STRIKING RESULTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 57, 18 February 1927, Page 7

STRIKING RESULTS

OF FOTABH ON CRASS.

SOME ENGLISH EXPERIMENTS. /“CERTAIN grassland trials which were laid down recently in Hertfordshire and Berkshire, in the vicinity of the Bath and West and Royal Shows respectively, have given important results. In Berkshire demonstration plots were laid down on a gravel soil at Wargrave and at Theale. At Wargrave both basic slag and superphosphate alone are being compared with basic slag plus kainit and superphosphate ulus kainit,. and at the present time, although the fertilisers were onlv applied in January last, there is a very striking mprovement obvious both from the puperiiposphate and kainit and the basis slag and kainit dressings. It is an interesting point that the phosphates alone are at present showing practically no eilect at all, while tne two plots, where kainit was applied in addition, stand out prominently by reason of tze vigorous growth of clover and other leguminous plants, which are gradually spreading over the plots. In the Theale experiments, also ou a gravel soil, a very marked improvement of poor pasture has already been effected by a dressing applied this year of potassic mineral phosphate containing 40 per cent, phosphates and 10 per cent, potash, the phosphates being so hue as to be able to pass through a sieve with 120 mesnes to the lineal inch. In point of fact, although the fertilisers in this case were only applied in January. the improvement from potassic mineral phosphate,is quite as marked to the eye as the improvement effected by a mixture of superphosphate, steamed bone-dour, and kainit applied at the some time on an adjoining plot. The rapidity of the action of potassic mineral phosphate, where the phosphates and potash are ground so finely together, and the uniformity of the eilect of ths treatment are certainly a revelation. In Hertfordshire another experiment was laid down on the gravel at King's Langley and the fertilisers in this case were only applied in tho middle of March. In this case a comparison is being made between supei phosphate and ground mineral phosphate, and also the same fertilisers along with potash One of the features of this experiment is the striking effect of potasn. and there is no difficulty whatever in picking out the potash-treated plots It is also noteworthy that the superphosphate and potash plot is superior to the ground mineral pnospaate and potash plot, although there is distinct evidence of improvement in tho latter plot. Where ground mineral phosphate and potash separately applied on the plot have been compared with potassic mineral phosphate, which is the mixture already made up oi the same ingredients, the latter is showing up more quickly than the former. The uniformity of the mixture is certainly a feature of this plot. Other striking elfects from potash on grassland are being obtained on the silt loams on the lowep wealden strata at Goudhurst. Reference has already been made in this journal to a particular trial ou grassland in this area, where the improvement eirected by basic slag anu potash was so marked that the farmer has already done over 400 acres with basic slag and kainit or potassic slag. 'the improvement of poor pasture by this treatment on tuis large scale is very striking, and it is not too much to say that the luud m consequence has at least been doubled in value from the grazing point of view. blag alone bn those silty loams is very little good, but wlien supplemented with potash, it produces very elective results indeed.