NEW ZEALAND FARMERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14047, 18 July 1916, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND FARMERS.

i.\tex»!sio ci'i;rivATU)x inoED

'Mr \Y. Perry, president <>l' the -New Zea-land Oouneil of Agriculture, at the |mnual conference m, Wellington, sail I llnit. up io tho present time, the bulk' of the fanners of --New"- Zealand hail been simply taking from , the soil what nature put - there. This could not- go -'on for mug without serious result.--. There v i-.iv .some, parts which showed '-deterioration already through tlie too frequent growth of dry crops. People -of to-day had no conception of the .amount of produce 'Xew Zealand would yield under intense cultivation. Professor Cre^lman. of Caiuula. wa..-. crodited with saying; when leaviif^ New Zealand m 1914, that "his people would not believe him when he. told them what some of the land m New Zealand could produce, and up to the present time the soil had only ber-u scratched.'' • "Every ■ effort >*hould be/fnadc lo obtain lu'ii abundant supply -Of manures at »■ reasonable price m Xew Zealand,''" said Mr" ■' Perry.- "There is* nothing, to my mind, -which will increase the prosperity of' the countVy ' to lh« same extent. Farmers generally are ' Very much iv tlie dark on the qiiCsti6n of Avhat manure, so they do not let much gb.t'o only be obtained by' practical experiments, with careful records of results. This work has not been carried out'.,' in the past by the Department of"'Agriculture to -the extent it should" have. been. Had the money which'" had been' spent trying 'to breed stud stock been used on the above, Xew Zealand would have been far .better off to-day; but there is every promise of a'- complete-change for the better before long. Excellent Avork is being ' carried' out' on the' experimental ' farms m plant selection. One of the difficulties' is to grow enough 'selected seed to be able tb s,ell commercial quantities. Tliisy no ' doubt,- - Avill be overcome.'*. - •■•...!, ; -.--"■' ». Ji ,;>'•'. ' ... -_■--__--____---__________>