TOP DRESSING BY AERO PLANE

Shannon News, 10 January 1928, Page 4

TOP DRESSING BY AERO PLANE

Can it be possible that sane, thinking nien realiy believe in the feasibility of top dressing hill country in Oti'.go by means of the use of aero planes? A letter received from (he Otago Expansion League by the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society points to .such a state of affairs. The letter stated that the question had been raised, and that Captain Findiay, of the VVigram Aerodrome, had been asked to express an opinion on the matter. The Otago A. and P. Society was also asked to state whether it con sidered such a project worth while. It is not surprising that the answer sent by Mr. .I']. F. Duthie (secretary) should take the form of an emphatic negative. Surely the farmer is saddled with high enough cost? of. production already without attempting to shoulder the expenditure of £5 an hour, which has been estimated as the cost of ap plying fertilisers from the air, and that estimale has nothing to do with the cost of importing special slow-fly-ing commercial, aerop anes of a type that have not yei reached New Zealand. No, 'where the drill or manure , spreader cannot be used, farmers must stick to manual application —for some vears. vet. anyhow.