The Journal of Agriculture.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XIII, Issue 1, 20 July 1916, Page 1

The Journal of Agriculture.

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.

20TH • JULY, 1916.

FACTORS AFFECTING METHODS OF FARMMANAGEMENT IN THE NORTH ISLAND.

J. BROWN,

B.Sc.Agric., N.D.A., Director of the Fields Division.

SOIL-FERTILITY.

I a HE attention of many farmers may have been arrested by f two diagrams among .: the exhibits of the Department of Agriculture at the winter shows , this year. These diagrams are a modification ' of what ,is known as the “ soil-fertility barrel.” The barrel is made up of staves of unequal lengths, and each stave.' represents some factor,, such as lime, humus, nitrogen, texture, and .so on, • which has the effect of limiting the fertility of a particular soil to the. extent to which it' may be deficient in that soil. The analogy is not altogether a true one, but. it serves to impress, upon the mind in a ■ graphic manner the fact that,- no matter how well constituted a soil, may be in all other respects, if one factor be lacking or deficient, - productiveness is proportionately diminished. For example, if humus be lacking the

soil is little better than so much ground brick and inactive chemicals, a medium from which only a very low degree of crop - production can be achieved. In one of the illustrations humus has thus been chosen as the limiting factor. The humus-content is supposed to be low —it is figured as being the lowest stave of the barrel and the highest level of potential profits is reached with the limit of the lime-supply. In the other diagram lime is represented on similar principles as the limiting factor.*

It is quite clear that methods of farm-management, if they are to be successful, must take into consideration these and other fundamental factors governing fertility. The essential facts connected with fertility have frequently been reviewed by agricultural writers and speakers, so that I shall not discuss them at length ; but it will be well for me also to add my testimony as to the expediency of current exhortations.

The Humus-supply. —As already indicated, this is a very important ■ matter. Without an adequate supply of humus or mould a satisfactory degree of plant-production cannot be maintained. Fortunately, the North 'lsland being to a very great extent a pasture country, if the soil is kept right in other respects the humus-supply, generally speaking, will look after itself. On the other hand, there are many soils in the North Island of a very light description, lacking in lime and lacking in plant-food, which in consequence are apt to be deficient in humus also, for the one is inseparably associated with the other. A system of farmmanagement ' which will lead to an all-round betterment, of these soils is required, and I shall offer suggestions' along these lines later.

Just here, however, I may put the question,. “ How is a deficiency in humus to be made up ? The reply which may suggest itself to your mind may be “ green-manuring.” • I am averse to this practice, not because the desired result cannot be achieved in this way, but because, farming being a business as well as a science and an art, the result : can be obtained in a more economical way. If a soil is so poor that the range of plant-production is limited to such things as lupins, then these may be grown purely as a green-manuring crop; but, as is more frequently the case with land that has any agricultural value, if food crops such as rape and mustard, red clover, tares, peas, &c., can be grown by suitable manuring even moderately well, it would

be, in my opinion, against the tenets of sound farming to plough them in for the purpose of increasing the humus-supply, even when the intention is specifically to prepare the land for the growth of more profitable crops or of pasture.

• When these crops are consumed by sheep or other stock a little over half of the organic matter which they contain is retained in the bodies of the animals; the other half goes to form humus. But this 50 per cent, of organic matter in the form of dung is of much greater value than 50 per cent, of the organic matter of the .original crop, inasmuch as it is not so subject to the great decomposition losses which take place when green stuff ferments after ploughing under. . Another consideration: the dung is well distributed, whereas the green crop, being lightest on the patches most deficient in humus and heaviest on places already well supplied, tends to still greater irregularity in the fertility, of the paddock after straight - out green - manuring. The loss of mineral elements of fertility in feeding off a crop is practically negligible. These are approximately facts from which one cannot escape the conclusion that humus should be maintained by what goes through the body of the animal rather than by ploughing down valuable crops.

