wrong. Since the very dawn of settlement, men have farmed the Auckland gumlands and from the Lower Waikato up to Awanui may be found hundreds of profitable farms and prosperous farmers on this type -J soil Hitherto, of course, men have had their choice of better soils and have only worked gumland where it was specially "good or specially convenient. Today, the price of good land is higher than the cost of making ordinary gumland productive and this is why public attention and particularly the attention of land seekers should be drawn to it,. The great draw hick to settling gumlands has been e.nd still is the fact that from £5 to £lO per acre must he spent on it before a single hoof of stock can he carried on it and there are few new farmers who have ready capital enough to stand such an outlay. They can pay £SO or more per acre tor land in grass because most of this is under mortgage and they expect to raise all the interest and a little more from the land, but when it comes to paying £ls, £lO, or even £5 down in hard "cash, besides providing capital in the shape of teams, implements, buildings and time they are too much handicapped at the start The only sure way of settling the gumlands or any other kind of poor country which requires capital and time to improve, it is for the State to undertake the work itself. Mr. Patterson has shown thai the State can produce pasture -at Powers, at a cost of £ls per acre, which will carry a cow to two acres. This is a good commercial proposition. Worked on a larger scale on better country, tens of thousands of acres could be made into good dairy farms at £ls per acre or less. Is ih«s not a gocd investment for State Capital sad State enter* i' 115 - •