PUWERA EXPERIMENTAL AREA.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXIX, Issue 4, 20 October 1924, Page 259

PUWERA EXPERIMENTAL AREA.

NOTES ON OPERATIONS, SEASON 1923-24.

T. H. PATTERSON, H.D.A.,

Instructor in Agriculture, Auckland.

Those interested in the earlier work at Puwera should consult the previous issues of the Journal, which give details of cultivation and other preliminary treatment of the clay gum-lands referred to in this article. In the December, 1922, issue a sketch-plan of the experimental area was included, and references are made in the present article to the numbered fields in that plan. The work has been pursued with the main , objects of (1) securing the most suitable grass - pasture, and (2) growing crops and conserving fodder for the lean periods when the production from the pasture is inadequate. PASTURES. The Lower-lying Areas. - Field 3a. —This area of 4 acres was sown to a permanent-pasture mixture in April, 1923. The sowing of lb. of seed included rye-grass, cocksfoot, crested dogstail, paspalum, and clovers. The very wet winter which followed the sowing on this field, which is mostly flat and low-lying, had a bad effect on the take. In spite of this, and the several dry, hot spells last summer (November and December), the pasture is now promising well. It consists mainly of rye-grasses, crested dogstail, and clovers. Young cocksfoot - plants are well distributed. The cocksfoot and crested dogstail are growing strongly, except in the case of the former on a small area above the flat. The pasture was top-dressed on 30th May last with superphosphate at the rate of 3 cwt. per acre.

Field 3b. —This section, 10 acres in extent, is in its fourth year, having been sown to grass in the autumn of 1921. The seed-mixture contained 16 lb. Poverty Bay rye-grass and 4 lb. Italian rye-grass, the rest being made up of 5 lb. of paspalum, Waipu brown-top, and clovers : total, 34 lb. per acre. The pasture has been heavily stocked with dairy cows, store steers, and wethers. The field had been topdressed with basic slag each year at the rate of 2| cwt. per acre. This

year 3 cwt. of a -mixture made up of equal weights of basic slag and superphosphate was applied on 31st May and 2nd June. Hay and roots have been fed out periodically over the higher portions on the field, where the soil is poorer, and the chain and tripod harrows used regularly to distribute the dung and stir the surface. ■ ■ The mixture would have been improved by the inclusion of 3 lb. to qlb. of crested dogstail, added at the time of sowing down, the pastures on the other fields bearing out this contention. Paspalum-plants are well distributed through the sward on the flat and in odd wet places, but very few plants are seen on the higher parts. In spite of this and the omission of crested dogstail, the. pasture is remarkably good, and certainly beyond the'most sanguine expectations of a few years ago. The rye-grasses and clovers — including red, white, and suckling — predominate, with Lotus major well in evidence ; brown-top makes up the remainder. With the exception of a little weed-growth:— chiefly cudweed, catsear, rib-grass, and field-daisy only on odd weak patches, the field is a close strong-growing sward of good grass. Its long period of growth throughout the year is noticeable. The grasses come away rapidly after it is spelled for a couple of weeks, even during the winter., .

With the information we now have, this section of Puwera should carry grasses in the mixtures demanding higher fertility than, say, brown-top. The inclusion of cocksfoot and crested dogstail and the leaving-out of paspalum would have combined to produce what is considered farther South to be a better pasture than is found at present. This contention, as regards cocksfoot and crested dogstail, is being put to the test on the adjoining Field 3A. So far the indications are promising. Having regard to North Auckland — its climatic conditionsit may reasonably be claimed that a pasture with paspalum dominant, and a spring growth produced and 'maintained by topdressing with phosphatic manures, by chain harrowing, and by careful stocking, would be a better pasture. Certainly in dry summers and autumns it would provide more feed.

The Hill Paddocks.

Field 6. — The section is approximately' io| acres in area. It is one of the hill paddocks, sloping from the highest ridge on the area down to the main. Whangarei-Maungakaramea Road. The soil was first broken up about thirteen years ago, and sown to grass. The grass had run out when the field was rebroken and grassed again in April, 1921. The second sowing of 34 lb. to the acre consisted mainly of Western Wolths rye-grass, paspalum, and clovers. The pasture has been top-dressed each year. The sward, now in its. fourth year, is chiefly paspalum, Lotus major, Lotus hispidus (“ angustissimus ”), sucklingclover or trefoil, and a little chicory and yarrow. It has produced satisfactory feed, and has been grazed since July, 1921. The paspalum is getting stronger and more widespread. With the clovers maintained by top-dressing, and the pasture improved by chain-harrowing and judicious stocking, this field is now becoming a paspalum-clover pasture, giving feed of clovers, Lotus hispidus, and Lotus major in the spring and early summer. From about November paspalum comes away and carries on until the winter. The sward is improving under the treatment outlined.