The Lime-supply.- —This is a matter which has agitated the minds of farmers in recent times from the North Cape to the Bluff. It .is right that it should, as, generally speaking, lime is without doubt a very frequently limiting factor in the production of the soil. I am inclined to think that on the. drier and freer working soils of the plains districts on the eastern seaboards of both Islands its effects will be scarcely apparent in the actual amount of production of pasture, although an improved quality in the pasture even there may be reflected in better condition of the stock. In nearly every other part of New Zealand systematic liming will be productive of much higher net profits than have hitherto been realized.

As an example of what I mean by systematic liming I would state the following case: A pasture has become . worn-out and -unprofitable. A minimum dressing of io cwt. per acre of crushed limestone is applied to it. It is turned over. in preparation for a crop of oats or of roots. After these crops have been harvested it is ploughed again with a deeper furrow in preparation for a pasture mixture, with or without rape. A further dressing of io cwt. of ground limestone is applied on the ploughed surface, and worked in by subsequent cultural operations. The pasture seeds are then sown. The results that might be expected to follow

such treatment, and which in most instances do follow to an extent which must be seen to be believed, are great growth and vigour of the pasture, and all-round improvement in palatability and nutritive value, as shown by evenness of grazing, greater carryingcapacity, and thrift of stock.

An extended use of lime is certain to be a prominent phase of farm-management during the next ten years or so, and it is certain to lead to a still greater expansion of the stock-raising industry in the North Island, phenomenal as that has been up to the present time. On the western, side of the dividing range, at any rate, the benefits are likely to be so pronounced and the exceptions so few that nothing short of the absolute impossibility of procuring lime at all, or at a landed cost on the farm of not more than £2 per ton, should prevent any farmer from making at least a preliminary trial. I know of many cases where other means of improvement, such as deep cultivation, various kinds of manuring, various pasture mixtures, &c., were tried, only to find at the finish that deficiency in lime represented the lowest stave of the fertility-barrel.

Fertilizers— It has been established, practically beyond question, that of the elements of fertility the most generally and notably deficient throughout New. Zealand is phosphorus, supplied to the soil in phosphates of various kinds. Except for a big-money crop such as potatoes, a payable increase from the use of fertilizers containing nitrogen seldom results. Blood, which is a nitrogenous manure, is a constituent of : many fertilizers; but except on very light sandy soils subject to heavy leaching, it is always more or less doubtful whether its application is worth while. This element should certainly seldom be required in any form under a proper system of farm-management in this country.

Our • chief interest centres about the phosphate-supply. Some of our lighter and poorer lands have hitherto required very large applications of phosphates in order to crop or grass at all satisfactorily. The Department's experimental farm at Ruakura is a case in point. On the 22nd November last year one of the paddocks on this farm was sown with rape with 3 cwt. of basic superphosphate per acre. The same paddock in the previous year had been sown in wheat, also with an application of 3 cwt. of basic superphosphate per acre, or a total dressing practically within one year of 6 cwt. of basic superphosphate per acre. The maximum amount of phosphorus which could be removed by the wheat and in the bodies of the sheep which fed off the rape could not have been much more than the equivalent of 1 cwt. of basic superphosphate per acre, which would leave an equivalent of 5 cwt. basic superphosphate per acre in the ground. 3 cwt. of the same manure

applied directly to ■ the succeeding . pasture resulted in a good vigorous growth of the grasses and clovers, but where a fresh application of manures was withheld the phosphatic residues from the preceding crops seemed to have little or no effect, the growth being slow and feeble.

What had happened to the residuum of 5 cwt. basic superphosphate to nullify its effect less than a year after its application ? We know that very little leaching of phosphoric acid occurs at any time, and if there is a sufficiency of humus and clay in the soil no leaching at all occurs. This Ruakura soil, naturally deficient in these constituents, had been rendered more so in the case of humus by the cultivation of the preceding crops. The humus was at a low ebb, and some slight leaching may have occurred, but certainly not nearly to' the extent of removing from the surface soil the equivalent of 5 cwt. of basic superphosphate per acre. As a matter of fact, it has been found elsewhere that, after applying 3J cwt. of superphosphate per acre annually for forty years, nearly the whole of the unused phosphoric acid remained in the surface gin. of soil. We can only conclude, therefore, that the greater part of the two applications at Ruakura was converted into less soluble forms of phosphate, which were too slow in action to maintain a vigorous growth of grass; and this is undoubtedly the fate of much of the phosphatic manure which is applied annually to New Zealand soils.

