GRASSLAND FARMING.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1933, Page 6

GRASSLAND FARMING.

The conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association which closed on Thursday has asked for a full investigation to be made by the Department of Agriculture “into the position or certified seeds in the farm economy of New Zealand.” The inquiry may mean much or little. If it means the beginning of a policy that will lead ultimately to all seed offered for sale being certified as free from weeds and true to character the investigation cannot begin a day too soon. Most merchants handling farm seeds are jealous of their reputation for supplying good seed, but to some extent at least they are in the hands of the growers, and it is in the supervision of seed production that the Department of Agriculture may be able to render even more valuable service than it has given hitherto. The importance of good seed needs no emphasis. The settlers of Taranaki have had plenty of object lessons of the foolishness of buying inferior seed, and to-day, when the output per acre must be increased if low prices are to be countered by lowered costs of production, the management of pastures is the most important factor in farm husbandry. The formation of the Grasslands Association is an indication that the importance of pasture management is becoming more widely recognised. In this province experiment and practical experience have added extensively to grazing potentialities, though there is still a good deal to do before the limit of productivity can be said to have been reached. Obviously good pastures cannot be established or maintained without supplies of seed of high fertility, free from weeds, and true to type. The Grasslands Association is to be commended for its efforts towards making such supplies generally available.