An area of about 3 acres fenced off on the upper portion of Field 6 was top-dressed on 31st May, 1923, with superphosphate at the rate of 3 cwt. per acre. It was cut for meadow hay in December; the estimated total yield was 5 tons, the hay consisting . of . paspalum, Lotus hispidus, Lotus major, and' a little, Western Wolth and Yorkshire fog. . •

In parts the grasses of the first sowing are showing up, in some places strongly. Chewings fescue and Danthonia are the principal offenders. It is interesting to note that a small percentage of manuka seedlings appeared on the second sowing of grass, but they have now disappeared. No manuka was noticed on the run-out pasture ; it is probable that the re-turning of the sod brought buried seed to the surface again.

• ■ Field 5. This area of 12 acres has soil of about the same quality as Field 6 ; it also lies similarly, but was sown to grass a year earlier. It was set out in eight plots, each il- acres in area. The plots run parallel to the main road, .which is the lower boundary. From careful observations made periodically on the individual plots sown with different seed-mixtures much useful information has been gained of the behaviour of the various pasture-constituents. Poverty Bay

rye-grass has done best of the perennial strains. Cocksfoot, after more than •. four years’ growth, has not done so well, even where the experimental sowings ' ranged from 13 lb. to 20 lb. per acre. Crested dogstail and Poa pratensis are both good. Paspalum has grown well, though it established slowly, except in the wet places, where it showed up in the first season and has since continued to get stronger. Lotus ' major has associated itself with the paspalum- in the wet places, as one would naturally expect. White clover has done well throughout. Waipu brown-top and Danthonia pilosa have 'obviously both found conditions suitable. A useful volunteer among the paspalum is subterranean clover, which has come in apparently from the- roadside adjoining, where it is growing in patches. It was not sown on this field, unless the seed happened to have been an impurity in the mixture. Including the dressing of fertilizer with the seed at the time of sowing, this field has received 9 cwt. per acre of phosphatic fertilizer in four years. The annual dressing, therefore, works out at 21 cwt. per acre. The plot on the ridge was sown with the following mixture : Poverty Bay rye-grass, 16 lb. ; Danthonia pilosa, 6 lb. ; paspalum, 6 lb. ; white clover, 3 lb. ; alsike, 2 lb. ; Serradella, 2 lb. : total, 35 lb. per acre. The sward, now in its fifth year, contains a good deal of rye-grass and danthonia, with paspalum sprinkled through it. White clover is prominent, and, though hardly to be expected because of the quality of the soil, alsike is still seen. Sheep’s burnet, sown only on.one plot, did well for a couple of years, but has apparently disappeared. .

Pioneer Surface-sowings. Fields 4 and y. Field 4 is on the same face as Fields 5 and 6, but the slope is steeper. The surface is more uneven, being broken by a depression down which the surface water flows after heavy rains. Wet patches at intervals, growing rushes and water-grass {Juncus bufonius), along this irregular depression indicate surface springs. These springs provide convenient supplies of drinking-water for stock. y Early in February, 1922, an area of rj acres near the ridge was tackled, the stunted manuka being cut and subsequently burnt late in March. The area was then disked and cross-disked, which made the rough surfaces, more even. In April | acre was surface-sown with Danthonia, 3 lb. ; paspalum, 4 lb. ; .Chewings fescue, 1 lb. ; crested dogstail, | lb. ; ' Waipu brown-top, | lb. ; white clover, 1 lb. ; Lotus major (colonial), Jib.: equivalent to a total, of 21 lb. per acre. A fertilizer mixture of equal quantities of super and slag, at. 2 cwt, , per acre, was broadcast. The remaining f acre was sown about a month later with the following mixture. : Paspalum, 6 lb. ; Danthonia pilosa, 3 lb. ; perennial rye-grass, 3 lb. ; Waipu brown-top, 2 lb. ; Chewings fescue, 1 lb. ; Poa pratensis, 1 lb. ; white clover, . 1 lb. ; Lotus hispidus, 2 lb. ; Lotus major, 1 lb. ; yarrow, 2 oz. : equivalent to a total of nearly 27 lb. per acre. 2 cwt. of basic super was broadcasted before seeding. The take, judged in the following spring and summer, was much better on the first sowing than on the second, though the seeding was lighter in the former. When the areas were inspected during the second season the one sown last had improved, but a good deal of Danthonia semiannularis had appeared. This grass is found in the adjoining unimproved gum-land, and was on both areas before the surface growth was burnt. Both areas were top-dressed on 29th June, 1923, with a mixture of equal weights of slag and super at the rate of 1 cwt. per acre. Young manuka has come up 'fairly freely on the surface-sowings, but the mower disposes of this growth. The pasture has been grazed for two seasons, and at present is very satisfactorv. .

This is a cheap method of getting a sole of grass as an initial step. The cost of the treatment on the first area sown, including clearing, burning, disking, seed, fertilizer, and sowing, works out at about J2 15s. per acre. ' The seed-mixture could be reduced in cost and a satisfactory covering of grass still be secured. Paspalum could be introduced into the sward by feeding out paspalum hay, or shifting stock grazing paspalum in the summer to the surface-sown pasture.

