MAINTENANCE OF FERTILITY.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9342, 11 January 1909, Page 2

MAINTENANCE OF FERTILITY.

Mr W. Lowrie, writing in the latest number of the Canterbury ‘ Agricultural College Magazine, S"y« = i-’lns iafa question ui' gra; t insoortaace f.o tue farmer ami to the State, for in proportion as fertility is understood and maintained ifadioionsly, the returns from the land will be increased. . . • the subject of the of fertility were better understood, and it it were fully realised how far below the limit of its capacity much of the land is being laboriously worked, year in year out, and all the while not in condition or heart to respond to that work as far as the climate and physical characteristics of the ?oil allow. Undoubtedly one of the ways of meeting the high price of labour is to provide that the result of that labour shall not be limited by the semi-exhausted condition of the land on which it is expended. In will not be questioned as things are now, that much of the land would better repay the labour spent on it were it put into better heart. Let it"not bejunderstood that liberal manuring would dimmish the amount of working of the land now considered indispensable; on the contrary such manuring without good and sufficient working is wasteful for Che full value of the manure is onlyjjaeoured on land so thoroughly worked that the crops can properly utilise it. Indeed, the fundamental importance of working the land well is not to ha argned ; it is not likely to be questioned even; if it be recognised that the surface soil is the matrix of the activities of iuconceiv-. able numbers of ferments, bacteria, or microscopic fungi (estimates of their number have been given as some millions per cubic inch of soil), and that some of these lowly forms of life exercise a most useful influence in the soil and are essential to changes in its composition indispensable for the nutrition of plants. As it happens just that condition which practice describes as a mellow tilth, is best adapted to stimulate the multiplication and general ac-

tivity of these unseen myriad agents which conform to the same general laws of life, nutrition and death as organisms higher in of life, for in a good tilth moisture is conserved and a circulation [[of air essential to life is facilitated. Further, as it is indispensable that some of the most valuable constituents of artificial manures be acted on or changed through the work of ferments before becoming nutritive to’ plants, it will be that such working of the land as will increase the ferments’ activity will enhance the value to be _ derived from the manure. In a soil well worked, the delicate rootlets of the plants spread more freely and widely; the solvent action of the root-sap and moisture is increased, for the smaller the particles of soil the greater the surface exposed, the movements of water and consequently the movements of air are more freely allowed ; and the beneficial action of the swarming microscopic organisms is increased. On the other hand, when the soil has been puddled through being worked too wet or when it is water-logged through lack of drainage, or when tilth is- wanting the healthy functioning of the roots ;is prevented and bacterial activity is lessened. Manuring, therefore, is not to bo reckoned in any way a substitute for thorough working of the land, but rather as means of realising the full value of such working. The cultivation of clover needs no pleading; its value as a crop or as a constituent of onr pastures is allowed unhesitatingly.' But it is not - so generally known that clovers can be greatly encouraged by the application of phosphatas’and lime and in many cases by potash, and that a double benefit to the soil results from snch application. There is, firstly, an increased yield of forage; and secondly, an increased accumulation of nitrogen through the [greater vigour of the manured plant. Ic may be confidently affirmed that, when grasses and clfvers are sown out with cereals such as barley or oats, it is to apply with the cereal a dressing of superphosphate or basic slag. The increased yield of grain, especially barley, will pay handsomely for the manure; the carrying capacity and . fattening value of the pasture will be found to be very appreciably increased; in relation to milking cattle the higher percentage of clover with the consequent increase of albuminoids in the forage will stimulate the milk yield ; and the land will be improved in fertility directly from the residue of the manure applied and indirectly by the increased accumulation of nitrogen. But something more can be Jdone in the way of renovation of nitrogen over and above the growth of clover. Pease and vetches, for example, are now much neglected crops, hot if their value in rural economy was more justly estimated, I believe the area under each of these crops would be extended. Pease, on well farmed land return nearly as much pei acre as wheat; the crop is not much more risky; the expense of harvesting is less now than it was a few years ago before the simple pea-harvester attachment to {[mowers was introduced; the grain provides a very valuable constituent to farm rations, . especially for growing stock; and the gain in nitrogen to the land which has carried pease is equivalent to an application of at least four or five hundred weight of nitrate of soda. To get foil returns from pease, however, it is necessary to apply to the land sowt or, thereabout of ground auick-lime broad oast, and say 2001 b per acre of superphosphate, or its equivalent of basic slag, drilled with the seed. Again, vetches deserve much more prominence on Canterbury farms -than is given to the crop, and it is indeed difficult to account for its being so generally passed over nowadays or neglected. No doubt the risk of its persisting in the land through re-seeding and getting into ■ the sample of wheat discounts it; it shells out readily and the harvesting is often troublesome, while the yield is generally low in terms of other crops; and the cost of the seed is often nearly prohibitive. But against these drawbacks there are tmffioient advantages in the crop to justify well its more extensive cultivation. When sown in the autumn it will smother weeds and help to clean land from annuals. It is one of the best forage crops grown, being hardy, bulky, and nutritious. It makes, when mixed with oats or barley, a valuable soiling crop to be oat for feeding in the spring; when cat at the right time, and saved in good condition it furnishes firstrate hay; when mixed with some cereal it affords excellent early -tpi'hig feed to be by cwos; j

and it may be sown in the early rape when it will offer, for early lambs at weaning time, a fattening forage Pmixtnre unsurpassed. Let there be add to these merits its value in adding fertility to the land, and the case for the vetch is surely proven. On the college farm this year, we have had Italian ryegrass following Cape barley, cut for soiling. A few acres, extending across the middle of the field, grew barley and vetches mixed and this year the Italian rye on this block compared with that where barley alone preceded the grass looked as if it had* been heavily manured and the manure limited to that area. There are few ways of recovering and improving the” fertility of the soil more prompt, effective, and economical than growing vetches with a dressing of 2cwt per acre or more of superphosphate or basic slag, according to the land and feeding the crop on the laud, and as has been indicated for pease the result on the soil will be greater if a few hundred weights of ground quick-lime have been broadcasted as a preliminary. A heavy crop of vetches straight, however, hugs the ground too closely and for grazing it is better mixed with cereals snob as oats,9 Oape barley, or giant rye corn. Such mixture will yield enormous quantities of feed, when generously treated with manure. It can be grazed well on to “Christmas and followed with early sown Italian rye grass and clovers or lifted early enough to be followed with rape and mustard for autumn feed, if the season is fairly moist. Another very excellent practice is to sow rape and vetches in the spring sufficiently early to give the vetches a good chance. Drill the vetches with, say, 1201 b of superphosphates and cross drill with rape, *and, say, 1 cwt of freezing works special kale manure, sowing the rape quite shallow. 1 have not seen this mixture used in Canterbury, but experience on the college farm justifies its being urged on the attention of farmers. No better lamb-fattening forage can be grown, but the lambs should be dropped in time for weaning about the middle of December, to make the best use of it.