The aim of the farmer should be, while stimulating the early growth of grass and crops by small to moderate applications of readily available phosphates, to make the unused residuum of fertilizer applications contribute to production by the one and only way to make these more active that is, by the cheaper expedients of keeping up the lime and humus supplies. 1 If this were done there should be less cause for concern about ■ impoverishment of the land through the grazing of live-stock. We know from experience that land that is left as pasture actually gains in the fertility of the surface soil, this gain being due to the coating of organic matter derived from the pasture and from the droppings of stock, from the accumulation of nitrogenous compounds derived from the atmosphere, and from the mineral matter brought up from the depths of the soil. If these elements of fertility are rendered active by an occasional dressing of lime, a progressive state of improvement is bound to follow for ■ many years. Doubtless ■ this improvement is effected to some extent by drafts made upon the phosphate-content of the soil and subsoil; but even this appears insignificant in the light of the fact that a mature sheep sent off the farm takes with it no more than a pound or two of phosphoric acid. '

CROP ECONOMICS.

So much for this brief discussion of a few of the contributory factors to fertility; but knowing what is essential thereto, and having the means of commanding it, the farmer has only very partially acquired the secrets of his business. Given a soil rendered suitable for production by nature or by the application of enlightened methods, there remains a vast category of points to be decided: What to grow; how to grow it; when to grow it; how to use the immediate product of the soil to the best advantage ; how far it is wise to spend money in increasing production ; in what directions to spend it; and so forth. I shall endeavour within the space at my disposal to deal with some of the more important of these matters.

“ What to grow ” is a fundamental question, and as a preliminary to answering it let us see what the farmers of the North Island actually do grow. From the agricultural and pastoral statistics available I have made calculations showing the' approximate allocation of live-stock in terms of sheep, ploughed grass, surfacesown grass, unimproved land, cereals, roots and green crops, and orchards and plantations, over an average 1,000 acres in each of the land districts of New Zealand. The position is shown in- the following table :- -

An analysis of two statistical summaries, 1906 and 1911, for the North Island, indicates the trend of farming, and is shown in Table 2.

The central facts borne out by these figures are the paramount position of pasture and the almost negligible place of crops. That this is not merely a phase of ’development of the North Island is indicated by the fact that during the five-year statistical period the relative positions of grass and crops has remained practically unchanged. Down to the present time I have not been able to discover any general evidence of a turn in the .tide. In fact, the effect on labour-supply of the Great War is certain to result in a still further reduction in our crop areas. These are facts with which we are all more or less familiar, but I for one, although knowing full well the importance of grass on the farm economy of- the North Island, would hardly have credited an unsupported assertion - that cropped areas constitute no more than, for example, 3| per cent, of the improved land of Taranaki. There are many who would consider . this a state of things to be deplored, and to be remedied in the interests of the country with all possible speed. Is it or is it not bad ? That is a question that it may z be' worth while to ■ inquire into.

The first point to determine is the relative production of food for stock on pasture as compared with the food-production . for stock on - land under crop. Ordinary . two-sheep pasture produces fodder at the rate of about 9 tons per annum. The same land under forage crops as ordinarily grown might produce an average of about twice that amount; and such an estimate certainly does not, all things considered, underestimate the degree of production under average circumstances. . Granted that it/ is thus made possible to carry another two sheep per acre, the. gross return therefrom will scarcely suffice to meet the expenses of growing even the cheapest of forage crops and leave a margin of profit.

