NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19700, 29 January 1926, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURE.

QUARTER OF A CENTURY’S PROGRESS. ADDRESS BY MR A. H. COCKAYNE. Tlio following address was delivered by Mr A. H. Cockayne at the New Zealand Science Congress yesterday: “The area from which agricultural production takes place in New Zealand can be roughly divided into three groups, the tussock grassland, the sown grassland, and the annually cropped land. In 1900 there were about 15,000,000 acres of tussock grassland in New Zealand, nearly 11,000,000 of sown grasslands, and 1,500,000 acres of sown crops. In the south 1, OCX), (XX) increase has been derived partly from Rowland tussock grassland, party from forest and partly from land previously under short rotation cropping. In the north the major portion of the 5,000,000 acre increase has been from forest and partly from the reclamation of swamplands. (the annual rate of increase, about 270,000 acres is, however, now rapidly shrinking, and the day when from 300,000 to 400,000 acres of grassland might yearly bo added by the displacement of forest by the a:c© and the match has now gone by, and the bush towns of the future will bo more in the nature of recovering grassland already sown where nature is reasserting itself than in grassed area in displacing virgin forest with pasture; or to quote the picturesque expression of ihe New Zealand Herald, on land where round 1 was won by the bush burner, but nature is leading on pints in raound 2, in that light to a finish to determine whether the farmer or forest will finally win. There still, however, remains three groat areas from which to draw our future increase in sown grasslands and there are much' low-land tussock country, the pumice plains, and the heath covered areas of the north, the well-known gum lands. These last will in 25 years add a large annual quota to the sown pasture of New Zealand, but in the past, while good forest country was available that could be cheaply grassed without the intervention of the plough, these great potential sources of grassland increase have been largely neglected. During the period under review the development of dominance of danthonia and agiostis over very wide areas not originally sown with these grasses, and the consequent problems involved in the management of both these types of induced vegetation units, is the moat noteworthy grass ecological feature so far as acreage involved in concerned. Again, the development of paspalnm as a major dominant over large areas in the north is one of the outstanding features. In 1900 perennial ryegrass was the dominant seed sown under all conditions of soil and climate, but at the present time, with the exception of especially fertile soil, and where a short rotation pasture is intercolated between the growing of a series of annual crops, the tendency has been to reduce the amount of ryegrass sown. The first great change with which I was closely associated was the effort to make cocksfoot the dominant element on land which was below a permanent ryegrass standard, .this has not been wholly successful, and an earlier knowledge of the ecological requirements of this grass would have saved much heart-burning on the part of the farmer. Paspalum, western wolths, lotus major, and lotus hispidus can be ranked as the main new pasture species that have secured a permanent position, while subterranean clover is on the eve of winning a similar position. Crested comparatively;

rarely used in 1900, is now general in the north, and amounts such as 31b to 41b in mixtures for hill country unknown in 1900 are now used. The fall of Chewing's fescue as the invariable suhdominant in poor land sowings, except where seed production is aimed at, is also one of the features of the period. Italian ryegrass, both iu short and long duration, has increased, and of recent years the recognition that imported white clover is temporal and colonial white clover tends to be permanent, together with the recognition that unless by cultivation, manuring, or some other process poor land can be raised to the fertility demanded by rye, cocksfoot, or crested dogstail, dominance by a third-class grass such as brown top or dantlionia must be aimed at, are salient features in grass land establishment. During the period many pasture plants have been tried and found wanting Phalaris bulbosa, pelf grass, arrowless brome, tall oat, and prairie grass as perhaps the most significant. For a period the “deep-rooted system of Elliott threatened to influence pasture methods in New- Zealand, and were it not for the fact that tall fescue of unenviable fume iu New Zealand ranks as important iu his sowings tlie system would have enjoyed great temporary repute. Even yet chicory and Sheep’s Burnet are found in pastures—-relics of the temporary boom that set in. Immense problems lie before the investigator before the standardisation of methods of grass farming is attained. Until quite recently the dominance of grass laud was largely viewed as representing only a temporary phase in our agricultural development to be completely modified before long by the introduction of nine intensive methods of soil utilisation where the annually sown live stock feeding crops would steadily increase in importance. In actual practice such has not been the ease, and the factor of topdressing grass land is definitely swinging the pendulum of agricultural practice along the line of less reliance being placed on annual crops and increased reliance on methods of pasture manipulation and pasture management. The basic feature of grass land from the management, standpoint is the fact that its production is seasonal, rising to great heights during portion of the summer and falling , away at other periods. In other words, the seasonal stocking capacity of grassland varies enormously. Glassland stocked on the basis of its low production means an enormous wastage of feed during the high production period, and the whole art of grass farming consists of the maximum economic utilisation of the whole of the feed produced. There are four great methods whereby this can be carried out, or attempted to be carried out. They are: —(1) Buying stock when feed is plentiful and selling when feed is scarce. (2) Varying the feed requirement by a maximum employment of female animals. (3) Overstocking when feed is scarce, relying on rebuilding up weight when feed is plentiful. (4) By providing ample supplementary feed either farm grown or purchased to fill in the low production periods of grass land. In 1900 there were 9,000,000 breeding ewes. Now there are 13,000,000, and the number of sheep wintered is not more than 5,000,000 above that of 1900. Since that date 1,000,000 cows have been added to our herds, and the system of a short lactation period results in a high grass utilisation corresponding with the period of maximum grass production. Both the development of our dairy industry and our great frozen meat industry are based on varying the feed requirement to coincide with the rise and fall in grass production. The exploitation of the maternity of live stock is in my mind the outstanding feature of our progress—if it can be termed progress—of the past quarter of a century. The third method of overstocking and allowing losses in weight has many followers, but they are not .prepared to admit that it is their intentional practice. It frequently leads to an apparently satisfactory result, unless overdone, by automatically lessoning summer grass production, producing a spurious high utilisation of tho feed produced. The fourth method of supplying abundant supplementary feed has been constantly reiterated by the farming community, but let us see what has actually happened. In the first place, however, it is necesary to point out that North Island farming, and South Island farming is essentially different from the supplementary feed point of view. In 1900 one acre of supplementary feed was grown to every 23 stock units in Canterbury, Otago, and Southland. In the North Island one acre to every 110 stock units. To-day in the south one aero is grown to every 25 units in those provinces named, and one acre to 150 units in the north. The acreage certainly has increased, but not in proportion either to tho added grass acreage or the increase in stock. In 1900 there wore about 25 million stock units, to-day there are over 40 million, and tho carrying capacity has increased from 1.6 stock units per acre of sown grass to 2.0 stock units per acre, an increase of 25 per cent, in carrying capacity, with a reduction in the. number of acres of supplementary crops grown per 100 acres of grass land. The question that naturally arises is whether this tendency is a sound one economically, and cries aloud for, extensive and critical examination of farm management practices, throughout New Zealand there is. in fact no more pressing and urgent agricultural research work needed than that which comes within the scope of the farm economist find it is the very typo of research work that has been studiously avoided m the post. It is freely admitted that all agricultural research work is of permanent benefit to our primary industries, but to me it would appear that proper farm economic studies are of such pressing national importance that their consummation cannot be safely neglected any further in our agricultural history. Fundamental as they are to a realisation of sound land values, a.nd rational development of any agricultural credit schemes, they should demand our earnest attention!.

