H.—34.

(6) Various pasture trials : — - • (a) A liming trial on new pasture sown with mother-seed rye-grass and wild white clover is in progress. The treatments range from J ton up to 2 tons per acre. (b) Costs and returns associated with the growing of certified perennial rye-grass, Italian rye-grass, white clover, Montgomeryshire clover, and cocksfoot for seed-production are under investigation. Ashley Dene Trials. —The whole of the Ashley Dene block of 900 acres is being used as an experimental unit to investigate the possibilities of subterranean clover and associated crops on light land characteristic of large areas of Canterbury and other parts of New Zealand. The following acreages of different experimental pasture have been sown : — Subterranean clover .. .. . . .. .. 400 acres. Lucerne . . ■ • • • 12 acres. Certified Montgomeryshire clover . . . . . . 10 acres. Certified rye-grass, certified Montgomeryshire clover, and certified white clover .. .. .. .. .. Mixed pasture, 12 acres. C. 23 cocksfoot and subterranean clover . . .. . . 10 acres. Yorkshire fog and subterranean clover . . .. .. 10 acres. The following specific experiments have been established (1) Large-scale fertilizer and liming trial, 72 acres. Four treatments. (2) Small-scale fertilizer trial. The trial is in the same field as the large-scale trial and includes the same four treatments which are used in that experiment. The correlation between small-plot and large-scale grazing trials will be determined. Other trials at Ashley Dene include methods of establishing subterranean clover and ecological studies on subterranean clover. Miscellaneous. —Other investigations in progress include an examination of the effect of time of baling on the quality of lucerne hay, and field mammal trials with barley and oats according to the method of Mitscherlich as modified by Stewart and Robertson. Animal Problems. The following problems are under investigations : — (1) Ewe-mortality— (a) Field investigations ; collection of field data. (b) Milk-fever investigations. (c) Sorrel-poisoning investigations. Further work on sorrel-poisoning carried out during the last twelve months has shown that losses from this cause are greater than was orginally suspected. Cases among wether hoggets and ewes in the autumn have also been brought to the notice of the College and relevant data were collected. (2) Lamb-mortality — (a) Collection of field data. (b) The determination of the cyanogenetic - glucoside content of clovers grown under Canterbury conditions. (c) Investigations to determine the efficiency of various treatments for the control of internal parasites are being carried out on several farms where severe losses of lambs have occurred. (d) Pulpy-kidney investigations include inoculation experiments with lambs on rape, and attempts to induce pulpy kidney in lambs on rape by increasing the carbohydrate content of their diet. Systematic glucose and lactose drenches have been administered. Liming Studies. Liming studies are being conducted on four distinct soil types —viz., heavy clay loam at Moeraki Downs, stony silt loam comparable to the Seafield type, and on the Buccleuch and Springfield loams near Methven.

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