In past ages the kauri pine flnurished in many parts of North Auckland, It is estimated that the kauri took hundreds of years -50 mature, the trees stood closely together and were of huge dimensions.
The practice of harrowing pastures appeared to gain popularity about the year 1929 and almost coincided with the introduction of the so-called "new system" of grassland management.
In winter, low-lying lands alongside the Waikato River are flooded with water, and show little promise of the surprising change to luxuriant pasture which comes with the summer and the fall in the waters of the Waikato.
This is the most serious problem facing the whole of New Zealand, a much more difficult task than- the handling of virgin land, as practically all this class of country is heavily infested with weeds, particularly gorse? blackberry and ragwort, Ragwort is the worst since it is injurious to stock, This land is also nearly all broken country difficult and expensive to handle, all materials and labour being high in price and difficult to procure.
The first ballot for Crown Lands held in the Te Kuiti District was on the 30,/6/96 for the Paemako Settlement.
Topdressing is the basis of Auckland farming; of the four million acres in sown grass in the North Auckland and Auckland Land Districts, one and three--quarter million acres were topdressed in 1937 and these topdressed pastures produce the bulk of Auckland's butterfat and fat stock farm production has followed the manure bag.
With the realisation that the end of our virgin land is now definitely in sight, we in ITew Zealand are becoming more interested in the problems of land deterioration and soil conservation. Among other questions we seek to learn what part soil erosion plays in the deterioration of some of our farm lands.
An aim of this statement is to provide specific evidence that the application of available knowledge relative to the utilisation of our farm resources is far from being the fullest possible and that the current trends are not always completely reassuring ones.
Perhaps the most important development in New Zealand Agriculture during the last quarter of a century has been the spectacular increase in pastoral products, Rapid as advancement in this direction has been, it is claimed that the set limit of production for New Zealand’s grass lands is not yet even in sight, and the potential value of grass as a crop is so far only dimly appreciated.
Volcanic ash showers, differing in ejecting material, and widely distributed by both air and water, form the pumice soils of the Central Plateau of the North Island.
It is remarkable in fact tragic, that although wonderful strides have been made by plant breeding, plant selection, manuring, soil management and pasture management to substitute two blades of grass for one, little constructive or organised effort has been made to relate the production of pasture to its true feeding value
It would be difficult to find anywhere else in the world -an area more favoured by nature for pasture development than the Waikato
NZ Grassland Association Inc.
11 Montrose Street, Mosgiel, Dunedin 9024 New Zealand | P: +64 3 477 0712 | F: +64 3 473 6495 | E: nzgrassland@gmail.com
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