In wheat the demand has increased but production is steadily diminishing and there is a widespread feeling that the average will continue to decline, the standardisation of solid straw Tuscan as the dominant wheat in New Zealand, the work of Dr Hiln-endorf in pure race selection, the use of Algerian within the range of severe crown rust infection, and the use ot the Hilgendorf in pure race selection the use of Algerian within the range of severe crown rush infectation and the use of the grain producing types are outstanding features in the cereal history of the period. In supplementary crops tumps and rape still, as in 1900. dominate the position so far as acreage is concerned. One of the most outstanding features of the period under review is the increase in the use of artificial manures in 1900 with an annual crop acreage of a little more than at present. Somewhere about 25,000 tons ot artificial manure, apart from freezing works material were used each year. Half of this manure was bone-dust. Almost the whole of this material was used on annual crops to-day, Ov' er 200,000 tons of artificials are used and more than two-thirds is used for top-dressing grassland, approximately half the manure used in super-phos-phato with basic slag second on the list, closely followed by ground rocic phosphate generally used in combination, with a more soluble form. The area of grassland now being top-dressed each year just exceeds one million acres, or just on 5 per cent. o£ the sown, grassland. r lhe increasing of this percentage to my mind represents the groat advance that will bo made m the next decade when the acreage' annually dealt should ho at least trebled. With the advance in. Ih© uso of artificial! inanuTGS, but little advance has been made in exact knowledge in the comparative efficiency of individual manures, our knowledge of the economic nature, potash and nitiogon remains much at it was in 1900, both are often used in combination with phosphates, but whether they are worth while is still highly problematical. Over 60,000 tons of the total are used in Southland. The last majority of soil analyses show lime deficiency. Lame has been tried intermittently over the whole of New Zealand by farmers, but the practice has stabilised only in coitain districts. Generally speaking in an address such n* this an examination of the expansion of export figures is taken to show the immeiue progress that has been made with the inevitable peroration that New Zealand exports more agricultural produce per head than any other country in the world. I will not dispute this point, _ but would not bo in the least surprised if the Falkland Islands had not as high a claim for that honour. I just bring this in to suggest that mere figures are not of much importance, but in considering the progress of agriculture they unfortunately have to be made use of. In 1900 our main agricultural exports amounted to £9,300,000; wool nearly five millions, meat two and a-half millions, milk products one million, and cereals one million. To-day the same exports reach a figure of over £46.000,000, or a fivefold increase. Milk products come first with 20 millions, wool (provided price is high! 15 millions, and meat 12 millions. The milking machine and homo separation have been of intense importance, not only in enlarging the area over which dairying can bo done and revolutionising the labour position, but also both laving dangerous in the production of high grade material it ha« made cleanliness and «m» in production acceptable to tbs pt^dtxwjc.