The Fertiliser Problem

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 125, 24 December 1915, Page 4

The Fertiliser Problem

Reprint from the "Auckland Weekly News," November 25th, 1915*

NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION. INCREASED DE.MANDS. EFFECT ON PRODUCTION. Th::::i: can lie little doubt that one of the most important factors in the future development of New Zealand agriculture is an abundant supply of cheap fertilisers. Uith the great increase in the price of land, the steady advance h the value of farm product*, the old methods of farming could in.t he continued successfully. It was quite reasonable io depend entirely up i! grass for dairying when good grass

land was only £lO an acre. When the same land rose to £2O an acre the financial position was altogether different. It was avrngcly profitable to depend upon native grasses for sheep when wool was the only salable product of our (locks, but when refrigeration made the carcase of a sheep or lamb more valuable than the fleece root, ri'ops and fuldcr crops became a necessity. 3

The financial succens of fanning, as of every olher business, depends upon the propcrli n of returns in relation to the amount of capital in use, and it may be accepted as a fact that fertilisers, in conjunction with seeds and cultivation, is the predominating feature in lifting returns on the capital inuvted in land. We have so much accumulated evidence of the very large profits derived from topdressing pastures and from manuring all forms of crops that there is no longer any need to supply arguments in favour of the.-e procedures. The main need nowadays for New Zealand is to make sure of securing for itself an ever-increasing supply of fertilisers at a reasonable cost, and to utilise wherever possible the natural fertiliser resources of the country. At the present time the by-products from our freezing works form the gioatest source of o'.;r nonie fertiliser supplies, and the bulk of materials used by fanners have to be impi rted. That New Zealandcrs should depend to such a large extent upon imported fertilisers could only be excused if there was no other way of securing regular supplies, but the average high cojt of these importitiins, the disorganisation of the fertiliser -. ';->ts due to the war,

and the imni- i:-i i.icr'flse in prices just at a time when 'he ■'.<•• of fertilisers was so necessary, shoes that it is fully time that we should make some change in this class of business and organise it to our own advantage. If it will pay British and Continental manufacturers to take raw material from Pacific islands, carry it across the seas for treatment and bring it back to us over 12.000 miles of ocean, it should pay us to 'jring it from the islands to our own shoi'f s and work it up with our own labour.

There are undoubtedly in this country natural resources of fertilisers in the shape of phosphatic rocks. Some deposits of this material are already worked in Otago, several are known to exist in North Auckland and other parts of New Zealand, and there are probably many valuable deposits which have not yet been discovered. Sources of mineral potash have not yet been discovered, but it is by no means impossible that they exist, and we have certainly potash bearing materials which can be utilised when the fertiliser industry is properly organised. Our nitrogen resources are comparatively large, but remain almost unused for lack of the necessary plant, and we have unusually great deposits of sulphur, which, besides being 0 fertiliser in itself, is largely used in the manufacture of fertilisers. If New Zealand can utilise its own native fertilisers and manufacture fertilisers from the raw material, known to eKist in adjacent conn tries, there is every reason to believe that

not only can very large and profitable industries be built up, but that all the various branches of agriculture can be made to benefit. At the present time New Zealand imports nearly half a million pounds' worth of fertilisers each year, and this in itself could keep several fertiliser industries going, but the use of fertilisers in this country is only just beginning. Not only have we had the use of great areas of virgin land which possessed the accumulated fertility of thousands of years, but up to the present time we have been following a very simple form of fanning, which made but little drain upon the fertility of the soil. Unfortunately the virgin lands of New Zealand have been largely depleted of their natural fertility. The Government inquiry into the condition of the pastoral runs in Canterbury and Otago shows that a lar,'e proportion of this naturally-grassed country has been so injured by overstocking and injudicious burning that it has bocome practically a useless desert, and can only be made productive again by the us<j of fertilisers and by resowing with hardy grasses. It is also a recognised fact that the millions of acres of forest country in the North Island which during the past twenty years has been cleared, burnt, and grassed by industrious settlers, docs not continue, as some people suppose, to form permanent pasture, but (,'radually and surely goes olf in quality unless refertilised. It is estimated that even firstclass bush country pasture loses from 15 to 20 per cent, of its stock-carrying capacity fri from twelve to fifteen years arid aftw that time, it not top dressed with suitable fertilisers, deteriorates rapidly. In these two cases alone' there is undoubted proof that the use of fertilisers in New Zealand must very hugely increase in the near future. But the topdressing of South Island sheep runs and North Island bush farms is by no means the 'lily factor in the im-rcuted use of fertilisers. There are still large areas of second and third class arable country in New Zealand which can only be brought into use by cultivation and manuring. In the North Hand the gum lands and th-3 pumice country are typical examples. On both classes of soils excellent results have been won by modern methods, and there are four or live million acres in the Auckland Province alone whu'h have yet to be brought into mse, and this clas3 of land alone will require enormous amounts of fertilisers yearly.

It can be readily seen, if one studies the position even casually, that where hundredweights of fertilisers have been used in the past there will be a demand in the future for the same number of tons. New Zealand, instead of importing £500.000 worth of fertilisers annually, will require probably two or three million pounds' worth, su that the importance of making suitable provision for this demand is apparent. To those who have no experience of farming the expenditure of huge sums on fertilisers may *eein to be an enormous and crushing tax upon the country. Such, however, is not the case. By judicious methods of agriculture every pound spent upon fertilisers can be made to yield two or more extra in produce. Experience has shown that money spent upon manure returns a better interest than almost any other form of investment.

One thing is absolutely certain, and i,.at, is. New Zealand in the future mast use an enormously increased amount of manure. Another thinjr is e.iually certain. ::nd that is. the increased use of manures will increase the production of crops and stock out of all proportion to the cost. This being the case, it is obvious that for their own benefit New Zealanders arc bound t(j secure fir themselves the necessary supplies of fertilisers, and the mori thoroughly and completely they organise for this purpo.e the better will it be for all concerned. ■