PASTURE PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20969, 4 September 1931, Page 14

PASTURE PROBLEMS.

SEASONAL WORK. MIXTURES OF SEED. TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT. No. 1. Seasonable pasture problems form the subject of discussion in the latest bulletin from thl Fields Division and Plant Research Station, special consideration being given to seed mixtures for temporary, short-rotation and permanent pastures. Fortunately, it"is stated, developments during recont years have simplified the task of fixing the details of a pasture seed mixture. One result of this is that three. seed mixtures prove sufficient to cover the requirements of the groat majority of farmers who will be sowing pasture socd at this season. "First of all," says the bulletin, "there is a seed mixture for a temporary pasture of one or two years' duration. Such pastures are at times of considerable valuo because they can be used either to spell and to build up the fertility of land which has been regularly under the plough or to cleat- land of weeds, such as blackberry, prior to sowing permanent pasture. A mixture which has been used with success for the sowing down of temporary pasture consists of 251b. Italian ryegrass and 41b. to 61b. of red clover to an acre. Short-Rotation Pastures. " For what aro called short-rotation pastures, a somewhat different mixture has been found advisable. A short-rota-tion pasture is intended to have a life of two or three years. Such pastures serve a useful purpose, mainly, on those farms on which, principally because of climatic conditions, cereals and other arable crops are the main consider*, tions. On such farms short-rotation pastures give tho land a beneficial rest, produce heavily during their short life, and fit in well with management requirements.

"In special cases they may bo well justified under conditions which ordinarily call for the u»o of a permanent pasture mixture. For instance, if land is known to ba incompletely cleared of tall fescue infestation, 4t is usually good practice to sow it down on a short-rotation pasture rather thsn a permanent pasture. The short-rotation pasture may be ploughed down when the secondary invasion of fescue becomes serious enough to justify this course, and eventually the land, when cleaned of the fescue, may be sown in permanent pasture. " A suitable seed mixture for the establishment of short-rotation pasture consists of Italian ryegrass, 151b.; perennial ryegrass, 151b. ; red clover, 41b.; and white clover, 21b. For permanent pasture establishment the following mixture has been prescribed by Mr. E. Bruce Levy as suitable for use over wide areas in both North and South Islands2olb. to 251b. true perennial ryegrass, 101b. to 151b. New Zealand cocksfoot, 31b. crested dogstail, 31b. Timothy, 21b. New Zealand white 9lover, and 31b. red clover. The larger amount of cocksfoot is to be used only when the smaller amount of ryegrass is used. Question of Suitability. " Most unsuitable seed mixtures are at times recommended for use by farmers. Sometimes unsuitable mixtures are recommended honestly by persons who have not kept in touch with developments in grassland work. While the origin of unsuitable mixtures is interesting it is not of so much importance as the fact that unsuitable mixtures may be fruitful of loss over many years. In any case it is a costly matter to rectify » pa.sturo weakness arising from the use of an unsatisfactory mixture. " Another important matter which may come up for consideration at this season is the treatment of pastures of doubtful worth. Farmers generally should now be planning the grassland work for the com' ing year. In such planning it is often difficult to decide what should be done in regard to pastures which ara too open or on which the sward has deteriorated unduly because of bad treatment. Tho use of fertilisers on such pastures suggests itself, but there are definite limitations to the sound use of fertilisers in such a connection. * " Fertilisers' have at times given almost magical effects in increasing the proportion of herbage from good species in a pasture; one or two dressings of phosphates have, on many occasions, brought clover, ryegrass, cocksfoot and dogstail into prominence in swards in which these species,. prior to the top-dressing, were faring so poorly that it was easy to overlook their presence. But that the species named were really in the sward, though faring poorly, is the point of moment; without them there would be no worthwhile basis upon which to build up a gward by top-clreuping. When a worn-out pasture is so deficient in desirable plants as to render ineffective the ordinary methods of improvement such as topdressing and harrowing, then, as a rule, the obvious and standard course is to plough and re-seed. Surface Sowing. " The re-seeding usually is done after a courso of cropping which hns tended to increase rather than to decrease soil fertility, although in some districts there is a tendency to favour resowing of the pasture without any intervening crop. This practice has beeii found to give good results. In certain circumstances the standard courso mentioned may not bo prac. ticablo because of labour or cost considerations, or because of tho naturo of the land. When this is the case the alternative course is to renovate the pasture by surface sowing of seed. Under average conditions autumn is, as a rule,'the best time to attempt improvement by surface sowing. " It is well to remember that surface sowing is attended by risks and is not always successful, and in respect to any future improvement that is being planned now it should bo kept in mind that tho ploughed and cultivated surface is the most certain and speedy way to an improved sward. There has probably been at times too great an inclination to effect sward improvement by slower and sometimes uncertain means, such as top. dressing and surface sowing of seed. The advisability of improving worn-out pastures by ploughing and re-needing has been greatly intensified by tho advent of reliable supplies of superior and lasting strains of species such as ryegrass."