MANURING N.Z. SOILS BY AEROPLANES BEGINS SUCCESSFULLY

Grey River Argus, 18 September 1948, Page 4

MANURING N.Z. SOILS BY AEROPLANES BEGINS SUCCESSFULLY

WELLINGTON, Sept 17.

Satisfactory preliminary aerial topdressing trials were carried out at Ohakea yesterday, using standard hillside superphosphate, said the Minister of Works, Hon. R. Semple, in a statement released to-day. Equipment made by the R.N.Z.A.F. had enabled the first hailstorm of pellets of super to fall on New Zealand soils, and, as far as was known, the first to fall anywhere. It was at the request of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council that the Air Force carried out exploratory trials to determine the mechanics and practicability of the aerial sowing of fertilizers and ths Air Force succeeded in making a distributor capable of discharging hillside superphosphate at controlled rates of from two cwt. to five cwt. per acre, over a swathe two chains wide.

The plane flew at normal speed, and suitable height. The trials at various, elevations and wind directions, using granules of various sizes, left no doubt about the' prec.seness of the behaviour of the heavier’ and larger particles of hillside super, out on the other, hand, finer particles of super drifted for miles. “The next step in the trials is to a--iv this achievement and experience' to field trials in the Raglan district, where, at the request of the Soil Conservation Council, the Department of Agriculture, has made arrangements with the Soil Fertility Research Station to measure accurately the distribution on hill country farmland,” said the Minister. “The culmination of these experiments will provide daia for further investigation into the most suitable aircraft for the purpose, and ultimately the cost per acre of the land topdressed. The future possibilities appear, at this stage ‘to warrant further extensive investigation ana trial, ana recommendations will be made by the Inter-Departmental Advisory Committee on aerial services.”