To take concrete cases At Moumahaki Experimental Farm a paddock of 7 acres 2 roods 15 perches seeded to oats and tares in May, 1915, carried live-stock up to the end of December,

equal to 3-2 sheep per acre for the -year. The - cost of growing the . crop, including the rental value of the land during the months occupied by the crop, was not less than £3 per acre, a charge against one sheep of 19s. per annum for food alone. Another paddock of 5 acres 3 roods 7 perches, in pasture during the same months, carried stock in terms of sheep at the rate of 2-5 per acre per annum for the same period. The cost per acre, again including the rental value of the ground for the grazing - period, would not exceed £1 55., a charge against each sheep of 10s. per annum for grazing. This was the most costly pasture-grazing of any of the grass paddocks on the farm; but, even so, the comparative results are against the growing in this district of a forage crop for grazing during the period specified. A further, paddock of 9 acres and 7 perches,, in five-year-old lucerne, during the months of • September, ; 1915, to April, 1916, carried' and fattened sheep at the rate of six sheep per acre per annum; . and from this area during the same months was harvested 9 tons per acre of surfacedry and wilted forage, representing a . further carrying-capacity of two sheep per acre for the year. At a moderate estimate of one sheep per acre per - annum for the grazing available from May to-August inclusive, the total carrying - capacity would amount to nine sheep per acre. - The paddock was sown in plots of a number of varieties of lucerne, and if it had . all been sown in the Hunter River variety, the /stock would probably have been increased by two sheep per acre for the year. The cost of this grazing, assuming that lucerne . remained good for no more . than six years after establishment, would not exceed £2 1 os. per acre, or a charge of ' ss. 6d. per sheep for one year, while the acreage profit was greatly increased.

From : the Ruakura Farm of Instruction one or two interesting examples may also be quoted. A paddock of 20 acres devoted to- rape and -mustard carried sheep from Ist October, 1915, to 15th March, 1916, at the rate of 4-5 ■ head per acre per annum. The cost of the' crop , would be about £3, or 13s. qd. per sheep per annum, and -the crop was a very good one. Another paddock adjoining, in old pasture, area 26| acres, during the same period carried -sheep at the rate' of three per acre per annum, at a cost not exceeding 20s. per acre for the period, equal to a charge of 6s. Bd. against each sheep for the year. Other examples - might be quoted, all bearing out the same fact that when the increased cost of production is reckoned with stock. cannot be profitably maintained on specially grown fodder crops as ■ compared - with pasture the one - exception' being the

perennial crop lucerne, with its large power of producing, as compared with annual fodder crops, at a relatively low cost.

On rich dairying land, which, is ■ usually considered capable of close settlement by cultivation, the case is still worse for cropping. The best of the land of. this description will grow upwards of 30 tons, of grass per annum, and there are few annual forage crops on the same land which will exceed this yield of forage by as much as one-half; and even lucerne sinks in importance below the value of pasture under these circumstances.

In making this' general statement on the economy .of grassfarming, I do not lose sight of the fact that forage and root crops may have special values at ‘ special times. For example, while the average annual production of pasture is satisfactory on a cost basis as -compared with crops, the growth of grass is not continuous; whereas for profitable dairy-farming it is of the highest importance to maintain the milk-flow at its highest possible level from' the beginning to the end of the season. This cannot be done on grass alone, and if specially grown crops were not available at times the milk-yield would be checked and would fail to make a satisfactory recovery with the subsequent freshening of the grass. So also in the case of sheep, while comparatively cheaply provided grass must be our mainstay, it will always .be expedient to resort to special crops for rapid fattening and to supplement pasture grazing at special periods of the year. In the cases cited from the Ruakura Farm, for example, the monthly stockings on rape and grass were as follows :

So far as the dairying and stock-raising industries are concerned, I think that a very small ratio of special-purpose crops to grass spells the highest economy and the greatest net profit under average farming • conditions; but whether such a ratio as 31 per cent., the average of Taranaki, is one to be satisfied with is a more difficult matter to decide. The ratio must •obviously vary according. to the situation of the farm and the quality of the land. It would appear that only in the case of poor, light land should extensive cropping combined with treatment calculated to increase fertility be undertaken. In that case it would be warranted not as a permanent practice, but only for

the -purpose of bringing the land into a condition to sustain long leas of remunerative pasture; and this object should be achieved as much as possible by the use of forage crops, such as red clover, which will stand extended grazing, and which can be in many cases grown at the cost of little more than the seed by sowing with an oat crop or on stubble, and the rape, kale, and mustard category of crops, which are also cheaply, grown.

