FERTILE LANDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21855, 18 July 1934, Page 13

FERTILE LANDS

HAURAKI PLAINS AREA METHODS OF FARMERS "MISTAKE TO USE PLOUGH '* PROMISE OF THE' FUTURE BY H.B.T. No. in. The advisability of growing grain and root crops on that portion of the Efauraki Plains lying between the Waihou and Piabo Rivers is debatable. It is certain that these crops are essential in the scheme of operations favoured by most of the farmers, but in my opinion it is a mistake to plough this land at any stage of its development. The clay soil of this portion of the Hauraki Plains is impermeable to air, and it is only as air penetrates the surface that beneficent bacteria follow and make plant food available. This depth of "live" soil may extend in the early stages of development for only an inch or so below the surface. Tho effect of ploughing :is to smother the live soil with an impermeable layer of sterile clay, which must be exposed to sunlight and air for a considerable time —perhaps years—before bacterial activity is sufficiently re-established to maintain a thick sole of grass. Retrogression, ol Grass If, immediately following ploughing, the ground is thoroughly worked into a fine tilth, tho sown crop will usually be fairly satisfactory, for this reaches down to and feeds on "the supply of available food whiclb. is buried. The crop, however, usually exhausts this store, and thereafter the surface soil is practically barren until it has been "mellowed" by exposure. Evidences of this retrogressive cycle can be seen all over the plains, while farmers widely bemoan the necessity of disturbing their established pastures —knowing that it will take years to re-establish them—when they are unable to carry on without their winter supply of roots and maize. In all heavy soils the development of bacterial action is downward from the surface. Hence it is of the greatest importance to keep the live soil on the surface, and by every available means aid its extension in depth. The steady lowering of the soil water-level probably plays the most important part in this process. At the same time farmers themselves can materially hasten this process, and, I think, secure even more prolific crops than they do at present. Effect ol Lime The effect of lime in making this type of soil made friable has already been stressed. I would suggest that the area to be worked be heavily limed. A ton to the acre would be by no means an extravagant dressing. The next step would be to devise a machine which woidd vjork the surface soil, from grass, to a fine tilth some two to three inches in depth. This, instead of smothering and suppressing bacterial activity, would have the effect of allowing the air to penetrate much more deeply into the soil and this permeability would be maintained by the action of the lime on the clays with which it came in contact. Provided a thorough rough working i was given the seed bed would be as I good as, if not better than, that secured by ploughing, discing and harrowing, and the resultant crop would, I think, be twice as prolific. There is no doubt that by following* this method of cultivation pasture grass would be re-estab-lished immediately. New Implements Evolved

Faced with, the difficulties peculiar to their district, two settlers have already gone a long way toward evolving effective implements for dealing: with the land. One has evolved a grass cultivator ivhich has every indication of being a valuable implement, not only in the Hauraki Plains district, but also wherever pasture cultivation is practised. Another, a settler on the much-discussed Orongo area, has designed a surface cultivator in which the principles of discing and chopping are employed. This destroys the tall fescue, which has delayed the development of the district, and so cultivates and pulverises the surface that he can sow his maize at a lower cost—and reap double the harvest —than was possible under the old method of ploughing.

I am convinced that this Orongo area can and will be brought in, in the near future. The soil is still "dead" from, its long submersion, but Seven with the best drainage system in the world it is only slowly that superfluous water can be drawn from such retentive land. As this drainage becomes fully effective, and with the aid of implements, crops and. lime, which will deepen the surface loam, this area will equal in richness and production any other on the Hauraki Plains. Scope for Closer Settlement

What strikes one most forcibly in surveying this area is not so much the extraordinary development of the last 20 years, but the scope for closer settlement and still greater production which remains.

The present settlers may well look upon themselves as pioneers. Faced with entirely new conditions, the like of which had not been experienced in New Zealand before they have surmounted many obstacles. The goal has been worthy of the effort. The district, however, is capable of greater things yet.