FERTILISER USE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 74, 6 July 1942, Page 5

FERTILISER USE

BASIS OF RATIONING

70 PER CENT OF 1941-42 ' ALLOCATION

The basis of fertiliser rationing for the year commencing July 1 was announced by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. J. G. Barclay, ill an interview. An important departure from the previous conditions is that organic fertiliser will be included in the total amount of fer* tiliser available, and will be classified as equivalent to superphosphate.

"The salient features of the rationing scheme, wliich will be ratified in a new control notice," stated the Minister, "are as follows: The ration of fertiliser for top-dressing will be 70 per cent of the alloca--tion available to users during the 1941-42 rationing period. The following quantities will be available for crops specified as follows: Wheat, one hundredweight; potatoes, three; vegetables and onions and nursery gardens, ten; hops, four; tobacco, five. Qut-of-season potatoes will be eligible for ten hundredweight.

"All ether crops as specified in the Phosphatic Fertilised Control Notice, 1941, Amendment No. 1, will' be eligible for a ration equivalent to 70 per cent of the quantities specified in the amendment. Fertiliser in small quantities for use in home gardens will still be available through the normal retail trade.

"Whereas it was possible for producers to obtain supplies of organic fertiliser additional to their specified ration last year, it has been decided that in the coming rationing year organic fertiliser will be included in the total amount available," continued the Minister. "This means that a producer, when ordering his ration, may request his merchant to supply a part or whole in the form of organic fertiliser, and if such fertiliser is available it will be permissible for the merchant to supply it. This applies to topdressing and cropping requirements, either straight or as mixtures. However, no guarantee can be given that sufficient organic fertiliser will be available to fill all requests.

"It has been recognised that during the past few years certain pri-* inary producers have "used organic fertilisers as a topdressing, and that they may be penalised, in that they would not have a ration under the new regulations. To meet this position, it has been decided that, where a farmer has used organic fertiliser for topdressing he may apply to his local district fertiliser commit-

tee for special consideration. It will be the producers' responsibility to supply proof of use, based on the two years ended May 31, 1941.

"The basis of rationing would be superphosphate or organic fertiliser as an equivalent, ton for ton, of superphosphate, but in respect of superphosphate reverted by the use of lime or serpentine rock, the ra-

tion per ton of superphosphate shall' be as specified in the circulars issued to manufacturers and merchants during the last season. The allocation for Heskett slag per ton of superphosphates would similarly remain as for 1941-42."

PUBLIC NOTICE