DILUTED MANURE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 3 September 1942, Page 3

DILUTED MANURE

SERPENTINE IN SUPER WASTEFULNESS ALLEGED Auckland, Sept. 2. i ‘‘The policy of the Department of j Agriculture, if allowed to continue, will i kill the public’s confidence in it.” said JMr E. W. Yates, managing director j of Arthur Yates and Company, yester- ' day. in criticising the decision to force j fertiliser companies to mix one part ol serpentine with three of superphosj phate. He based his criticism on the j bulking out and increasing the weight of superphosphate at a time when economy of labour, trucks, tyres, petrol and sacks was vital. “This is not a time for wasteful stunts to fool the farmer.” said Mr Yates. “The idea that all superphos- ( phate be diluted with a soft rock cost- , ing no more, than lime and that the farmer be made to pay more for it than for undiluted superphosphate is obviously a very profitable idea. “It is not only expensive and wasteful to the farmer, but it impoverishes the soil of potash. Lime is a much better and cheaper material to kill the acid and make superphosphate insoli üble'in water.” Farmers, said Mr Yates, should be given the option of buying undiluted superphosphate at a higher price if costs demanded it. and it would be to their benefit and that of the country if this were allowed. The greatest wastage by dilution would be ill rail age to the farmer, lorry cartage lo the farm, and the extra labour involved in spreading the adulterated product. The added 25 per cent, of serpentine represented somewhere in the region of 50,000 tons of adulterant in the North Island annually. From the quarry to the fertiliser works and from the works lo the farm, the wastage of labour and transport was obvious. The real reason for the compulsory i addition of serpentine appeared to be that the Government was unwilling to face an increased subsidy.---P.A.