GRASS LAND TREATMENT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 419, 2 December 1911, Page 7

GRASS LAND TREATMENT.

On this subject a Scottish agriculturist writes:—The United Kingdom has been blessed by Nature in the matter of its grass lands. The moist climate is favourable to the growth of herbage; the soils, speaking generally, are naturally fertile, and our farmers in prosperous bygone years, when they were making money, treated their lands with liberality; crushed bones, lime, marl, compost, farmyard manure, were applied with no unstinted hand, and to this circumstance. as much as to the skill of our breeders, may be attributed the excellence of our British stock. If this reputation is to be maintained we must take care that the high feeding quaii ties of our hay and pastures are also kept up. It is to be deplored that in recent years owing to hard times much of the grass lands of the country have been badly treated. Farmers have had a hard struggle to keep their heads above water; impoverished themselves they have allowed their grass lands to become impoverished also. The consequence is seen in the extended area of worn-out grass lands which are now in urgent nsed of a course of judicious and liberal treatment. The question is now as to the remedy :

With regard to the nature of the treatment it is generally agreed that j hay lands and pastures should receive j every fourth or fifth year a dressing j of farmyard manure or compost to j maintain the humus in the soil; this j ensures the regular bacterial action j which forms one of the sources of fertility. In the intervening years it is j desirable to give a dressing of phos- ; phate of lime—either superphosphate | or Thomas' phosphate, according to j the nature of the land —and potash. The addition of a little artificial nitro- ! gen is a question to be carefully con- ' sidered. For a hay crop it is often j desirable, as its action increases the j bulk, but for pasture lands such an ; addition is seldom necessary. The ; two mineral fertilisers, phosphate and j potash, will tend to develop the j clovers, and, as all farmers know, the [ cloves are useful servants collecting nitrogen free of cost from the air. : While most agricultural experts re- i commend the application every few j years of farmyard manure to grass lands, it may be noted that this view j does not always find favour. ; For instance, an agricultural scien- ! tist inFrance condemns the use of i farmyard manure for such purposes, j In his opinion such splendid material can be applied with greater advan- i tage to arable land. What, ha asks, is its action on grass. In the first place, a considerable proportion of the valuable nitrogen in the manure evaporates into the air in the form of car- j bonate of ammonia, and is thus lost to j the soil. In the second place, the manure produces hay or pasture of inferior character, yielding pour nourishment. Farmyard manure represents a nitrogenous application, with little i potash and Uss phosphate of lime, j whereas it is the two latter consti- j tuents that are most essential for ths i production of a rich herbage, and the professor points out that the liberal use of phosphate and potash by stimulating the growth of the clovers enables the plants to get all the nitrogen they require from the atmosphere. He therefore advises farmers to keep their farmyard manure for their root and potato crops, and to apply to their pastures nothing hut plusphatic and potassic fertilisers. Ac- j cording to his experience the best I results have been obtaineJ from the j following dressings per acre: —l. On j soils containing penty of lime, 4c\\t j of superphosphate and 2c.vt muriate j of potash. 2, On clay soils, Scwt cf j Thomas' phosphate and ?cwt muriate j of potash. The muriate of potash can, ; if desired, be replaced by sulphate of j potash, which is often preferable for ; spring application, but is a trifle j dearer. The most suitable time to j lav the fertilisers is in the autumn, esecially to the second tye of land, j although the superboshate and potash : can be also applied in the spring with j = great advantage.