SUCCESSFUL MANURING.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 120, 11 February 1926, Page 6

SUCCESSFUL MANURING.

EXPERIMENT IN THE FARM. The secret of success in manuring lies in the farmer’s own trials, carried out on his own fields ; therefore keep experimenting. At the same time, start right ; use more of the fertiliser that is giving the best results on your land, so far as you know at present. Work to find out the quantity per acre of this manure that gives the most profitable results, and the best month of the year for applying it to the pasture. When you discover how much of this fertiliser will give you the biggest profit per minimum of outlay,, and you adopt that quantity as your standard for dressing for the particular crop or pasture on which it has been used, you will be in line to get the greatest returns from your manuring. A great deal of money may be expended on fertilisers and still results not come up to expectations or be anything like what they should be. If there is one cause which contributes to this condition, it is lack of drainage. No matter what crops are sown or what manure is applied to badlydrained land results are limited by the condition of the soil. Unless drainage where necessary is done the land cannot produce full crops. Water lying near the surface in undiained land prevents plants sending down their roots deeply in the soil. Crops have, therefore, a less bulk of soil wherein to forage for food, hence a less wealth of plant to draw upon and convert into crop. Undrained land favours the accumulation within it of substances which are harmful to vegetation. Owing to soil ventilation being deficient in undrained land, the conversion of the less available plant food into readily-assimilable forms is hindered. Crops grown in inade-quately-drained land are placed at insurmountable disadvantage from the time of- sowing the seed until the harvesting of a poor yield. Fertilisers applied to these crops cannot be utilised to the full advantage and are often wasted. Drainage is the first essential, and, after that, manures.