Converting Fern Lands into Grass Fields.

Otago Witness, Issue 1602, 5 August 1882, Page 6

Converting Fern Lands into Grass Fields.

It will be remembered from our previous notices that Mr J. C. Firth had discovered that at Matamata the proper time to plough land for the purpose of destroying fern was January and February, or March. Of course this late ploughing exposed the tender clovers and grasses in their earliest stages to the fierce heats of summer, besides exposing them to the effects of frost before they were well developed. It was simply a choice of evils. By ploughing the land at any other time the growth of fern was increased, and the alternative of summer ploughing with its disadvantages was, we think, wisely chosen, as by no other known means could the fern be so readily destroyed. A happy accident has indicated another mode of destroying the fern, which bids fair to be more successful than the plan already detailed. Last September the assistant manager, Mr F. Dibble, disc harrowed four times a small piece of raw fern land in a garden enclosure, from which the fern had been harrowed. This plot of land was sown with 61b of red clover Beed and 21b of white clover seed per acre, in the usual manner. Owing to its position, within a garden enclosure, no cattle could be put upon it to eat down the young fern as it made its appearance. Under these circumstances, had the land been ploughed instead of disc harrowed, by February the fern would have been 2 feet 6 inches in height, completely smothering the young clovers. But, strangely enough, scarcely any fern appeared, beyond a feeble plant at intervals of perhaps a square yard or more, whilst a thick mat of red clover, at least 1 foot in height, covered the ground. A mowing machine was then put on to it, since which, whilst the clover has again run up to 7 or 8 inches in height, no fern whatever has made its appearance. This is an entirely new departure in cultivating the fern lands of this Province, and we can only account for the striking and important results by the fact that the fern roots were cut so small by the action of the disc harrows, and so bled as to be without vitality. So satisfied is Mr Firth with the results from this experiment, that he now purposes to put 1500 acres of raw fern land under the disc harrow treatment in September and October next, but in place of running the disc harrows twice up and twice down, as in the previous experiment, he intends to run them once from north to south, once east to west, and once diagonally each way. This mode of treatment, he thinks, will cut the fern root and the masses of very fine fibres which are so detrimental to the growth of clovers and grasses, and will effectually destroy the fern. Besides, the other advantages are the saving of the cost of ploughing, doing the work a great deal better, giving the young seeds the advantages of the spring growth, so that they may be well established before the summer heats and winter frosts attack them. As to the results, if they are anything like those of the experiments already detailed, it will be of the greatest possible advantage to all new pioneer settlers and to the country at large. A 12-feet disc harrow with four horses and the driver will cover 20 acres a day once over, or five acres four times over, leaving the ground in a condition which no ploughing and ordinary harrowing could equal. There are neither hard unbroken furrows nor hollows under the furrows, both of which conditions occur in ploughing new land, and both of which are most unfavourable for the growth of young seeds.

We regard this fresh departure in the economic cultivation of new fern lands as of the utmost importance, for, next to tne Native difficulty, there has not been a greater barrier to the development of agricultural enterprisa in this country than the difficulty of destroying the fern. Should Mr Firth's further experiments prove such a success as they are likely to do, a small pioneer settler with a pair of horses and a six-feet disc harrow will be able to dispense with the plough and the skilled ploughman, as, if he or one of his sons can drive a pair of horses, he can by the disci harrow cultivate his land as well for grass, ir, not better, than the most skilful man who ever followed the plough. We would strongly recommend, in the present stage of the experiment, such of our readers as are cultivating new fern land to procure a diso harrow, and set it to work in September and October next in breaking up new land previously to sowing it down with grass and clover. Let us give a rough estimate of the cost at which this kind of work can be done by an unskilled ploughman. A pair of six-feet disc harrows will cost about £12, and a pair of light horses may be obtained for about £30, with the harness required for harrowing. So much for the tools ; now for the cost of the work per acre. A pair of six-feet disc harrows_ will go over 10 acres a day once, and four times, as proposed above, 2£ acres may be covered. This is at tho rate of 15 acres a week, and on light land this mode of preparation would probably leave the hand in a bettor condition to receive grass mid clover seed than by ploughing, cross ploughing, harrowing, &c. The wages of the man would probably be '20s a week with his keep, or say 35s a week— accost for wages of 2s 4d per acre. The keep of the horses, if the new settler had to purchase all the food, would be from 10s to 12s a week each, or m additional coat per acre of about Is 7d lot

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horse feed. The seeding with red and white clover, or. with these clovers and a mixture of grass seed with them, might be put down at 8s per acre, and bush harrowing say 6d per acremaking a total cost of wages, horse feed, seed &c of 12s 5d per acre. To complete the cost of 'putting uncultivated land under grass by this method, an allowance must be made for interest upon the outlay for horses, disc harrows, &c, which might be stated at Is ; Gd an acre -thus making the total cost up to 13s lid per acre. If superphosphate, guano, or other suitable manure be added to the above items of cost, it will be seen that fern land may be brought into a profitable condition at a cost iar less than that which is now paid for putting bush land into grass fields. As the disc : harrows have not yet been proved so suitable for helvy clay lands as for light soils, the above remarks apply to the latter class of fauna of which there is such a large portion both in the northern and southern portions af the Auckland Province These calcula ions are furnished to us by Mr J. C. Firth, with the view of showing what can be done by a small let le? doingffis own work with the proper class of implements, allowing himself whilst at wS 6s a day. These figures and suggestions wSl doubtless be found of advantage to men of small means. The fact that a man, after paying for the purchase of his land and building a whare, &c, with £100 or so in his pocket, may purchase the requisite appliances, and, within S weeks, put into grass, by us own labour andlhatof his two hands, at least 80 acres of Ws farm, open up possibility which may we 1 provoke earnest thought. By following such I rfan we think few large capitalists will be allito put their fern lands into grass at such a Seap rate as can be done by an industrious settler with even small means. After putting 80 acres in grass, our typical settler will have the greater portion of the year at his disposal to work for others, to put in a crop of potatoes, maize, &c, to arrange for the fencing of his ground, to add to the comforts of the home surroundings, &c. For a few years at most crazing will be the mainstay of the settler with small means, and the plan sketched above shows how he may get a large area into grass with comparatively little trouble.-Auckland Weekly News. . [The disc harrow used in the above experiment was one of A. and J. Dobbie's, for which Messrs Royse, Stead, and Co Dunedin, are agents, and particulars of which will be found elsewhere.— Ed.]