USE OF SULPHUR IN AGRICULTURE.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 68, 7 February 1918, Page 1

USE OF SULPHUR IN AGRICULTURE.

It does not appear to be generally known that with many soils wonderful results may be obtained by a dressing of powdered sulphur at the rate of 300 lb. to 400 lb. per acre. According to experiments made in Utah by the American Smelting and Refining Company treatment with elemental sulphur at the rate of 400 lb. per acre increased the barleyyield 52.6 per cent., the oat-yield 57.3 per cent., the wheat-yield 127.8 per cent., the maize-yield (variety Milo) 182.6 per cent, tbo potato-yield 63 per cent., and the yield of peas no less than 383.3 per cent. Substantial increases were also obtained with other crops. Treatment with sulphuric acid equivalent to 400 lb. of sulphur per acre gave similar but on the whole lower results. Probably the experiments were made on a soil containing free alkali, and therefore peculiarly suited to the sulphur or acid treatment; but experimental work in other parts of the United States shows the value of sulphur as a fertilizer for many classes of soil particularly when leguminous crops, such as peas, beans, clover, lucerne, &c., are being grown. For instance, in some tests made in southern Oregon, a 500-per-cent, increase in the alfalfa cut was obtained by harrowing 300 lb. of raw sulphur into each acre. Much experimental work remains to be done in order to determine the exact value of sulphur as a fertilizer, but its addition to the soil is known to promote the liberation of potash as the nitrification of the soil. Moreover, it has been ascertained in recent years that sulphur is much more important as |a plant-food and a plant-constituent than was formerly supposed. Dr. C. B. Lipman, of the Agricultural Experimental Station, University of California, has shown that remarkably successful results follow the sprinkling of strong sulphuric acid at the rate of 1 to 3 tons per acre on alkali soils. It is possible that such a treatment, followed by the application of lime, may be useful in some parts of New Zealand. It is certain that the bold conception of the use of a strong mineral acid, first made, or at least first practically tested, in California, will bear important results in regions with arid soils, such as those of North and South Africa, Persia, parts of India, parts of Australia, &c. —P. G. Morgan, in Annual Report of New Zealand Geological Survey, 1917.