The Soil Bureau tells me that there are at least eight million acres of greywacke derived soils in New Zealand. The greywacke clay hills form one of the oldest and largest soil groups in the country. In the Raglan County alone they account for about 91,000 acres or a sixth of the county area. As an Advisory Officer appointed in that district I soon became acquainted with the typical thin, dark grey topsoil formed over a weathered, sticky yellow subsoil. Well watered, but hard baked in summer, greasy in winter, these hills, with their characteristics of steepness, low natural fertility, and steady reversion to second growth, had proved the most difficult class of land to handle, and as such they offered a real challenge to the property owner and to myself as the new adviser.
