USE OF MANURE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 393, 30 November 1932, Page 2

USE OF MANURE

ROOT CROPS REQUIRE N SUNSHINE AND MOISTURE. Root crops, such as turnips and mangels, like plenty of sunshine and warm weather to enable them to grow to a good size, but at the same time they need plenty of moisture in the soil for a start. Treat them well in the way of fertilisers and you will find it pays you. The position is well put by Mr. R. P. Connell, writing in the Oct'ober issue of the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture. Mr. Connell says: "It is difficult to over-emphasise that as a rule the key to maximum profits with forage crops is heavy yield. This arises from -the fact that the difference between the cost of a heavy crop and that of a light one is often relatNely small. To obtain any crop a considerable amount of expense has to be faced to cover such items as rent or interest on land, ploughing and other cultivation, drilling, manure and seed. The point of importance is that a relatively small added outlay in additional cultivation or additional manure may make the differenee between a good crop and only half a crop. "To take a concrete instance, an additional £1 10s per acre spent on manure and an extra £1 10s in intertillage of the growing crops may readily make the differenee between a 35ton and a 65~ton crop of mangels. In such a case 30 tons of mangels would be obtained for a direct outlay of £3. From this it follows thati portion of the heavier mangel crop is secured at the rate of 2s a ton, which is obviously good business when it is kept in mind that mangels are worth about 10s a ton if hay is bringing £3 a ton. While the mangel crop has been mentioned as an instance, the position is similar in respect to other crops.