The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1921. The Lucerne Drive.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 17624, 8 October 1921, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1921. The Lucerne Drive.

We don’t know whether Mi; Maepiierson is, or is tile greatest lucerne authority m the Southern Hemisphere; hut he must surely be the greatest enthusiast. What he told the farmers assembled last night in the Municipal Chambers was suffix ciently remarkable; but the unshakable confidence with which he told it was more remarkable still. As the average man who thinks about it at all sums up the lucerne question, it is a very useful fodder-crop—if and when he gets it to grow —for owner ot “two acres and a cow.’ As JJlr Macpherson sees it, lucerne is neither more nor less than the hone of Canterbury. With it, we shall again be “the” farmers oi New Zealand and of the whole Southern world. Without it we shall never make any profitable use of our worst land, and on our best shall always play second fiddle to Argentine. _ And that of course is a very extreme and very daring attitude for a man who wishes to pass among’ his fellows as normal. It he were speaking of something on the other side of the globe—some paper - experiment somewhere which no one could either \eiity, or deny he might make such claims 1 as he does without any particular feeling of responsebilitv. 3 Jut the jiuuagls us asking ns to at aie light under our noses. E\oiy one who travels as far as the Rakaia can see the plots at Bank-side. Every one can go to Ashburton and see what is happening there. Every one who does not think Templeton too far away can verify the results obtained in the light hinds north of Christchurch. The lucerne committee, to which Mr Macpherson is advisor, asks no one to accept, anything on trust. It' farmers will put the matter to the test on an acre of their own—preferably on their worst acre—*

that is the best course of all. If they will not do that, then the committee asks them to go and see what has been done by others. lu brief, the lucerne question has reached the stage when it can't be ignored any longer. If the plant lias only half the possibilities claimed for it by enthusiasts it is still almost as important to Canterbury in 1921 as a satisfactory method of freezing 1 mutton was a generation ago. It may not be equally suitable for the large and for the small holder, and it may not offer to any one the prospects of success without a few disappointments. But, unless the lucerne committee are a body ,of credulous moonshiners, lucerne-cultivation is no longer an idle fad. The considerable prizes offered for those willing to start with five acres ought to overcome a good deal of scepticism and timidity. But actually no prize the committee can offer is half so tempting as the reward of a. successful crop. Both to the individual and to the community at large lucerne seems to offer so much that the man who continues to pooh-pooh it is either very much wiser than the average or a good deal lacking' in social responsibility.