Approximately ¾ million acres of the Canterbury
Plains are classified as light land. The soils are a
shallow, stony loam overlying an open, shingle subsoil
with a very low moisture holding capacity. The rainfall
of 25 in. is fairly well distributed, but on these soils
is normally inadequate for pasture growth from November
to March, due to high evaporation. Under these
conditions the pasture mixtures used on moister soils
are unsuitable. Subterranean clover has proved the
most suitable pioneer legume for this class of land and
is still the basic legume for most pasture mixtures.
Investigations into the management and productivity
of subterranean clover were made at Ashley
Dene from 1939 to 1947. This work showed that subterranean
clover was a first-class legume for these soils
and that it was essential to apply both lime and superphosphate
before a vigorous stand of clover could be
secured.
The second stage of the investigations was a study
of the clover in relation to other species in the mixture.
This paper presents the results of this investigation
over the past 6 years.[Show full abstract]
![[PDF]](/themes/LURA/images/mimes/b_pdf.png "PDF file"){kind=small}
