FARMING TO-DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 32, 30 April 1927, Page 18 (Supplement)

FARMING TO-DAY

The Science of Soil Control

NEED FOR FERTILISERS

Increased costs of production and high land values have banished for ever the old haphaza rd methods of farming. To-day it is only the ran who can juage his soil s deficiencies and supply them by cultivation and manuring that can hope for success.

sential for the promotion of heathy, well-developed plant growth. If any one of these element* is entirely lack - and infertile. Three of these elements. carbon and oxygen from the air and hydrogen from water, comprise 95 per cent, of the average mature plant, and are obtainable in practically unlimited quantities. The remaining essentia] elements are potassilDß, calcium, magnesium, iron, sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorus. With the exception of the last two these are generally found in most normal soils in such large quantities, in comparison with the requirements of the plant, that the soil rarely becomes depleted. Thus, the problem confronting the farmer in the maintenance of his soil's fertility is narrowed down to nitrogen and phosphorus. In so-called waste lands and land that has been under occupation for a long period other deficiencies are also evident, but.

b s yet, they have given the farmer little concern. Nitrogen is contained in the air in unlimited suppL.es, and legumes, such as clovers, lucerne, peas, beans, etc., have the power to absorb the free nitrogen from the air to build it into their substance. Thus, by rotation cropping, and an ©ccasionaiy ploughing in of such crops, a farmer on ploughable country need have little difficulty in maintaining nitrogen supplies. His greatest need, therefore, is phosphate. This cannot be produced on the farm and has to be brought from elsewhere in such a form that it v.ill be soluble when applied to the soiL Well-balanced Diet Needed Take salt away from a man’s diet and his food immediately becomes unpolatble, and he sickens. Feed a pig solely on milk and he grows flabbil> fat. Balance his diet with grain and his flesh hardens and his value to the pork buyer is doubled. So it is with plants. Unless they have access to a well-balanced diet in the soil their healthy, fully-developed growth is impossible. To provide this diet is the problem which is giving farmers greatest concern to-day. and the day will come when to all progressive farmers the growing crop will be a register of the properties of the soil. Each chemi-

cai element plays its part in the building up of the mature plant and any deficiency in development should be traceable to the soil. Thus nitrogen largely promotes leaf growth, phosphates the root and seed, and potassium largely provides the sugars and starches. 'A striking indication of how the fertility of the soil l» reflected ir. the crop can be found in an orchard. An apple may be found which, to all outward appearances, is excellent. Sampled, it is found to be ; son can be traced to a deficiency of potash in the soil. In the pastures the same rule prevails. Stock not doing well on long, luscious grass may thrive and fatten when placed on The Manufacturer's Part T he day has passed when the manufacture of fertilisers is confined to some obscure corner of a freezing w some obscure corner of a freezing

works or abbatoirs. To-day it is a highly-specialised industry, calling for the services of skilled scientists and analysts. In their most economic form ingredients are collected from all parts of the world at the factroy, blended and prepared in a manner best suited to the individual needs of the farmer Thus we see at our big fertiliser works sulphur from Texas, bonedust from Calcutta, raw phosphate from the Pacific, potash from Alsace-Lorraine, and nitrates from Chile being included in the ingredients that go to form the mixturee intended to make up the deficiencies in our soils and place the farmer on the highway to ProsperityPossibilities of the Future As yet the New Zealand farmer has scarcely tapped the vast possibilities of scientific, manuring. Great as has been the growth oi the fertiliser industry during this last decade, it is safe to prophesy that within the next ten years the production of our factories will be more than doubled to meet the growing demand from the awakening man on the land. But it is only logical to assume that if, right at his hand, the struggling fanner can be shown a sure avenue to prosperity, he will be quick to take advantage of it. The correct use of fertilisers provides such an avenue, and every day more and more farmers are realising the fact.