FARMING METHODS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 November 1924, Page 8

FARMING METHODS.

LESSONS FROM DENMARK. COMPARISON WITH NEW ZEALAND VALUE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. MORE INTENSE CULTIVATION. (From Our Own Reporter.) Hawera, Nov. 20. A visitor to the Egmont A. and P. Show to-day with views of interest to agriculturists in New Zealand was Mr. 8. Sorensen, of the Department of Agriculture of Denmark, agricultural advisei’ to the Danish Government, and attached to the Danish Legation in Washington. Approached .by a representative of the Daily News, Mr. Sorensen said he had been sent to New Zealand to inquire into the agricultural industry of the country and dairying in particular. Northern Europe did not know much about the industry in the Southern Hemisphere, and he was going to investigate in New Zealand. Australia and the Argentine. He would be about three weeks in New Zealand, and had arrived here just in time to see the Royal Show at Palmerston North. Mr. W. Singleton, director of the Dairy Division, had accompanied him to various parts of the South Island, including as many agricultural shows as possible in the tour. During his visit to Taranaki he had attended a ence of dairy factory managers at Pa tea.

Asked his opinion regarding the Hawera Show, Mr. Sorensen said he was very favourably impressed with the show of cattle, particularly the Jerseys. For a local show it was wonderful, and had attracted a great many cattle. GREAT DEVELOPMENT. The dairy industry in New Zealand, continued Mr. Sorensen, had shov/n a wonderful development for a young country. It was difficult, however, ta make a comparison between New Zealand and Denmark. In his own country practically every inch of the land was cultivated, because the cattle had to be fed by hand for about seven months of the year, and sometimes even in the summer-time. New Zealand, on the other hand, was mostly a pastoral country. In Denmark a great deal more work was necessary on the farms, but with their denser population it was an easier matter to obtain labour. What is the greatest need of the dairy industry in New Zealand? Mr. Sorensen was asked. In so short a time, Mr. Sorensen replied, it was diflicult to say, but it appeared to him that development from the scientific .side was the greatest necessity. New Zealand seemed to have developed production more than science', and if science was not the very greatest need it would at least prove a great .benefit. Dairy schools such as were now proposed in New Zealand had proved of great benefit in Denmark, and had had a wonderful influence on the standard of the industry.

In the future the land in New Zealand must be more intensely, cultivated. Intense cultivation had not been necessary in the past, but with increasing population closer cultivation must come. On the whole he thought the Jand of New Zealand would compare favourably with that of Denmark so far as natural fertility was concerned.

Mr. Sorensen had noticed that a great deal of the land was lighter and of volcanic origin, in which it was different from that of Denmark. Fertilisation was necessary in his country, and the farms rarely exceeded 15 acres in extent. With the different standard of cultivation a comparison was difficult. Careful attention was given in Denmark to the proper rotation of crops, and there was very little of permanent pasture sucfi as was common in New Zealand.

EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS. A feature of the agricultural shows in Denmark that would particularly interest show people in New Zealand, continued Mr. Sorensen, was the combination of educational efforts with the shows. The shows usually lasted for two or three days, and in various tents ou the grounds were given interesting demonstrations and lectures on agricultural subjects, diseases in cattle and plants, fertilising experiments, and so forth. Always in the vicinity of the showgrounds there were experimental plots, which were used for demonstration purposes in connection with the shows. The benefit of this line of activity, which had been in vogue for only a few years, had been proved beyond doubt. Before he left Washington, said Mr. Sorensen, he had had a visit from the touring members of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Control Board, and had a very interesting discussion on the question of the world’s marketing of produce. Everywhere he had been in New Zealand he had been received with the greatest hospitality and had been given the -most generous assistance by the Government and by private people. After viewing the grand parade at the Egmont Show. Mr. Sorensen expressed himself as pleased with the quality of the cattle shown, especially the Jerseys. Mr. E. A. Washer's champion Shorthorn bull, he thought, was a wonderful animal. as also were the best among the Friesiaus and Ayrshrres. In Denmark, he said, the cattle mostly favoured were the two natives, the Danish Red and the Black and White. The red was somewhat like the Red Polls shown at Hawera, but of better dairy type. These had been greatly developed in Denmark of late years and were ousting the black and whites. The black and whites were something like the Friesiaus, but were smaller in size. Mr. Sorensen was very favouraibly impressed with the idea of the grand parade as practised in New Zealand, to give the people a collective view of the stock entered. In Denmark it was not the practise to conduct parades on similar lines.