A Critical Study of Comparative Methods of Botanical Analysis of Pastures with Special Reference to Their Mathematical Reliability. the Application of These Methods to Selected Grassland Associations in New Zealand

Abstract

Grassland farming plays a major role in New Zealand agriculture and New Zealand workers should, therefore, be particularly concerned with the ecological study of grassland associations and their botanical composition. Most of the work in the past has been observational, although quantitative work has been attempted to record vegetative production in terms of animal production. Today factual information based upon sound statistical methods is demanded for the accurate measurement of results and for this reason, it has long appeared necessary to express the species composition of grassland associations in precise terms and to find a mathematically reliable, objective method of analysis, Levy, a keen worker in the field of grassland ecology in New Zealand, expressed the view that "the science of grassland formation and development - as with all pure sciences - is wrapped up in exact knowledge. It is the truth of what happens that needs recording, not what one thinks is happening nor yet what one would like to see and to feel ought to happen".