I have pointed out as an exception to the average run of forage crops, lucerne, which. as a semi-permanent crop on all suitable land yields large returns at low cost. The advocacy of lucerne-growing in New Zealand is now of old standing, and it loses nothing in. insistence as time goes on. As in the case of the lime question, there is so little doubt as to the benefits that the farmer who neglects to test it by proper methods fails altogether to realize the possibilities of profit from his ' farming operations.

To revert once more to the subject of pasture: It has been admitted, and can hardly be questioned, that the total production of land under grazing-crops is approximately double what can be achieved from pasture, and hence it would appear at first glance that, the creation of pastures and the severe limitation of cultivation is a bad thing from a national point of view. But, as Mr. Martin J. Sutton has expressed it, “ until it is considered reasonable that men should beggar themselves for the national good, cultivators must be free to farm in the way that promises the best return for the capital, skill, and labour devoted to the business.”

ROTATIONAL CROPPING

I had intended originally to consider the subject of more definite rotations as a means of systematizing farm-managem but in the light of the foregoing considerations there does not appear to be any solid reason for the adoption of rotational farming in the North Island generally. A satisfactory rotation system pursued for a time would undoubtedly tend to a permanent improvement of much of our poorer lands. In fact, it would appear to .me that farm-management on these lands must develop along the lines of a system of alternate husbandry embodying the cultivation on a rotational basis of oats, clovers, and forage and root crops, accompanied by judicious liming and manuring, to enable them after such a ’course of treatment to be sown in grasses and clovers, which will remain, productive for a series of years. Such a system is frequently successfully applied to bush

land in transition, where a certain area is being stumped every year. A root crop .or other forage (including maize), followed by oats for grain and chaff, and that in turn by rape or barley for grazing along with the pasture mixture - to form the basis of a long and profitable pasture, is undoubtedly an excellent system to pursue. .In either . case, .notwithstanding the relative unprofitableness of some ,of the crops grown, it is beyond doubt a much wiser course to pursue than any vain attempt to make bad pastures good by top-dressing, when the real trouble is due to weeds and inferior grasses and pasture plants induced by bad soil-conditions. . . . ...

It may be interesting- for readers to know that at the Weraroa Experimental Farm (although the latter is, to my mind, essentially permanent - pasture country) investigations have been initiated having for . their - object the determining of the absolute cost of production • and . the net -returns from land under various systems of farm-management. These - systems include,—

(1.) A rotation, consisting of . oats for grain and chaff. Catch .. forage, crops .on. stubble, followed by summer forage crops .for supplementing pasture and for conserving as ensilage ; after, which the. and- is laid- down to pasture for six . -12* years.. . ....

(2.) Another rotation: Roots. Oats for grain and chaff, followed by ; grass sown down , with a grazing-crop as ■. temporary filler in two divisions, one division being down , . for six years, and the other division broken up at the end of the fourth year and devoted for the two remain- • ing years to temporary grass, for hay sown down with a forage crop.

(3.) Permanent pasture - embodying top-dressing tr als for the : maintenance thereof in full production,' together with a small area ! under a fixed rotation of forage crops hay, roots, oats for chaff.. .- ,

(4.) Lucerne for the intermittent fattening of store stock, and as an adjunct to general farm economy.

(5.) Crop rotation in connection with pig-raising.

(6.) The growing of grasses and clovers for seed-production, accompanied by stock-grazing during the months when the paddocks are not closed up for seed.

