PASTURES

Southland Times, Issue 19294, 12 July 1924, Page 11

PASTURES

AN ALL-IMPORTANT SUBJECT. GOVERNMENT INSTRUCTOR’S LECTURE. During the past week or two, Mr R. McGillivray, Instructor in Agriculture for Southland, has been busily engaged in satisfying numerous requests for a lecture on the subject of pastures, and in several country centres has addressed largely attended meetings of farmers, who accorded hipi an attentive hearing, and spoke in eulogistic terms of the value of his lectures. Addressing a meeting at Oreti on Wednesday night Mr McGillivray said the subject he was about to deal with was a tremendously big one. There was and always would be room for new and improvd methods of farming. As times and conditions changed so new methods were necessary in order that the productivity of the soil might be increased, not only in quantity, but in quality as well. To secure a permanent increase in the output of primary products it was absolutely necessary that the question of their pastures should receive their most serious consideration. Many of their pastures were so unproductive that they could be ploughed up without decreasing the total amount of feed now available, as the return from such pastures was almost nil. IMPROVEMENT MUCH NEEDED. Widespread improvement was necessary. Good pastures and good farming were of interest to aIL If the farmer was not right the whole country felt the effect. Other industries might go out of existence, but fanning, the Dominion’s great primary industry, would .still go on. The real test of a pasture was, in plain terms, how much meat, milk or wool it was going to give them. After going very closely into the pasture question in the Northern Hemisphere he could not lose sight of the fact that good pastures were the foundation of success in farming. It was the man with the good pastures who was making the money in every instance, and it was the good pastures of Britain that had enabled the farmers of the Old Country to weather times of severe agricultural depression.

In talking about pastures they had to realise that soil conditions determined types of pastures. Experiments in this connection had been under way for the past 30 years in the Northern Hemisphere. Nature was always at work endeavouring to fill up bare patches in the pasture, and there were few places that could not be clothed with some kind of vegetation. In Nature’s scheme of things the kind of vegetation most suited to the situation was the one that came away. In Central Otago, for example, they had the scab weed growing ove" a considerable area of that arid country. This was the only plant that could stand that climate of extremes. It was simply a case of conditions determining the type of plant grown. (A Bare patches in pasture; did not usually remain bare very long. Nature was at work all the time, and those patches became filled up with weeds and grasses, such as sweet vernal and New Zealand hairgrass on the drier farmlands, and agrostis, Torksbire fog, etc., in moister country. These plants were of low palatability and were not eaten by stock to any extent, so long as there were any of the nutritious grasses present. It could be quite well understood, therefore, that the good grasses remaining would soon be eaten out, and, the inferior ones would gain control. The ingress of the weed plants would be governed by the natural state of the ground. The hairgrass would not come into damp pastures, and the agrostic would not appear to any extent in very dry ones. SUCCESS DEPENDENT ON CONDITIONS When some twenty-five years ago the force of environment on pasture establishment was first mentioned, it was ridiculed by many people, who maintained that pasture depended solely on what grasses were included in the original mixture. They were now in a position to state definitely that certain plants were suitable only for certain conditions. They might sow good grass mixtures, but whether these would be successful or not depended on soil and climatic conditions and after treatment. They had in New Zealand on the wet lands a type of pasture where sweet floating grass was dominant, another where meadow fox-tail controlled the situation, and another where the surface fertility was still high, where perennual ryegrass was growing under ideal conditions, and so on down to agrostis and danthonia. Where meadow foxtail would grow they would have splendid pastures that would last for generations under good treatment, and the same applied to perennial rye as a pasture, also timothy and cocksfoot types. The Agrostis-Danthonia pasture was in certain situations quite good for the class of land, but should not appear on good lands. They must study their conditions of soil and situation to ascertain what mixture was suitable for their individual needs. The fertility of the soil and its physical condition were of supreme importance in pasture establishment. So long as they kept the surface fertility at a high level, they would get good returns from good grasses. FERTILITY OF SOIL MUST BE RAISED. Allow the fertility to decrease, however, and the best grasses would soon show signs of distress, and-others of a lower standaid would creep in and take their place in the pasture. In many parts of Southland the better grasses were hanging on, but only just, and were struggling with agrostis and weed plants. Raise the fertility of chat soil, and the better grasses would re-assert themselves and the lower orders would recede, and would not give any trouble so long as the surface fertility was maintained. Before good pastures could be expected the soil must be got into a good physical condition, and the first step in that direction was to see that the drainage vzas right. It was needless for him to tell them about the effect of drainage in Southland, which at one time had been very damp, but was now transformed into a province of smiling farms. Drainage was at the bottom of that transformation. VALUE OF LIMING.

