TO a very real extent grassland is singularly independent of the virginal character of the soil
Download
(203 KB)BECAUSE of the differential growth of herbage plants throughout the year and because of weather hazards, the most difficult problem of the stock-raiser is the provision of an adequate supply of feed for every day in the year. Worthy efforts have been made to facilitate the provision of feed, generically grouped under the title of “ making two blades of grass grow where only one grew previously,” either by better strains of grass, by better .methods of sowing, establishing, and managing, by top-dressing, or by other means. While on the whole these have been successful, there are those who have failed to get the best advantage from them, but have nevertheless been able to run stock successfully.
Download
(120 KB)CROPPING and cultivation under warm and moist conditions leads to a rapid depletion of the organic matter in the soil.
Download
(71 KB)MY contribution is in the main suggestive, and, I hope; provocative in a constructive sense.
Download
(161 KB)NUMEROUS instances have been recorded in New Zealand in which domestic animals have failed to grow or to produce to their full capacity through the entire lack of or the reduction to a low level of some of the essential food factors required by the body. Deficiencies of iodine and phosphorus undoubtedly exist as such, while cobalt. and iron deficiencies are as yet interrelated. Calcium and magnesium deficiencies may or may not .exist, while -protein deficiency is also to be considered only as a possibility. Vitamin deficiencies, particularly A and D, may exist in intensively fed stock such as pigs and poultry, but except in pigs are to-day relatively unimportant in New Zealand live-stock feeding
Download
(62 KB)IN a paper presented last year to the Grassland. Association Conference attention was directed to an apparent effect of sulphate of potash in overcoming the depression in. yield that follows the repeated use of sulphate of ammonia and superphosphate on the pastures at the Marsden Research Farm, Stoke, Nelson. It is the purpose of this article to show how this effect has operated during the past four years.
Download
(83 KB)THIS paper is presented with the idea not of delivering any dogmatic statements nor of suggesting anything original; it merely offers some comments on the relationship between environment and cropproduction, discusses the effect this relationship has in, regard to crop-improvement work, and considers the type of organization which may be suitable for a comprehensive plant-breeding policy.
Download
(178 KB)GENERALLY farmers are aware that the sowing of "new season’s" oats in the autumn is attended by the risk of poor germination. This danger is often avoided by sowing at a heavy rate, or by using I‘ old season’s ” seed. Nevertheless, the difficulty of judging the suitability of seed for autumn sowing not infrequently results in considerable loss. The trouble arises from the fact that the oat grain generally requires several months for its complete afterripening.
Download
(36 KB)THE preliminary field trials on the influence of pasture- species upon cream flavour conducted during the 1934-35 season and reported by Levy(l) have been continued on a more comprehensive scale during the 1935-36 season, and the results are presented in this bulletin.
Download
(746 KB)IN two papers read by officers of the Department of Agriculture at the 1936 conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association, the growing of lucernc as a forage crop in districts of relatively high rainfall was dealt with. The area covered by the papers included the Manawatu and west coast from Paraparaumu to the Patea River(I) and Taranaki(n). During the subsequent discussion on these and other papers the present position and general trend in regard to lucernegrowing in the Wairarapa, Eiawke’s Eay, and Poverty Bay districts were also touched on. It is the intention here. to review briefly some of the more important points in regard to the cultivation of lucerne in the southern portion of the North Island as discussed at the conference.
Download
(67 KB)DURING the past few years a marked increase in lucerne acreage in the Auckland district has taken place. Whereas in 1929 a total of 2,667 acres was devoted to this crop, the acreage in 1935 had risen to 5,248. Of these totals, North Auckland had 210 acres in 1929 and 429 in 1935, while the acreages for South Auckland in the corresponding years were 2,457 and 4,819. These figures suggest that, so far as North Auckland is concerned, the crop is relatively unimportant at the present time.
Download
(66 KB)METHODOLOGY may be defined as systematic knowledge of the best way of setting to work. In the development and progress of the sciences methodology has played a very important role. So also in the realm of agricultural research,. methodology is a vital necessity, and my plea -therefore is for its greatest possible utilization. General methodology is undoubtedly the most valuable tool of trade in all loccupations, but is probably the most neglected of subjects.
Download
(69 KB)FROM reports it appears that the dream of agriculturalists is on the eve of realization, and that we are about to enter a new era of agricultural advancement. For long man has realized the fundamental importance of good pasture, and in devious ways has endcavoured to conserve surplus herbage so as to provide. a sufficiency of fodder for his cattle and sheep during lean periods, thereby evolving the technique of haying and silage-making as we know it to-day.