(7.) A rotation including only sale crops, such as certain cereals, peas, tares, certain forage and root crops for seed, and potatoes.

A very exact system of book-keeping and recording has been devised and . put in operation for the purpose of securing reliable

data on the many points at issue, and it is intended to correlate our results with results obtained under different methods of management in ordinary farm practice by a system of special farm surveys and records of selected farms, which are also being set in train. From year to year and from one rotation period to another very important results must certainly accumulate along these lines, and I trust to have opportunities of reporting progress from time to time. •

SALE CROPS.

To return to my main theme: I have not thus far expressed any opinion on the possibilities of higher profits being derived from the raising of cash —that is, of crops other than those grown for the maintenance and fattening of stock. Potatoes are grown for this purpose, and when their cultivation is undertaken with thoroughness and with knowledge there is little doubt that they may average out at a handsome degree of profit. Potatoes are a crop, of course,' which could be very easily overdone, but we have not yet by any means reached the limit of their profitable production in the North Island. Other crops which have been suggested, and in . some quarters strongly advocated, are industrial crops, such as Linum for fibre-production, sugar-beet for sugar, and colza for oil.

In general, the cost of production of these crops, the capital and labour involved, the risks of partial failure, and the necessary preliminary industrial development are all factors militating against success; while, on the other hand, we shall —to use a collo-quialism—-be "up against it” in the matter of utilization of our agricultural lands so long as our dairying and stock industries remain at a profitable level, which promises to be the case for many years to come. Take the case of Linum for fibre, for example. . At the present time first-grade Irish-grown scutched fibre is making £l5O per ton, and the prospects have improved to such an extent that Canada is now developing considerably a flax-fibre industry, while representations have also been made for the promotion of flax-growing for fibre in New Zealand. Before any move should be made -in this direction it ought to be reasonably certain that the business would be an unusually remunerative one. Now, the, facts are that Linum for fibre is a very risky crop to grow and to handle.- 5 cwt. per acre of scutched fibre is a very good yield. The cost of growing and preparing a crop in New Zealand, including the laborious - operations of hand pulling, retting, &c., would amount to about £ls per acre, possibly considerably more. The cost of scutching in Ulster - used to be Bs. per cwt. .of scutched

flax, the tow being' claimed by the millers. At New Zealand rates of labour the cost .would be very much highe r . Moreover, it would not be wise to start an industry on the basis of the present price for first-class Irish-grown scutched fibre. Altogether, the growing of this and other crops which require at the back of them an industrial organization, which we do not at present possess, can hardly be considered to come within the. scope of practical farmmanagement in New Zealand.

ROTATIONAL GRAZING OF PASTURES.

Before concluding , I may make a few observations on the rotational grazing of pastures. We all know that continuous light stocking of grass land is bad for the pasture, and an altogether uneconomical method of using it. This patent fact seems to have led some to argue that the opposite extreme subdivision into many small paddocks —is the proper course to adopt.

Experience teaches one to avoid being overemphatic about anything connected with farming, but my knowledge on this point satisfies me at present that the following statements are true :

1. Subdivision progressively increases the cost per acre of erecting and maintaining fences.

2. Where stock are shifted to fresh ground they are apt to wander around before settling to feed, particularly in small paddocks, in which much of the feed is consequently trodden and soiled before it can be used. This does not happen to anything like the extent in a paddock of decent size.

3. Grass has ample time to freshen and recover when four changes at the outside—that is, four grazing-paddocks —are provided. The better the land the more rapidly pasture will freshen after the removal of stock, and consequently less subdivision is required.

