AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1929, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH.

The sympathetic reply given by the Prime Minister to a deputation from Lincoln College in quest of a Government subsidy was. probably justified. The research -work in which the college is specialising, namely, grain culture, is of vital importance to the Dominion, and may go a long way towards settling the vexed question of whether wheat growing in New Zealand will ever be an economically sound proposition. Whether it' would not have been wiser to concentrate research work in one Dominion college will always remain an open question. The maintenance of Lincoln College having been decided upon, it is essential that adequate funds for its work and upkeep should be provided. -There are now four avenues of agricultural research: the Department of Agriculture, the Cawthron Institute, Massey, and Lincoln Colleges. Provided there is no overlapping or waste of effort, the potential benefits of research in connection with New Zealand’s primary industries are so positive as to warrant all the support the country can afford. Speaking at the Farmers’ Union conference a few weeks ago, the Minister of Agriculture (Hon. G. W. Forbes) laid stress upon the immediate results that had accrued from research work regarding New Zealand’s pastures. Today, he said, the Do-minion was producing 40 per cent, more from the same area of grassland than ten years ago, and the secret of the advance was the proper use of fertilisers and the better methods of pasture management. Fifteen years ago New Zealand farmers used 100,000 tons of fertilisers, of which 40 per cent, was used for topdressing and GO per cent for other purposes. In 192 S 400,000 tons were used, 300,000 being for top-dressing. During the same period butter-fat production had almost doubled, and though herd improvement had a share in this there is no doubt that top-dressing was the most important factor. Of the 6,000,000 acres in the Dominion that could be topdressed . only slightly more than onethird are being treated at present, and this portion most likely that where application of fertiliser is quite straight forward. In the areas that remain the need of experiment and skilled advice is probably greater, and herein lies the justification for judicious expenditure upon research work. If treatment of one-third of the pastures can raise the output by 40 per cent, it needs no great vision to see that it will pay, and pay handsomely; to ascertain the right trentment for the other two thirds.