Download
(107 KB)THE ultimate structure in vegetation is determined by dominance, and dominance is based on the ability of the individual to respond to its environment. No two plants arc exactly alike in their demands : each plant has its special growing-place. The indigenous forests in general carry a single dominant that largely determines the physiognomic features of the formation-the tawa or rimu, or white pine, or kauri, or totara, or southern beech. In forest development we recognize succession, and dominants appear to mark each phase in the .succession : thus we have the manuka dominance, bracken fern,. the indigenous induced hard fern, piripiri dominance, wineberry, mahoe, five-finger dominance, progressing to rewarewa, hinau, or kamahi dominance. In the tussock grasslands we see the same rise to dominance according to growing-place- the fescue tussock, the poa . tussock, the danthonia tussock ; and in the depleted lands of the South Island we see the scabweed dominant under the influence of the rabbit. In the artificial grasslands of New Zealand the trend to dominance is well observed - the rye-grass, cocksfoot, brown-top, Danthonia eilosa, .D. semiannzclaris, ratstail, paspalum, tall fescue, prairie-grass, floating sweetgrass, and Poa aquatica dommance respectively.
Download
(194 KB)Paspalum dilatatum is a sub-tropical grass.
Download
(136 KB)AT the 1935 meeting of the New Zealand Grassland Associalion McMeekan read a paper on the nutritive ‘value of pastures in pigraising, and, in respect to fattening pigs, stated that grass ” is not capable of materially reducing the total requirements of other food except under a low plane of feeding, the successful practice of which is dependent on economic considerations ” : he gave details of two feeding trials which showed that “ no measurable amount of nutriment was derived from pasture by the pigs in these trials, no significant difference either in growth-rate or in economy of foodconsumption being apparent.”
Download
(40 KB)THE foothill areas of. Canterbury consist of a large portion of the province, extending from the Conway River in the north to the Waitaki River in the south, a distance of some 230 miles. This same area varies in width from a few miles behind Methven, and Maytield to some 80 miles in a part of North Canterbury, with much variation between these limits. Except in parts of North Canterbury, the climate generally is more severe and the rainfall higher than on the Plains. There is, of course, much variation. The soil, in general, is second class, but much variation exists, so that ~go@~ j5ch pockets and small flats are not uncommon. Large areas .of tussock and also of third-class land-poor, clay, scrub country-are prominent in certain districts. A rough estimate of the area of the foothill, farms in Canterbury is 2,000,000 acres.
Download
(258 KB)THE object of this paper is to review some recent trends in genetic research which clearly point to new possibilities in economic plant-breeding.
Download
(131 KB)THE sheep-runs of the Ashburton County cover roughly 590,000 acres of river-flat, foothill, and high mountainous country bounded on the south by the Rangitata River (with the exception of the Mesopotamia run of Butler’s ” Erewhon ” fame). On the northern .side the boundary is formed by the Rakaia River, and a straight line from the Rangitatathrough Mount Somers and Staveley Townships to the Rakaia roughly demarcates the plains land from the hills on the east, while westerly the runs extend back thirty and forty miles to the main ranges of the Alps.
Download
(138 KB)Potassic fertilizers take a minor place among artificial manures in New Zealand as compared with most other countries, particularly those in Europe.
Download
(136 KB)A STUDY of grass-seed mixtures used during the past two hundred years reveals that there is relatively little new in the present-day trend towards the extreme simplification of such mixtures, and that during this period the pendulum has swung backwards and forwards. It is an accepted theory that extremes in anything are not desirable.
Download
(144 KB)BECAUSE of a keen realization of the large number and the complexity of problems connected with grasslands, problems which vary with soil, climate, and systems of farming, it is with considerable diffidence that one venttires to discuss even a few of them. However, there are some which appear worthy of discussion and investigation and fundamental to the furtherance of research into certain other problems connected witli grasslands.
Download
(106 KB)SUBTERRANEAN clover (Trif&m subterraneum) is an annual which perpetuates itself by copious reseeding.
Download
(1688 KB)AT the 1936 conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association a group of four papers on subterranean clover was read by field officers of the Department of Agriculture, giving the experience with this clover as a pasture species in North Auckland and South Auckland (excluding the King-country, the pumice lands of the central -plateau, and Bay of Plenty), Manawatu and west coast, and Hawke’s Bay: During the subsequent discussion of the papers the position in Taranaki, Wairarapa, Poverty Bay, Bay of Plenty, and other parts of the Auckland Prqvince,.including the pumice country round Rotorua and Taupo, was indicated. It is the intention in this article to summarize the present position and possibilities of subterranean clover in the North Island as disclosed by the papers and the discussion
Download
(118 KB)OFFICIAL figures showing the amount of artificial fertilizer delivered at officered railway-stations in Hawke's Bay over the period 1928-29 to 1935-36 are as follows
Download
(130 KB)IN crested dogstail there is a great variety in the type of plant which goes to make up any sample. Similar variations occur in other plants and have been recorded. It is intended to record here briefly the variations that occur in -dogstail to bring it into line with plants that have been more intensely studied
Download
(50 KB)THEKE are great variations in the degree of success with which pastures are being utilized in pig-keeping. These variations are due primarily to differences in the extent to which pasture utilization by pigs is based upon the following important facts.
Download
(164 KB)
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
© Copyright NZ Grassland Association Inc. 2011. All rights reserved
Refund Policy | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions
