PIONEER FARMING.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8417, 10 December 1920, Page 2 (Supplement)

PIONEER FARMING.

BREAKING IN NEW COUNTRY. Closely as science is. or should be related to agriculture, and much as science has already advanced that in- j dustry, there Is still almost a limit- , less field in New Zealand for pioneer farming, which, so far, has received neither help nor advice from any ; Government or any department, because no Government has in its employ the necessary experts (remarks the Auckland Weekly News). Those who were experts in breaking in country are now mostly prosperous farmers, or farmers who haw. retired and are passing the golden autumn time of life in peace and contentment after all their strenuous yeaTs, and there they must be sought out if their wisdom is not to die with them. Much information is I called for from, and supplied by, the J Department of Agriculture, which ! has public appreciation, but Government departments do not profess to supply all information for all men. The State itself, however, has never attempted pioneer farming with any seriousness, indeed it has seriously avoided demonstrating how farming could be made a commercial success under the terms and conditions of , settlement imposed on pioneers. | The desirabiilty of settling the” large unoccupied areas, which still ; exist and of putting them on a paying 1 basis at the earliest possible mo- I ment, has already been referred to in I this column, and the Taupo basin and Tuhoi country were instanced as > large area affording opportunity for j demonstrating along practical lines how production may be initiated there, and fostered to the maximum the most profitable way, and in the shortest period of time. We are in a position where time counts for a very great deal, as when national debts get a flying start, such as they have had through the war, they require speed in overtaking. The wonder of the Auckland Province to-day is the marvellous manner in which the King Country has been reclaimed from wilderness conditions in a brief period of time. Consideration of this has led to a study of the best means of breaking in both fern and scrub country, and also bush lands, but we shall merely deal with the former at present. Until very recently the country lying between the Rangitoto Range and Punui River, and between Waotu and the outskirts of Otorohanga carried only a few wild pigs and.horses, and innumerable rabbits. Since passing from Crown and native owners, however, thousands of acres have been cleared, and made productive as if by magic. A great part of the old, and much of the later, pioneering has been done by one family—the Kays, of Oralcau—and their methods are worthy of consideration by the many who will, in the near future, occupy the great Taupo basin and adjacent lands of like quality. Evidences of the same class of “breaking in” as that perfected by the Kays may also be seen on the holdings of Dr. Gribbon, Dr. Hay and Mr Lethbridge. The natural vegetation on the country was fern, generally of good growth, and tutu and tea-tree. Where the tutu and tea-tree were growing strongest it was found necessary to put on men with slashers to do the necessary clearing. The idea carried out was that of merely “topping," so that the dead upper blanket of vegetation would carry a fire. Only a month’s time was necessary between the “topping” and the burning, when weather conditions were favourable, and then, on a suitable day, with the wind in the right direction, the match was applied. Some portions were then ploughed, sown in turnips and grass, while others, after ploughing, were put directly into grass alone. To the inexperienced this procedure must have, seemed a pressing invitation to disaster, but it will be seen that the object was to get that land to pay for its keep and working, straight away. Generally, the depth of the furrow was 3-in., for there is 1 no great depth of humus on these pumiceous soils, so that what there is must be zealously conserved and j added to by grassing and stocking. In clearing, as indicated, it was found that the “topped” tea-tree car- ■ ried the fire well under favourable I conditions, but where the scorched scrub was left standing, no ordinary j driven team would face the supple whipping obstruction of it, therefore I the bits had to be removed from the horse’ mouths and a rope coupling from neck to neck substitute!!’. This j worked marvellously well, as each j horse could, to a considerable extent, I pick his way and so avoid the larger 1 saplings. Under the treatment indicated it was noticeable that after the lapse of two years not even the stumps remained to obstruct cultivation. A paddock ploughed in November and December, then tine harrowed, double disced and reharrowed, was sown with soft turnips and grass in February. One cwt. super and one cwt. carbonate of lime were sup- ! plied. The seeding was 41b. cocks- ! foot, 21b. Italian rye, lib. each of 1 cowgrass and Timothy, Jib. each of crested dogstail and aisyke, or mere- I ly 101 b. in all, with a slight imma- I terial addition. Those who express 1 astonishment at such a light seeding 1 will please bear in mind that it was not intended to produce permanent pasture, but merely some rough graz- | ing. until such time as the land could j be turned up again and sown to per- I marten t pasture on consolidated ground, and the odd corners of swamp and rough land added to the 1 cultvated area. Results were so i surprising that the paddock of 100 acres under notice was allowed to go to permanent pasture. After be- j ing down and heavily stocked for ; three years it was looking well in the sprin garni carrying a fine sole of : grass such as a far heavier seeding would probably not have improved upon.

A second paddock of 150 acres, treated in the same way, appeared as if it had been sown to permanent pasture with 301 b. of seed, and in all the pasture there were no permanent weeds, with the exception of a few Californian thistles. The matter of breaking up these paddocks was, therefore, indefinitely deferred. There are, about Wharepolninga, in West Taupo, many hundreds of acres of country broken in in the same way. The common idea is, of course, that to break in new land and to give a preparatory cultivation in quick time, so as to gain immediate results, the pioneer farmer has to face extremely heavy initial expenses. Let those who have sufficient capital, and prefer other methods, adopt them. What we desire to point out is that a simple method of breaking in country at a very small cost exists as we have shown above. The results so amazed the experimenters that they