CROWN LAND

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20832, 16 June 1939, Page 2

CROWN LAND

VIRGIN AREAS GOING SCIENTIFIC METHODS NEEDED PALMERSTON N.. Thursday The lion. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture, speaking at the Massey College graduation ceremony tiiis afternoon, referred to the decrease in virgin land and the necessity for the adoption of scientific methods to restore soil fertility, lie said:— "Virgin lands of good quality are going and to-day we have less than 100,000 acres of unoccupied first-class Crown land available for future settlement. This being so, the agricultural future of the Dominion must enter upon a new era, in which successful farming will consist of a great deal more than merely exploiting the natural store of fertility. That store of fertility is over a great part of the Dominion rapidly disappearing, and to-day land deterioration and soil erosion are problems which demand our earnest and serious consideration. "It is for research workers in many fields to find out what must he done to replenish the fertility of our soils and to correct any tendency to ill-health in our animals, but it is quite impossible for the scientists to tell the farmer in every case how he must set about applying this knowledge. The Dominion's prosperity has been built upon the agricultural and pastoral industry, and agriculture must and will be our mainstay for many years. “Great prominence has been given to the position of the farming community, especially the sheep-farmer. While 1 do admit that the sheepfarmer is suffering temporary embarrassment, I do not subscribe to the belief that agriculture must- take a secondary position in the economic life of the Dominion. The great need is the application of scientific knowledge to farming in all its branches and if this is applied intelligently we can look forward with confidence to the future.”