DEVELOPMENT OF PUMICE LANDS.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 43, Issue 4, 20 October 1931, Page 240

DEVELOPMENT OF PUMICE LANDS.

The annual report of the Director-General of Agriculture for 1930-31 makes the following reference to this matter : Excellent progress has been made with the breaking-in of land on behalf of the Lands Department under the provisions of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1929. Two blocks, known as Ngakuru No. 1 and Ngakuru No. 2, are being dealt with in the Rotorua district. On Ngakuru No. 1 1,213 acres have been cleared, and of this area 1,160 acres have been sown in grass, with plantations, &c. On Ngakuru No. 2 an area of 1,975 acres was cleared to the 31st March, and 400 acres cultivated. Only a small area was sown in grass in the autumn of 1931, and the remaining portion of the block, consisting of approximately 3,000 acres, is to be grassed. A very careful record of the cost of development of these pumice lands is . being kept. The actual cost of getting the land down in good pasture, based on a minimum wage paid of 14s. per day, works out at £j 15s. per acre. Provided that by suitable management and reasonable top-dressing the pasture can be maintained in a satisfactory manner, such expenditure should be payable. One section on Ngakuru No. 1 has been fully equipped as a demonstrational dairy-farm. Excluding stock the cost will work out at approximately /20 per acre, this including all necessary buildings and subdivision into small paddocks. Dairying will be . commenced on this area approximately within twelve months of the burning of the scrub. The progress of this developmental work on waste pumice lands must be watched with great interest. If it proves successful the potentialities of settlement on a large scale are great; if it does not, it will prove, once for all whether the settlement of such land is a sound policy, as the very best and most modern methods of grassing and maintenance of pasture are being adopted. It is interesting to note that the certified rye-grass in the seed-mixture used has given outstanding results, and emphasized the necessity of attention to strain in the laying-down of grassland on virgin country.