PASTURES

Southland Times, Issue 18968, 15 June 1923, Page 10

PASTURES

IMPROVEMENT POSSIBLE. During the inspection of the Winton area by a party of Thombury farmers conducted by Mr R. B. Tennent, of the Department of Agriculture, the demonstrator referred to the lack of interest taken in permanent pastures. “Top-dressing is carried out to a great extent in the North Island,” said Mr Tenent, “but the further south I come the less attention is paid to this important feature of farm work, until Southland is reached, and I find that practically no top-dressing is carried out.” He went on to say that the Southland farmer was content to allow his pasture to run on for five years and then plough it in. He made little attempt to make it last longer, but with proper treatment there was no reason why it should not last a much longer period than five years. In the first place all animal droppings had to be chain harrowed to prevent them from spoiling the pasture by permitting rank growth. A top-dressing of lime in July or August followed by a dressing of phosphatic manure a couple of months later. For this there was no finer manure than basic slag, and this had been proved on numerous occasions. If superphosphate was used it would also give excellent results, but they would have to precede the super dressing with lime. There was also Nauru rock phosphate which was finely ground to permit of it being assimilated by the plants, but Nauru was a slow acting manure as it was not soluble in water. It required the action of soil acids to make it available for plants and this made its action slower than other phosphatic manures. “By judicious top-dressing there was no reason why pastures should not last many years,” he concluded, “instead of only five as at present.”