FARMERS AT SCHOOL.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16811, 1 June 1926, Page 14

FARMERS AT SCHOOL.

THIS WEEK'S SESSION. PAPERS BY EXPERTS. The annual farmers' farm school, held at Ruakura for the past seven years, is this year being held in a building adjacent to the Waikato Winter Show, which opens to-day. This is purely an experiment, the Department considering that the farmer scholars who usually gather in from long distances could lull two birds with one stone, a necessitous circumstance also attaching to the case, in that this year there is insufficient accommodation at Ruakura to house the visitors. The school was formally opened yesterday afternoon by His Worship the Mayor of Hamilton (Mr J. R. Fow). The attendance, unfortunately, was very small, but it is considered that when the serious business of the school commences the number will increase. Mr T. H. Patterson, instructor in agriculture for the Auckland district, remarked that while the attendance at the official opening, which was a more or less formal affair, was small, there would doubtless be more farmers preI sent when the serious business of the I school commenced. Formerly the I school had been held at the Ruakura ! Farm, but there was insufficient acI commodation at the farm this year, and I the Department had decided to make ! the experiment or holding the lectures ■ in a building near the Winter Show, to I enable the farmers attending the I school to also visit the show, i. His Worship the Mayor of Hamilton | (Mr J. 11. Fow), in welcoming the , visiting farmers to ttic school, com- ; merited on the change which had come i over farming during the past few ; years—the change from the crude 1 operations of the past to scienliOc i methods. The farm school in the past "• had always been well attended, and doubtless" the present experiment would justify itself as the week progressed. Mr A. H. Cockayne (Director of the Fields Division) said that upon the increase of production the prosperity of the Dominion depended, and some very interesting results of the experiments and efforts of the past would be placed before the scholars of the school during the week. Hon. J. A. Young (Minister of Health) briefly welcomed the visiting farmers to Hamilton. These farm schools, said the Minister, had proved of exceptional benefit to farmers in the past. The Government recognised the utility of these classes, and had got together a group of experts who were highly specialised in the different phases of agriculture. The benefits of their special knowledge would be placed at the disposal of the farmers attending the school. The Minister of Agriculture had declared, with much truth, that what was required was not so much that new land should be brought in, but that the land already under occupation should be made to produce more than it was doing. It was to assist the farmers to do this, and to help them to multiply their profits and cut their losses, that these schools were held. The producers must not only learn to increase the volume of their produce, but to improve the quality, so as to enable them to stand up to competition on the world's markets. SOIL FERTILITY. THE QUESTION OF PASTURES. LECTURE BY MR E. B. LEVY. The foremost authority in the Bominion on the subject of pastures, Mr E. Bruce Levy, Government Agrostologist, last evening delivered a highly interesting lecture at the Hamilton Farm School. There was a fair attendance, over which Mr A. M. Bisley presided. By means of illustrated lantern slides, specially selected, as showing how. the soil fertility factor regulates the composition of the pasture, the lecturer explained how the higher producing grasses and clovers, such as meadow foxtail, perennial rye grasses, white clover, alsikc, etc., demand a high standard of fertility,- whereas grasses like danthonia and brown top thrive wcil under very much poorer conditions. Ho pointed out that each pasture group had a standard of soil fertility which must be maintained if it was to thrive. By means of slides lie indicated the consequences to the pasture when the fertility of the soil gradually increased. As long as fertility remained high rye grass in particular thrived to perfection,, but as soon as the fertility decreased the rye grass dwindled away and cocksfoot became the main feature of the pasture. As the fertility fell lower the cocksfoot in lurn was superseded by less valuable grass, and finally the turf openca up. At this stage, continued Mr Levy, either of two things happened. The pasture cither became invaded by inferior grasses, such as brown top and Danthonia, or was overrun by weeds. Eventually it "ran out," and either it had then to be broken tip or the land resown. Actual slides of this state of affairs were included in the lecture, showing the decline step by step of :n excellent pasture to its "run-out" stage. Maintenance of'Soil Fertility.

Each pasture group had a standard of soil fertility thai must he maintained in order that the species of the group may thrive. The first group demanded the highest, and the last group the lowest. As soon as the soil fertility fell below the standard demanded by each group the yield of the species of that group failed. The species in the group below could then beat the group above it in production, i.e., on cocksfoot country cocksfoot will beat rye grass in production. The main factors for noting change in Ihe composition of pastures were soil fertility, soil moisture contents, intensity of light and shade, growth form of the plant, palatibility of the plant, seasonable growth, climatic conditions, and insect pests may also be added. They were the eight factors relegating *l!ie composition or the pasture. The matting of paspalum could be laken as indicating starvation of ihe soil and low fertility. With high fertility paspalurn will not mat. When we see paspalum mat we cc uld say to ourselves that the soil was starved, and that fertility required building up. In an examination Of a "run-out" pasture, continued the ngrostologist, it would he found that all the plants of the better species did not die out altogether, hut. existed, small and si tinted, amongst the poorer grasses. As long as there was life in Hie better classes of grass there was hope for tiic ultimate return of the sward to its former high producing slate. Tins point was illustrated by another set of slides, showing the effect of an increase of fertility on "run-out" pasture. As soon as iiie fertility was raised it would be found that there was a fairly rapid return of the belter

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elements in the pasture. Manuring of stunted brown top, for instance, resulted not so much in a vigorous growth of grass, but in a re-entry of the white clover, crested dogtail, perennial rye grass, and the olhcr more desirable grasses and clover. Another scries of slides indicated the effects of different sys'ems of management as far as utilisation was concerned. If the top grasses as, for instance, cocksfoot, were allowed to develop unduly the lower grasses, such as perennial rye, would in the course of lime he annihilated. "The King of Grasses." Any of the inferior weeds coming into our pastures was a certain indication that we wcro not feeding the rye. lie looked upon rye as the king of grasses for our pastures, and the more of it we cor.'d retain ihe more creditable was ou? management and the use of our farm lands. A pasture could be smothered out by ihe exclusion of too much light from the surface. In our pasture species we had our top and our bottom species, and for rye and white clover to maintain itself a certain amount of light had to fall on them. By the overdevelopment of paspalurn and cocksfoot wo were culling out the light to the detriment of the rye, while clover and dogstail. Any grass growing wel' has a marked peak of production. Al this peak point, a problem presents itself as to how ihe feed produced by the grass is to be utilised. When no peak of production is discernible, and hence when no problem of utilization arises the pasture under review is most probably of low production. Because a grass produces more feed I ban can be utilised by grazing during its peak of production we should not blame the grass, but rather our farm management, High producing plants demand more, top dressing than low production plants. "Wo have lived really too long upon the virginity of New Zealand soil, and we have no alternative hut to put ft back into the pastures by topdressing, draining and proper feeding," concluded .Mr Levy. After answering a number of questions, .Mr Levy was accorded ;i hearty vote of thanks for his address.