28 Trial Grass Plots Are To be Planted at Bushmere

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18366, 7 April 1934, Page 13

28 Trial Grass Plots Are To be Planted at Bushmere

A TOTAL of 2* trial plots of grasses i ™ mol clovers arc to bo laid down! on Mr. \\\ \V. tfmilh’s property at! Bushmere for the purpose of demon- j strating the differences of strain in | ryegrass, cocksfoot, white clover and red clover. These plots are to be planted from certified mother seed, also certified permanent pasture ryegrass seed, false perennial, bad false perennial, and low ultra-violet testing Canterbury perennial, while additional plots are to contain mixtures of other types of seed. . .

The decision to make these trials in 111,. <;isborne_ district was the result of a request made by the Poverty Bar Seed C rowers’ Association. The seed for the trials arrived in (lisborne on Thtirsdav, and will be planted under Bie supervision of the insi motor in agriculture, Mr. .M. A. Black, on an area, covering approximately half an ncre, as soon as the ground is prepared and conditions are suitable. The seed was secured from the Plant Research Station. Palmerston North, which collected it from various sources, and ot her trials are to be made also in the South Island, the Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay, some of these districts having special trials of tlieir own in conjunction with the main scheme. In addition, mammal trials arc to lie carried out on another plot of about a quarter of an acre. The Mixtures. The seed mixtures of ryegrass are to |>e sown at the rate of 2 bushels to the acre, with the addition of 211). of mother white clover seed with each of several plots. The basic mixture for the remainder of the plots will be: —Till), of Italian ! ,-yc, 251 b. of certified perennial, 101 b. jof Akaroa cocksfoot, MIL. of mother j white clover seed, and 31b. of Montgomery red clover. Another plot will j be the same but without Italian rycj grass, while a further plot, will have the 7Alb. of Italian ryegrass increased to 151 b. Akaroa cocksfoot in one will be replaced by Danish cocksfoot, jn another by Aberystwyth dual purpose cocksfoot,' in a further one by Plains certified cocksfoot, in another l\y Aberystwyth pasture type of cocksfoot and ia still another by a Lincoln College type. In further plots, mother white clover seed, certified, will be replaced by ordinary New Zealand white clover, in a second by a selection of white clovers, in a third by Kentish wild white, in a fourth by imported Dutch white and in a fifth by New Zealand No. 2 certified permanent pasture.

Montgomery red clover will lie displaced in one of the plots and replaced in another by broad red clover. White clover will be entirely absent from one of the series, and station-sown Montgomery red clover will be replaced m another by ordinary certified Montgomery red clover. The Mammal Trials. In four remaining plots, one of the following will be added to the basic mixture: Crested dogstail, 31b; ordinary Timothy, 41b; poa trivialis, 31b; meadow foxtail, Gib. These trials are calculated to be of more than ordinary interest, to (Hsliorne fanners, who, no doubt, will pay particular attention to their progress. It is probable that opportunity will be taken to hold field days on the plot from time to time in order to follow the development of the various mixtures. All the plots will receive a dressing of half a ton of burnt; lime to the acre and-also 3cvvt. of superphosphate to the acre. In addition, a quarter-acre is to be set aside for a fertiliser experiment with the base mixture of seed, which will be dressed with potash on one plot, others having superphosphate and potash, slag and potash, superphosphate alone, slag alone and North African phosphate alone. There will also be a duplicate series, half of each plot to receive burntt lime at the rate of half a ton to the acre and the other half of each plot to receive no lime at all. The phosphates will be applied at the rate of 3 cwt. to the acre and 30 per cent, potash salts at the rate of 2 cwt. to the acre.