SHORT GRASS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20104, 24 March 1928, Page 22 (Supplement)

SHORT GRASS

SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY By a scries of elaborate experiments | carried out principally at Cambridge i University, it has been ascertained that if we can keep our pastures really closely grazed, the grass produced does not deteriorate after the first flush, but maintains its high quality throughout the growisg season, and represents the cheapest form of protein obtainable. Moreover, the digestibility and mineral content are also maintained.

Mr. W. Gavin, C.8.E., M.A., writes about an interesting conference at Cambridge in the Morning Post, which, he says, “may be terme well-nigh ’ istoric; it will, at any rate, be regarded in the future as a landmark of agricultural research and progress.

“Thus science confirms at last the practice of the best jraziers, which has been based on the sayings that ‘what grows in the night should be eaten next day.’ And it condemns with no uncertain voice the light grazing that is the rule almost everywhere else-

“To let grass grow to maturity is definitely to sacrifice the cheapest protein food that is obtainable. Not. only do we lose by the tremendous fall in value of the grass so growing, but this very grass prevents new young- shoots rich in protein, from being produced. “It may well prove to be profitable to send the mowing machine over all portions of fields not efficiently grazed, simply to bring about, a new growth of young shoots. The shoots are, in fact, the farmer’s cheapest source of protein—the cheapest factory in the wor’lci for the conversion of inorganic nitrogen.

“For these reasons the early cutting of hay also is of far greater advantage than has hitherto been supposed, and well repays the extra difficulty of making and the loss of bulk. Indeed, in some respects the latter may be an

advantage. “There are, of course, many practical problems to be solved, and the capital cost of fencing land in small paddocks, and laying on water to enable sectional grazing to he properly carried out, requires much study. “It appears probable, however, that, for the first time in the world’s history, supplies of cheap nitrogen are in sight. Cheap nitrogen, applied to grass land, can be converted into cheap protein in the young growing sheets of grass.

“If close grazing can be put into practice, then these young shoots can be converted into beef, mutton, milk, or wool before their value is dispersed by the maturing of the grass. Furthermore, Professor Wood has al-

ready initiated experiments in storing the surplus of these young shoots in the form of pressed cakes, for use in winter.

“This, then, is the picture that the latest advance in knowledge conjures up. It is idle to suppose that there are not many practical difficulties to overcome. It is equally idle to imagine that they will not be overcome, and at no distant date.

“Except in a few districts our pastures and meadows receive little atten tion; they are just ‘there;’ they happen. The new knowledge that is now emerging will quickly force us to look upon grass-land in a different light, and in self-defence to devote as much attention to its control and management as we do to that of other crops.”

the coal stoppage, the United Kingdom’s proportion of total imports into Argentina fell from 22.6 in 1925 to 19.5 in 1926, whereas the United States figure rose from 23.4 to 25.5. In spite of this set-back, trade between Great Britain and Argentina is very substantial.

The Argentine is primarily a producer of indispensable commodities, both foodstuffs and raw materials, ami these products arc of a varied kind. For more than a decade the Argentine produce shipped abroad has usually been in excess of 10,000,000 tons per annum, and in the first six months of 1927 the shipments have averaged 1,500,000 tons monthly.

Ixist season Argentina took second place as the world’s wheat supplier, and is the world’s leading exporter of both linseed and maize. The proceeds of Argentina’s various exports, after meeting foreign obligations and providing for freight, and other charges, are available for the purchase of imported goods, chiefly of a manufactured kind, and the problem before British traders is to find ways and means to develop to the full the potentialities of the Argentine market.