Kikuyu-grass.

The i-acre plot in Field 2 laid down during the spring of 1922 in kikuyu, with cow-grass, white clover, and Lotus major, has given very striking results. After grazing the area until last spring it was shut up for hay. The cow-grass kept pace in growth with the kikuyu as far as height was concerned. Forced up by the kikuyu, the cow-grass was evenly distributed throughout the sward, and could be easily discerned just before cutting for hay in December, even from the main road, especially by the profusion of seed-heads. Lotus major also-grew well. Cow-grass, Lotus major, and Lotus hispidus combine well, with kikuyu,

and produce good hay or pasture for grazing. The aftermath was grazed. The winter-growth has been better than was anticipated, in spite of cold wet weather, with several frosts in July. ■ Up to the present kikuyu has given more winter feed than paspalum. The close -sward of kikuyu excludes weeds. An outstanding feature to which attention may be drawn is that when kikuyu was grown with clovers it produced a large bulk of good forage palatable to all classes of stock, which continued to grow over a long season.

Top-dressing and Chain-harrowing.

The main fertilizer used on the Puwera pastures is basic slag; which gives very satisfactory results. - Super mixed with slag or with ground rock. phosphate is good, and: super used with lime or applied on land previously limed also gives good results. The grass laid down with raw rock phosphate and lime, and top-dressed each year with that mixture, is still poor in comparison with adjacent plots on which rock phosphate alone was applied. Where one light dressing 'of super was applied across the plots dressed with rock phosphate alone, and rock phosphate and lime, the beneficial results were striking to the eye. ; From top-dressing trials on permanent pasture, now in progress, first-year results showed an increase in the yield of hay of 30 per cent, (over no manure) on the plots on which rock phosphate at 3 cwt. per acre was used. From last year's results (second season) the increased yield of hay was a little over 56 per cent., but where a mixture of equal weights of super and rock phosphate was applied at the same acre-rate the increase over no manure was 93 per cent. Compared with the phosphate alone the increase was therefore. 37 per cent. These results can be viewed as tentative only. The subdivision of the area into fields not larger than 12 acres allows of the better handling of stock, so that the pastures are grazed most effectively. When spelled for a week or so the fields are run over with the tripod-chain harrows. The old contention that dung contains " something ” which artificials do not may help to account for. the progressive improvement of the pastures observed at Puwera. Their .carrying-capacity bears this out, and the quality of the pasture may be judged by the rapidity with which stock fatten. SUPPLEMENTARY forage crops. Mangolds failed in the season under review ; it is suspected that the seedlings were eaten by cutworms. John Bull and Superlative swedes and Hardy Green Globe turnips were grown and fed to the cattle along with meadow hay during the winter. Crops of green maize, sorghum, and millet proved useful in the -autumn and winter.. Sorghum saccharatum was the variety grown, and it produced an excellent crop. Cattlepumpkins and marrows were grown among the maize, and did well.. Oaten sheaf produced in Field 7 was fed to the horses. The sheep received only millet in addition to the grazing on the. pastures. Altogether 6| acres were devoted to crops. Areas of 3J acres were cut for hay1 acre of which was kikuyu-grass already referred to. Incidentally it may be mentioned that pukeko have proved troublesome at Puwera for a number of years. The birds pull up maize, millet, and other seedlings, also red-clover plants.

. NURSERY NOTES. Millet grown with crimson clover produced a useful crop. Crimson clover has consistently done well at Puwera. Durango Upland cotton promised very well; the plants flowered, and the bolls formed and grew well, but bad storms in April and May prevented the crop ripening off. Kudzu grew well, but went off when the winter set in. White-fleshed swedes again gave a good crop, resisting the dry spells and showing no disease.

LIVE-STOCK. The pastures , and crops grown on the area have carried dry stock continuously and dairy cows for short periods. The carrying-capacity of the improved part of the area works out at the equivalent of a cattle beast to slightly over 2 acres. Store-steers, three years and upwards, have become prime in on an average of from ten to fourteen months. Though trouble was experienced with sheep a few years ago, the last lot did well. The pastures are now fit to carry dairy stock profitably.

Noxious Weeds Orders. — Hemlock has been declared a noxious weed in Lower Hutt Borough, and gorse and Bathurst burr in the Russell Town District. Wallace County has declared Californian-thistle and ragwort not to be noxious weeds.

Sheepowners in the Dominion. — Owners of sheep as at 30th April last totalled 23,423, classified as follows : 100 to 200 sheep, 5,919 owners ; 210 to 500, 6,008 owners; 501 to 1,000, 5,071 owners; 1,001 to 2,500, 4,393 owners ; 2,501 to 5,000, 1,356 owners;. 5,001 to 7,500, 370 owners ; 7,501 to 10,000, 152 owners; 10,001 to 20,000, 128 owners ; 20,001 and over, 26 owners.