After dealing fully with drainage and its relationship to good pasture, the speaker went on to say that liming could be justly regarded as the second step in soil improvement. Lime had two important results in its action on the soil. It supplied basic material, and it improved the physical condition of the ground. In the absence of a base, the soil became acid, and such soils were not to the liking of their farm crops, An adequate supply of lime was necessary for the highest production and full bacterial activity. The next point was. cultivation, which exerted powerful influence on soil conditions. The first object of cultivation was to get the soil into a good tilth, and to work it into that crumb-like condition which experience had shown to be so well suited to plant growth. Organic matter, continued the lecturer, was of prime importance in the up-keep of the fertility of their soils. Fertility w’ent a long way further than the use of artificial fertilizers. They had got to see to the organic state of the soil, and he considered that if the soil was in good physical condition, a great deal more fertilizer could be used. Continuing, the speaker said it was difficult to assign a money value to organic matter, as when incorporated with the soil it had several different effects, anyone of which was of sufficient importance to justify its use. LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. Touching on leguminous plants, the speaker said they must endeavour to stimulate their clovers, because they did not want to buy nitrogen for the soil as it was very costly. Clover and allied plants was really the only ones on the face of the earth that left the land richer in nitrogen when they died off. The tendency of recent years to lay down grass wherever possible, continued Mr McGillivray, was still being maintained. Probably there was much land scheduled as hrcn£ laid

’down in grass which never really reached that state, but was ploughed up again as unprofitable within a short time of having being laid down. Making due allowance for this, there was evidently an increased desire to put down land to grass, and at present prices and conditions it was often the wisest course to pursue. There were many things to take into consideration when laying down pasture—situation, soil, seeds, rate of seeding, and general management. That success depended greatly on after management was undoubted, but it was an error to suppose that the condition of the land at the commencement could be neglected. The higher the condition of the land, the better the chance of success. A good seed bed was of the greatest importance. EARLY PLOUGHING. On heavy land early ploughing was essential, so that the soil might be exposed to the action of the atmosphere. Good surface fertility was essential. The land should be well worked and rolled, and the seed lightly covered. It was not simply a case of care in seeding only, because unsatisfactory results would be obtained unless the after management was* conducted with care and also with liberality. In the case of autumn sown grass, it should be allowed to grow unchecked until the early spring. There was considerable temptation to make use of this growth in the early stages, but if this was done, and the grasses eaten down too early, the developing root system would be injured, and the plant would tend to have a short life. The effect of manuring upon the character of the herbage was most marked, and he knew of no more instructive sight than that obtained when walking across the various manured plots at the famous Rothamsted Experimental Station in England. It was like going from one district to an entirely different part of the country to step from plot to plot, for the manuring carried out along stated lines had so altered the appearance of the plots that it was difficult to believe that years ago they had all formed part of the one park, and the herbage on each was similar. On the sulphate of ammonia areas there was a total absence of clover and allied plants, and the dividing line between this plot and the next, which was receiving phosphates, was very marked. The clover and native vetches were abundant on this plot, but refused to cross the dividing line on to the other. TOP DRESSING. In considering the top-dressing of pastures, Mr McGilliveay went on, the farmer had to take into consideration the type of his soil. In a dry climate superphosphate .was the fertiliser most in demand, while under damper conditions basic slag, or some of the various rock phosphates, found considerable favour. Farmers ' in different parts of Southland had mentioned that the clovers had disappeared from their pastures, but the grasses were still fairly good. In such cases, he advised them to sow a few pounds of clover when top-dressing. Give the pasture a stroke with the harrows, and they would soon see results. A pasture should be harrowed without fail in the winter and early spring in order to scatter the animal manure present in the field. This was of great importance, and resulted in a better and more palatable pasture, and it was palatability that counted every rime. Mr McGilligray gave numerous instances of increased carrying capacity due to topdressing and urged the farmers to keep their pastures in good heart. SWEDES AS WINTER FEED BENEFITS TO STOCK. METHODS OF CROPPING All practical farmers know the worth of swedes for winter feed. The crop is easy to grow and the roots economical to feed. Careful preparation for its growth invariably ensures good results, unless such pests as the turnip fly, or both blight and finger and toe disease attacks the young plants and roots. Certain practices mentioned by Farm Economy minimise the effect of these pests. To combat the fly, moisten the seed with kerosene or turpentine before sowing. The first two leaves being those generally attacked, carry a slight odour if this is done, and the fly does not attack them so readily. Sowing specially bred blight-resisting varieties and using a new paddock each season lessens the risk of both blight and finger and toe affecting the crop. For the satisfactory germination of the seed and general growth of the crop the value of cultivation could not be better shown than by the following actual example:—A farmer ploughed ten acres of his paddock in October, then had to discontinue. Ploughing was again commenced early in November, and the paddock except for the headland, completed. The cultivator, harrow, and roller were used, and the land looked in first-class form. Sowing was commenced, the seed and the manure ’ being* sown at the same time. After one day’s drilling the headland was ploughed and cultivated and the whole paddock then sown. A day or so later rain came and the plants began to appear (a satisfactory take resulting, on the land first ploughed. A fortnight later an odd turnip was noticeable on the land ploughed in November. On the headland, which was ploughed, worked, and sown almost immediately, there was a complete failure. This experience carries its own lesson. EARLY PLOUGHING.

