REVEGETATION OF DEPLETED COUNTRY.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 3, Issue 5, 15 November 1911, Page 391

REVEGETATION OF DEPLETED COUNTRY.

A. Macpherson.

Experiments in Mackenzie Country.

Sawdon Run.

The following information is compiled from notes furnished .by Inspector Manning (Fairlie) of inspection of plots in experimental area made by him on the 11th July last, before the snow fell, and before there was any growth ; therefore the results recorded are of grasses and other plants which appeared to be weathering the severity of the frosts up to that date. '

Grasses and other Plants sown in Small Plots.— Cocksfoot, prairie-grass, white clover, chicory, sheep’s burnet, sheep’s parsley, and. lucerne have stood the frosts very well. Rhodes-grass is now blackened and withered with the frost. Of the other grasses and plants very little can be said at present, as they are all cut down with the frost.

Grass-plants.—Phalaris commutata and Phalaris canariensis have done well, the frosts having had no effect on these.

Haldon Run.

An inspection of plots in the experimental area was made on the 17th August last.

Grasses and other Plants sown in Small Plots— I Those doing well are cocksfoot, prairie-grass, white clover, chicory, yarrow, sheep’s burnet kidney-vetch, and Rhodes-grassthe last, to a certain extent, cut down with the frosts. The grasses sown last autumn on this experimental area have made a splendid strike. It is yet too early in the season to make any definite report regarding the grasses, &c., until warmer weather sets in, and the plants have an opportunity of making headway.

Central Otago Experiments.

The following is compiled from a report furnished by Inspector Baxter, of Clyde, dated- 23rd September last: — . The weather has been very frosty in the Clyde district up to about fourteen days ago. Very little rain has fallen, consequently there is not much moisture in the ground. These experiments were initiated on the 2nd Noyember, 1910.

Trial Tests of Grasses and Fodder Plants. — Plot 1, cocksfoot, growing well; 2, smooth-stalked meadow-grass, not showing ; 3, Chewing’s fescue, 4, hard fescue, 5, sheep’s fescue, and 6, red fescue, growing fairly well, plants are far apart; 7, Danthonia pilosa, very little showing ; 8, prairiegrass, growing well, and seeding freely ; 9, birdsfoot-trefoil (minor), growing fairly well; 10, florin, not doing well; 11, white clover, growing well; 12, crested dogstail, some few plants ; 13, chicory, coming away fresh and healthy ; 14, yarrow, growing well; 15, awnless brome-grass, good, but thin ; 16, sheep’s burnet, growing fairly well; 17, Bokhara clover, looking well; 18, kidney-vetch, growing well; 19, red-top grass, not done well; 20, tall oat-grass, comparative failure ; 21, sweet vernal, very few plants ; 22, sheep’s parsley, not much growing ; 23, various-leaved fescue, comparative failure ; 24, lucerne, growing well; 25, Rhodes-grass, evidently killed by frost; 26, blue-grass (native), some growing very well. Special Grasses from the Agricultural College, New Mexico.— Plot 1, Chaetochloa candanta {Setaria), badly nipped by frost, but appears to be springing again ; 2, Bontilona cantipendula, also frosted, but growing again ; 3, Panicum plenum, frosted, not much to be seen ; 4, Panicum bulbosum, apparently a failure ; 5, Bontilona oligostachya, apparently a failure ; 6, Sporobolus Wrightii, apparently a failure; 7, Sporobolus cryplandrus flexuosis, apparently a failure ; 8, Septoochloa dubia, has been growing, but badly frosted. Grasses planted in Drills. —Festuca dumetorum, growing ; Chloris cayana, growing ; Phalaris canariensis, growing; buffalo-grass, failure ; Phalaris commutata, growing. Mixtures of Grasses, &c. Plot 1, looking fresh, and the following are coming on well.- Cocksfoot, yarrow, prairie-grass, and chicory. Plot 2, yarrow, cocksfoot, lucerne, and chicory doing best. Plot 3, five varieties of fescue growing well, and have a very healthy appearance. Trial Test of Grasses and Fodder-plants (initiated, April, 1911). —Plot b cocksfoot, growing well; 2, smooth-stalked meadow-grass, fair.; 3, Chewing’s fescue, very fair; 4, hard fescue, very fair ; 5, sheep’s fescue, fair ; 6, red fescue, fair ; 7, Danthonia pilosa, apparently a failure ; 8, prairiegrass, growing extremely well; 9, florin, looking well; 10, crested dogstail, growing well; 11, awnless brome-grass, very good, growing well; 12, red-top grass, good ; 13, tall oat-grass, very good ; 14, various-leaved fescue, not good ; 15, Rhodes-grass, apparently a failure ; 16, birdsfoot trefoil (minor), a little showing ; 17, white clover, growing very well; 18, Bokhara clover, fair; 19, chicory, fair-; 20, yarrow, coming well; 21, sheep’s burnet, growing well; 22, sainfoin, making rapid growth ; 23, kidney-vetch, very good ; 24, sheep’s parsley, growing slowly ; 25, lucerne, very good ; 26, rib-grass, making good headway 27, blue-grass .(native) fair.

Mixture of Grasses, &c— Plot 1, looking very well, best being sainfoin, chicory, cocksfoot, kidney-vetch, prairie-grass, and sheep’s burnet. Plot 2, very good, best being sainfoin, cocksfoot, and sheep’s burnet. Plot 3, fescues all coming on well.

' The date of inspection of the experiments'was rather early in the season to definitely determine the failure or success of some of the crops, but the .showing so far made indicates that sainfoin, prairie-grass, lucerne, and tall oat-grass are the best in the autumn sowing, and cocksfoot, prairiegrass, yarrow, chicory, and lucerne the best in the spring sowing.

Grassing Hilly Country, West Coast, South Island, Experiment.

From an inspection made on the 15th September of an experimental area on the Blue Spur Road,. Hokitika, where grasses were sown in plots on both sides of a valley,, the following notes are made of the growth of individual grasses, &c., which were sown on the 15th March, 1911 :

Cocksfoot, growing well on northern and southern aspects ; crested dogstail and meadow foxtail, doing very well on both aspects ; meadow fescue, coming away fairly well on northern aspect; New Zealand tall fescue, growing well on southern aspect; timothy, growing well on both aspects ; florin, one of the best on both aspects ; rough-stalked meadowgrass, fair on northern, but x better on southern aspect; wood meadowgrass, fairly good, particularly on southern aspect; white clover, growing splendidly on both aspects ; alsyke, fairly thick, but backward ; lotus major, not showing very well; burnet, growing in patches; yarrow, growing well on both aspects ; lucerne, growing fairly well on southern aspect; Rhodes-grass, patchy ; but plants vigorous, not touched by frost.

Mixture of Grasses, Plots 1 and 2.—Grasses in both plots doing well; the plants are yet too young to permit of a definite report being made.

An agency of the Tourist Division of the Department has been established at Wanganui, in Taupo Quay.

Domino 111, a member of the Weraroa Experimental Farm herd, has just given 113 lb. of milk in the day. Her test ranges from 3-3 to 3-9 per cent, of butter- : fat.

The total wheat-yield of the country is estimated at 204,634,000 bushels, or 81,849,000 bushels more than last year at the same date. The average per acre is 19-50 bushels, or 6-30 bushels more than last year. — Canadian Census and Statistics Monthly.