LUCERNE GROWING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16366, 3 March 1921, Page 6

LUCERNE GROWING.

* CANTERBURY COMMITTEE’S! ACTIVITIES. GOOD CROPS FROM POOR LAND. To demonstrate that lucerne can be grown profitably on the poorest land, a number of Canterbury members oi l ariiainent were motored to the Uarflcside lucerne demonstration area, oy the Canterbury Lucerne Campaign Committee this morning. the party inspected plots of lucerne under various conditions ol cultivation on a reserve alongside the railway line, the best plot of which, by modern methods, had been made to produce three crops of hay, of a value ol £-30 per acre, in one season. Member 3 of Parliament who made* .up the party were Messrs G. W itty, E. 'J . Howard,* L. M. lsitt and I>. Jones. They were under the guidance of Mr Alex. Macpherson, a member of the Lucerne Committee, and la to J' ields Instructor to the Department ot Agriculture. Mr Ward, the present instructor, and Mr H. Bruce. Mr Macpherson explained to the members that the trip had been arranged in order to demonstrate before the next session of Parliament, and in view of the Lucerne Committee's com--ing campaign, that the poorest lands in Canterbury could be made to produce lucerne at a profit, if rightly handled. 'The Prime Minister had stated that the country must produce more than ever to meet the falling prices of primary exportable products and the Dominion’s liabilities, and lucerne-grow-ing was one of the methods of speedingup production. Mr Macpherson comI pared the quick-cropping lucerne with | turnips, which held up the land for many months for only one crop, and ! stated tiiat lucerne could now be made to produce from 2000 to 5000 per cent more than previously on poor land, and very much more on medium and good land. At the Bankside area, the party were shown plots of lucerne, cultivated under varying conditions. A plot of hall-an-acre under irrigation lay next to an acre left for seed, to be cut for lcTJder, or grazed, and next that was an acre plot which had been converted into pasture in 1919. The last-named plot was stated to have been fed from three times this season. It had already carried sheep at the rate of five per acre per annum, and when the party saw it this morning, it was again ready for grazing. On tho journey home, the party were shown an area of several acres of lucerne, ready for cropping, on private property. An inspection was also made of a small plot at Templeton, which had been sown as an object lesson to farmers “ how not to do it.” The area sown also served to prevent the spreading of fires on the railway reserve.