FERTILIZERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2639, 9 December 1915, Page 8

FERTILIZERS

EFFECT ON PRODUCTION

FUTURE DEMANDS

In a great measure the success of New Zealand depends upon the success of the farming industries, and .the success of farming is dependent oil the return ob- ■ tamable from the land. Therefore, a big question in the Dominion is how to got the most and best from the soil. The financial success of fanning, (is of every other business, depends upon the proportion of returns in relation to tlie amount of capital in use, and it may be accepted as a fact that fertilisers, in conjunction with good seeds and cultivation, is the predominating feature ill lifting returns on the capital invested iu land. There is much evidence of the very large profits derived from top-dressing pastures and from manuring- all forms of crops that thero is no longer any need to supply arguments in favour ol' these procedures. Ihe main necti nowadays for New Zealand is to make sure of securing for itselfan evcr-increasiug supply of fertilisers at a reasonable cost, and to utilise wherever possible tho natural fertiliser resources of the country. At the present time the by-products from our freezing works form the greatest source of our homo fertiliser supplies, and tho bulk of materials used by farmers have to be imported. That New Zeaianders should depend to such a large extent upon imported fertilisers could only be excused it there was no other way of securing regular supplies, but the average high cost of the.se importations, the disorganisation of the fertiliser markets due to •the war, and the immense increase in prices just at a time when .the uso of fertilisers was so necessary, shows that it is fully time that we should make some, change in this class of business and organiso it to our own advantage. If it will pay British- and Continental manufacturers to take yaw material from Pacific islands, carry it across the seas for treatment and bring it back to us over 12,000 miles of ocean, it should pay us to bring it iroin the islands to our own shores and work it up with our own labour. there are in this country natural resources of fertilisers. in the shape of pliospliattc rocks. Some deposits of this material are already worked in Otago, several are knoirn to exist in North Auckland and other parts of New . Zealand, and there are probably many valuable deposits which have not yet been | discovered. Sources of mineral potash have not yet been discovered, but it is by no means impossiblo that they exist, and we have certainly potash-bearing materials which can be utilised when the fertiliser industry is properly organised. Our nitrogen resources are comparatively large, but remain almost unused for lack of the necessary plant, and we have unusually great do.posits of sulphur, which, besides being a fertiliser in itself, is largely used in the manufacture of fertilisers. If Nevr Zealand can utilise its own native fertilisers and manufacture fertilisers from the raw material known to exist in adjacent countries there is every reason to believe that not only can very large ami .profitable industries bo built up, but that all the various branches of agriculture can be made to benefit. At the present time New Zealand imports nearly half a milliwi pounds' 1 worth of fertilisers each year, and this in itself could keep several fertiliser industries going, but the use of fertilisers in tliis country is only just beginning. Not only have we had the use of great areas of virgin land tvhich' possessed the accumulated fertility tof thousands of years, but up to the present time we have been following h very simple form of farming, which .made but little drain upon the fertility of tho soil. Unfortunately the viirgin lands of New Zealand have been largely depleted of their natural fertility. The Government inquiry into the condition of the pastoral runs 111 Canterbury and Otago shows that a large proportion of this naturallygiasset! country has been so injured by overstocking and injudicious burning that it has become practically a useless desert, j 1 ±i. Can om ? ' - n ! a( ' 6 productive again •J t fertilisers nnd by resowing with hardy grasses. It is also a recognised fact that the millions of acres of forest country iii the North Island which (luring the past twenty years has been cleared, burnt, ami grassed by industrious settlers, does not 'continue, as some people suppose, to form permanent pasture, but gradually and surely goes off in quality unless ( re'Vertilised. It is estimated that even first-class bush country pasture loses from 15 to 20 per cent, of its stock-carrying capacity in from twelve to fifteen ytars, friul after that time if not top-dressed with suitable fertilisers,' deteriorates rapidly. In these two cases alone there is proof that the use of fertilisers in New Zealand must very largely increase in the n-»ar future. But the top-dressing, of So nth Island sheep-runs and North Island busli farms is by no means the only fitctor in the increased use of fertilisers. There are still large areas of second Had third-class arable country in New 2°ialand which can onlv be brought into utse by cultivation and manuring. In the North Island the gum- lands and tlie pumice country are typical examples. ' On both classes of soils excellent resuflts have' been won by modern methods, a|nd there are four or five million acres Sn the Auckland Province alone which have yet to be brought into use, and this (dass of land alone will require enormous nmounts of fertilisers yearly.

It is generally considered that. New Zealand in the future must use an enormously increased amount of manure. Another thing is equally certain, and that is, the increased una of manures will increase the production of crops and stock out of all proportion to the cost. This being the case, its is obvious that for their own benefit New Zealanders are hound to secure fop themselves tlie necessary supplies of fertilisers, and the mr:thoroughly and completely they organise for this purpose th'S better will it be for all concerned.

In The Dominion: of December 4 there appeared particular!; of the prospectus of the New Zealand Planners' Fertiliser Co., Ltd.' Copies of the prospectus can be obtained on application to this office or to the. Fertiliser C»., Brunswick Buildings, Auckland.

MINING NEWS

WELLINGTON (SHAKE MARKET. Quietness prevaileo. in the mining market yesterday, Tharc were a. number of buyers of scrip, but no business was done. The quotations were as follow:— Buyers. Sellers. £ 6. d. £ s d. Murray Creek (old) 115 0 — IMurray Creek (new) 0 15 0 — Roes 0 0 6 — Talisman — 8 15 S Waihi 117 0 - IPremlum. STOCK EXCHANGE. (By Telegraph.- i Association.) Auckland, December 8. Sale:—Waihf, 375. • Dunedln, December 8. Hale reported:—Union Steam (preference), 21s. 3d. LONDON MINING QUOTATIONS. ByTeiograph—Erees Association—Copyright London, December 7. Stock and share market quotations include:—British lirolHin Hill, 225. 6d. and 255. 9d.; Broken Hill North, 435. 9d. and <6s. 3d.; Hampden-Cloncurry, 28s. and 295.; Australian Mercantile, £73; City of Sydney, £96; Dalgety and Co., 109s. 6d. TALISMAN CONSOLIDATED. (Rec. December 8, 7 p.m.) London, December 7. The Talisman Consolidated Mining Co., Ltd., proposes to go into voluntary liquidation and sell the concern to a new company, to be incorporated in New Zealand. A oitcula-r which lias been issued points out. that such a scheme would save'a largo sum of money annually in income tax. . THE HAURAKI REEFS, LTD. The mine manager of the Hauraki Reefs, Ltd., reports:—During the past week stoptue over the No. 3 level has been in progress. Good crushing dirt and about 101b. picked stone came to hand. The No. 3 level face was • extended, and gold wa-e seen in tile quartz ta'oken out. Tile No. 2 level fane was also extended, and t;ood crushing dirt was obtained. The crosscut to intersect the Wynyardtun reef is out a'-out 25 feel, In good country.