RECLAIMING SAND AREAS.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 164, 19 November 1912, Page 4

RECLAIMING SAND AREAS.

DEPARTMENTAL EXPERIMENTS,

Some notes of particular interest to owners of sand areas are given by Mr A. Macpherson, of the Agricultural Department, in the latest journal of the Department. Mr Macpherson says : From a national point of view there is a great economic need of bringing into profitable use the vast coastal sand areas lying eastward from Christchurch, and found in many other localities in a country, such as New Zealand, which has a great sea frontage, conditions which are also found in the neighbourhood of many of our rivers. Throughout the special area above referred to there are many extensive fertile depressions producing splendid pastures, yielding heavy crops of hay, and growing fine roots, while there are other low-lying portions, some of which are of a peaty formation and are waterlogged. This report will deal with the extensive sand-flats and sand-dunes where the sand has been blown into ridges varying from narrow drifts to great sandhills, areas which immediately adjoin, and in most instances surround, the depressions. Some years ago these sand flats and dunes were sown with the seeds of leguminous plants —lupin, gorse, and broom—which grew, seeded, and rapidly spread, so that throughout the whole area the sands have been fairly well covered for a number of years, and are thus prevented from being drifted by the wind. This growth of leguminous plants, in addition to stopping any movement of the sand, has been gradually adding the desired humus as well as enriching the sand by the nitrogen gathered from the atmosphere by means of the bacteria in the root nodules. Up to the present time no serious attempt has been made by the owners or occupiers of sand areas to bring these into profitable use. Apparently they do not 'realise that such areas are not barren, but already contain sufficient plant food to . give excellent results if properly managed and suitable crops be grown. In the spring of 1911 the Department of Agriculture, in order to encourage the cultivation of lucerne throughout the Dominion, and to test the value of this forage plant under varying conditions of soil and climate, offered to supply farmers, free of cost, with sufficient seed, lime, and inoculated soil to test one acre. In the South Island about seventy tests were carried out. 1 wo ot these were conducted on the sand areas referred to, one at the Government institution, Te Oranga Home, Burwood, and the other on the farm of Mr H. Hartnell, Bromley. These plots were chosen to bring to the notice of people occupying sandy soils inth'. neighbourhood. principally dairy farmers, that these were capable of being profitably utilised, and would grow excellent lucerne crops, the stand-by' of the most successful dairy farmers in some other parts of the world. Abouf one acre was sown with lucerne at each place on loose shifting sand. The area in both cases was divided into four plots, according to the scheme set forth by the Department, one plot being sown with seed only, the second plot with seed and 751 b of inoculated soil, the third plot with seed and 3Solb of lime, and the fourth plot with seed, 751 b inocu- ■ lated soil, and 3501 b of lime. The •seeding was at the rate of Islb per acre. At Te Oranga Home, just as the lucerne was brairding in last spring, a seyere gale of wind was experienced, which carried away the surface of the area, the sand as well as the plants—to a depth of over I inch. It was at first thought the experiment was ruined, but within a few days the lucerne-seed and the few seedlings which remained .asserted themselves, and the stand to-day, one year afterwards, is very fair ipdeed. The test plots on Mr Hartnell’s farm have done splendidly. Three cuttings were obtained last season from the acre, and this spring, eleven months after the sowing, the crop is i6in high, and is an excellent stand. In neither of the two experimental areas mentioned can any difference be detected so far between the differently treated plots, which indicates that lucerne can be grown on ■ these sandy soils without the application of inoculated soil, or* indeed, of lime. It should be emphasised that the above gratifying results were obtained without any special humus —to bind the sand and provide a good seed-bed—having been artificially provided. Thus the lucern has thrived with a modicum of humus—provided by the decayed foliage of lupins, gorse, and broom—with no lime and with no inoculated soil. The apparent need at the present time is something to bind the sand and prevent it drifting, even when the lucerne is well established. This, I believe, will be secured by ploughing in light branches of young plants of the legumes growing in the neighbourhood —lupin, broom, and gorse. For green-manuring the lupin has no superior, and in

Europe, especially along the Mediterranean, is extensively used for this purpose. In some sections of western Europe it has effectively restored to fertility sterile sandy soil, very similar in character to the sand country being dealt with at Christchurch. Seeds of the lupins employed in the Northern Hemisphere for ploughing in are imported by the Department for the purpose of growing for ploughing in on sand experimental areas. Gorse and broom are not so valuable as lupin for greenmanuring, but are decidedly usef fl where the lupin is not available. Wherever possible the lupin is being employed at Burwood and Bromley.

The sand areas being dealt with are largely covered, whole or in part, by either lupin, gorse, or broom, and in preparing the sand for lucerne the above plants have to be removed. Here considerable caution is required, as the sand must be kept protected as long as possible, until sufficient humus has been created to bind the sand and thus prevent it drifting. Where lucerne has already been established on the bare sand —having been sown in drills—humus is being provided by digging in between the drills small branches of lupin. One precaution must always be taken. If a hill is to be dealt with any plant covering should not be removed till some humus-providing material has been dug in. Of course, other crops than lucerne should succeed in sand country. Experiments are now in progress at both Burwood and Bromley with potatoes, carrots, and. parsnips. For humus-creat-ing purposes, rye, rape, and white mustard are being grown for subsequent ploughing. . The work at Burwood and Bromley—where the conditions are very similar to those ot the vast area of sand-covered country in the district —is being carefully conducted, an exact record being kept of each stage of its progress in order that an accurate history may be available as a guide to those desiring to carry on reclamation operations on a practical scale, and as a reliable guide in future experimental work.