NEGLECTED FERTILISERS.

Patea Mail, 10 May 1881, Page 4

NEGLECTED FERTILISERS.

By R. W. K. Maclvok, F.C.L.S., &u Compost. —This manure stands second in place, only to farm-yard dung, and consists of the collected vegetable and animal refuse of the farm, mixed with lime in the proportion of five to one. Comparatively few, even experienced agriculturists, realise the importance of collecting waste materials, as leaves of root-crops, unseeded weeds, dead animals, blood, mine, wool clippings, sea-weed, &c., and rotting them in a pit. In a year or two a farmer might collect a quantity of firstclass general manure, suitable for grass laud, and, when well rotted, for root crops. 'When composts are largely composed of animal matters the use of lime should be avoided and earth substituted, so as to prevent a more or less considerable escape of ammonia. Sawdust.— Sawdust is of but little value for manuring purposes, owing, in the first place, to the slowness with which it decomposes in the soil, and, in the second, to the small proportion of mineral constituents it contains. It may, however, be employed as a addition to the dung-heap for the purpose of retaining the liquid manure. Seaweeds. —Seaweeds have been used as manure for centuries by the farmers on the coasts of Scotland, England, and Ireland, in quantities, ranging from ten to over twenty tons per acre. The farms on the Lothian coasts are rented at from 20s to 40s more per acre when they have a right-of-way to the sea where the weed is'cast ashore; and in the Western Isles seaweed is the staple manure upon which the hardy farmers rely to maintain the productiveness of their laud. At Oban, on the western coast of Scotland, one cart of seaweed is estimated to be equal to two of farmyard dung for the potato crop; while on the coast of Fife it is found to have a very beneficial effect on turnips, and also on the following clover crops. “In Ireland,” says Cameron, “ seaweeds are a favourite manure for potatoes.” The value of seaweeds for manuring purposes arises, in the first place, from the rapidity with which they decompose when ploughed into the soil, and in the second, from their richness in the main constituents of plant-food. In open soil they decompose with sufficient rapidity to exercise their full effect in one year; but in ordinary soils they decompose less rapidly, and are hence more lasting. The mode of applying seaweed most generally followed consists in spreading them over the land, and ploughing them in when decomposition has commenced. In their natural state, mixed seaweeds contain about SO per cent, of water, 0.5 of nitrogen, and 10 of ash rich in potash and soda salts.

Government have officially notified that capitation grants will not be paid to Education Boards on account of the attendance of children under five years of age. In the police court enquiry atTauranga, for attempted robbery of the National Bank, the prisoner Barfield, although cautioned by the constable, said, “ Poverty drove me to this ; it was money I wanted. It was not much, only £SO or £60.” Nothing new beyond this has yet been brought out, and it is not known that prisoner had any accomplices. A Fatality. — A remarkable chain of accidents is reported from Dubbo, in New South Wales. A young man Edward Thornton, was in the act of loading a gun when the charge unexpectedly exploded, and the ramrod was blown through his hand. He attempted to get across the Macquarie river, and was drowned, and in attempting to save him another young man named Linklater was nearly drowned. Dummy bolts have lately been found in the Hokitika wharf. The bolts were supposed to go through the two walings and the pile, fastening the three together, and to do so ought to have been three feet in length ; but instead of that the}' arc about three inches, with spiked end, and when driven into the wood, have all the appearance of a genuine bolt. The bolts are to be preserved as mementos of the swindling by contractors in the juvenility of Hokitika.