FARMERS' CLASS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 220, 11 August 1914, Page 3

FARMERS' CLASS.

Manures and Manuring.

There were about seventeen students present at last Thursday evening's farmers' class at the Pukekohe technical school. Two county councillors (Messrs J. Flanagan and It. Lyons) arc now enrolled. Mr Donnan's instruction dealt with manures and manuring, constituents of plants, elements necessary for their growth, how plants take up their food, the store of plant food in the soil and the state it must be in before it can be used by plants, what elements may be deficient in soluble quantities in soils, division of fertilizers into groups :—l, nitrogenous fertilisers; 2, phosphatic ; 3, potassic; i, lime. The manures in each class were described and their qualities explained. Farmyard manuring was also dealt with. Green manuring with leguminous crops, partly or wholly, was described and advocated as a means of replacing the bulk of nitrogenous fertilisers used on a farm.

At the next class on Thursday evening the subjects for treatment are:—l, Tests for fertilisers; 2, working out comparative values from market prices ; 3, manures for special crops.