4. I have compared the carrying-capacity of an area of 25J acres divided into six small paddocks, at our Ruakura Farm, with similar but larger areas of pasture of value not greater than the above, and find that the small paddocks do not carry a proportionately heavier stocking. During the past year the first-mentioned paddock in six subdivisions carried stock equal to three and threeeighths sheep per acre per annum for the months September, 1915, to May, 1916, and, except during the month of December, chaff, crushed oats, and hay were . fed in the paddock. The adjoining paddock of iß| acres, undivided, carried during the same period three and two-eighths sheep per acre, although this paddock had less natural advantages than the other, and supplementary feeding was confined to the months September, April, and May. Field

No. 13, 261 acres, during the same period carried sheep equal to four per acre without any other feeding except mangels in September. I admit that the comparisons are not altogether fair, but if anything they favour the subdivided paddock.

SUMMARY.

To sum up, my observations lead me to the conclusion that farm-management in the North Island should take account of the following considerations :- . -

1. Good pasture is, and must continue to be, the mainstay of the North Island farmer.

2. Most good pastures may be further improved in nutritive value, if not in actual production of herbage, by periodic applications of crushed limestone.

3. Inferior pasture everywhere should be renewed by liming, cropping, manuring, and regrassing after a second application of crushed limestone. In this connection it may be noted that greenmanuring is not usually an economical practice.

4. On light land these successive stages of improvement should automatically bring about a rotational system, including growth of oats, inexpensive forage crops, and pastures of longer or shorter duration, according to circumstances.

5. If lucerne can be grown,- -the maximum of profits cannot be realized without it. . .

6. Beyond a very narrow limit, profits recede as cultivation extends and pasture areas are reduced.

7. Nevertheless, exclusive reliance on pasture, or pasture together with fattening crops or transition crops for dairy stock, is not judicious. ■ There is ample justification on economic grounds for the extension of the practice of preserving fodder as hay and ensilage, and the feeding of these and of , home-grown chaff to all classes of stock when the inevitable need arises (which involves more general provision of feed-racks and troughs). The adoption of this course, while being of undoubted advantage to the individual farmer, would at the same time benefit farmers as a whole by exerting a steadying influence on stock values, at present subject to dangerous and disturbing' fluctuations, which, whether up or down, restrict production, for they check the raising of young stock 8. Where unsatisfactory results follow the grazing of pastures which are divided so as to allow of four changes, it is better pasture or more stock —not more fencing— is needed.

*The lime-factor diagram was reproduced in the June issue of the Journal, page 490. ,

* Otago and Southland combined.

Note. The substance of the foregoing article was given as an address at the winter show conference of the National Dairy Association, at Palmerston North, June, 1916.

Province. Carryingcapacity. Ploughed Grass. Surfacesown Grass. Unimproved. Cereals. Roots, Forage, Crops, and Fallow. Orchards and Planta- . tions. 1,000 acres. Taranaki Sheep. Acres. ■ Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. 2,100 . 150 600 221 8 ‘ 19 . 2 Wellington 1,900 80 612 284 8 14 2 Hawke’s Bay. . 1,580 112 44° 427 7 12 2 ' Auckland 260 103 326 ■ 545 7 15 4 Canterbury .. 93° 220 78 580 73 ' 44 4 Nelson 620 60 180 73i 13 10 6 Otago 580* 103 29 820 24 23 1 Southland 230 40 632 45 52 1 Marlborough . . 53° 41 173 764 15 6 1 Westland 240 10 76 911 less than less than less than 1 2. - 1

Table I, showing the Approximate Apportionment of an Average 1,000 Acres of the Land in Occupation in each of the Land Districts of New Zealand.

, North Island. Carryingcapacity. Ploughed Grass. Surfacesown Grass. Unimproved. Cereals. ' Roots, Forage, Crops, and Fallow. Orchards and Plantations. Sheep. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. i,ooo acres in 1,550 no . 440 424 8 15 3 ign 1,000 acres in 1,320 100 429 430 7 . 11 3 1906 ■

Table 2, Changes in Apportionment of an Average 1,000 Acres of the Land occupied in the North Island between the. Statistical Periods 1906 and 1911.

Month. Sheep per Acre per Month on Grass. Rape. December ' '..8-3 II- 5 January . . .. • • 5’0 26-0 February ... . . • i-4 .. 9-o ■ March .. .... ..3’0 6-5 .