THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 587, 23 July 1913, Page 3

THE RURAL WORLD.

SOIL DEPLETION. An English writer dealing with the increasing drain of phosphates from the soil, says: The phase, "No phoßphate no life" is rather a hackneyed one, but it expresses the vital necessity of supplies of phosphate of lime in the development of all life, both animal and vegetable. A3 a wellknown expert has remarked, when the unceasing drain of phosphates from all descriptions of cultivated soils year after year and century after century is taken into consideration, it is no matter for surprise that our fields and pastures have become denuded of this constituent. We are liable to think that arable fields are more subject to Jobs from cropping than pasture lands, and this erroneous idea has controlled practice even down to the present time. It should, however, be remembered that pastures are perpetually being lobbed by grazing animals. In their case it has been constant depletion, for while manures of various kinds are freely applied to arable land, pastures are too often neglected, and supposed to preserve their fertility through the simple act of grazing.