Plough early and give the vegetation turned under a chance to decay. Let the weather help you make a good tilth. Keep the moisture in the soil by discing. Cultivate freely to kill weeds. Sowing the seed in ridges is the most satisfactory method where conditions allow. A ridged crop can be carefully thinned, the hoeing conserves moisture and kills weeds, while the plants have greater growing room. Another method of conserving moisture and killing weeds is by straddle harrowing the ridges with a straddle harrow during the early growth of the crop. This practice is extensively carried out in Southland. When feeding, a ridged crop has advantages over a drilled crop. The roots, if fed out, are easier pulled. When grazed, stock have a freer access to them, as the soil, being in ridges, is readily tramped away from the roots. Good rules for the dairy farmer sowing a small area are:—(l) Halve the acreage; (2) double the manure; (3) sow in ridges; and (4) thin the crop. The common practice in the Auckland Province is to sow twelve to sixteen ounces in drills. Ridging, however, is rapidly coming into favour in the Waikato. The ridges are approximately twenty-six to twenty-eight inches apart. If the crop can be thinned, which is always recommended, sixteen ounces of seed, or more, should be sown, less if thinning is not possible. A special ridger is available, which ridges the soil and sows the manure and seed in one operation. GOOD MOISTURE SUPPLY. As ninety per cent, of the total content of swedes is water, a good supply of moisture is essential to the growth of the crop. Assisted liberally by a complete manure, containing readily available nitrogen, potash, and phosphate, as well as lasting phosphate, good results may be confidently expected. That New Zealand soils and conditions lend themselves to the production of bumper swede crops has long been known. One crop of Garton’s Superlative Swedes has produced eighty tons of roots per acre in perfect condition in the Otago district. A crop yielding fifty tons per acre was grown on pumice country in the Rotorua district last season. The grower of this crop writes: — “The paddock on which this crop was grown is within one mile of Whakarewarewa, the centre of thermal activity. It had been roughly sown down in grass some years ago, but this crop is of the first ploughing. We have tried all varieties of swedes here, and have found the Garton’s Superlative far and away the best, an opinion wbicfa.thfi C&thtei ]