TARANAKI A. & P. SOCIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 18 March 1907, Page 4

TARANAKI A. & P. SOCIETY.

AX INTERESTING KEPOKT. Ry the courtly of Mr K P. Wobsiei, secretary to the Turunaki Auriculinra! .Society, wo -arc able- to give our readers some information contained in tne report of .Mr li. ('. Euston. Chief Cncmlst in the Agricultural Chcnrcul Laboratory (under the Department of Agriculture) in "Wellington, to whom were sulmnUe.l so,eral samples of soils Yakon from farms in various parts of Taranaki. The samples were submitted by the Taranaki Agricultural Society, mid the valuable report should be well and closely read by farmers ,in whoso besl intefesU the Society is working 'l'lie Chief Chemist's "general remarks" make interesting reading, "those Taranaki soil-.' lie writes, "are all so ftii'i;"ar iir character that 1 deeinel it advisable lo take a composite suim'o of ilii.' whole number for the purpo e of investigation. Tliey are al! clinraoi'erised !>v having more or lo'-s eoar.se sand and uudecumposed rock pari'r.rs. They should be very easily worked, being of a pliable nature. 'The an;,,mil oi ciay in them is small. In treating tiie-.o coil- probably the onlv crop tii-s.. will require cxteus.vc fertilising;' v. ill

be root crops. The particular k:r,l of iVriiliscr b;:-t adapted to this purpose will probably be a mi.v.uro „f bene dust and supeiphosphate apple.l at the rate of about licwl per'a";'o. .Mo-I of the soils should grow cereals without any manure, containing as

"ih<'\ do a fair amount of nitrogen. Where the land has been exhausted by dairying, and it is found advisable to lop-dress, basic slag should be the iVrtil sev applied. This should be used in ail amount sufficient to last for four years in one application. The re.-ult cill be an increased crop of clovers, wnieb will help the grass considerably after the first, two yeas.

A series of experiments with lhc\ composite soil is being undertaken with the American basket method. 1 enclose photograph showing- the results of the experiment with rape. from thi-o il. w>ll be seen that Die best return was obtained by a dressing of moist well-rolled stable manure per acre. This shows the infliienc: that the application of organic matter has on the soil used for this crop. The soil contains certainly less than live, per cent of organic matter. Of course, if r not b;. practical to apply this pariieular form of manure, but it shows the necessity for experimenting in this direction with green manures, such as ploughing in mustard, rape and lc;u■uitioi'S crops (clovers, lucerne, ele). The influence of superphosphate; in such a small amount as 2Colbs per aer*, .-hows a marked improvement ou I'm i.nmanuied plot. (Slaked lime at the rale of one ton per acre also shows a comiderable improvement. Carbonate of lime shows hardly any. ISasic siag does not. increase the'return of rape much. Emther experiments ur« being conducted with clovers and cereals, the results of wb>e}, will be forwarded liter. All the soils are very slightly acid. In the experiments 3(11 pain's of soil were used per basket, and fertil sers were added at per acre: In pot £>, no manure was used. The lolal weight of water which transpired was U2 grams, ami all the. plants matured, mid the weight of water passed was 1-Vi grams per plant: the weight of the uips moist was 3.1:1 grains, and Hie average weight of one top was ..121 grams; the weight of the dry plants the average weight of one top was .02l grains; the weight of the dry plants was, 211 ".,,-ains and the weight of the ,lrv plants' 'er top was .(J3."i grains. I'ot o u lvns treated at flnj rate of ten tons 'otj oust stable manure per acre, and l.'(r>

grams of water transpired. The \ve ; sht of water passed per plant was --'.5 grams., and the weight of the tups iuosu was ,u\) (. nl ,ii S and the average we'ght per top was .521 prams; the weight -of Iho dry plants' was ,325 grams, and .Uo-1 grams per top." "in pot 27, 20l)il, of stable manure (■elacre were used, and the guros in the order ami reference given above were: 1-211, 21.o(), 4.475, .7»0, ;.m, .050. Pot is, treaied with a ton of slaked lime per acre, showed considerable less under each heading, an.l |lo t 2!) less still. This was fertilised witli 2 tons of carbonate of lime. Pot 30, 4001 bs basic slag per acre, occupies third place, as follows: Water transpired, 12:| grams; water passed per plant, 20.5 grains; wei-iit ot tops inoi-t -1.-112 yams, or .7XI grains per plant; weight of dry plants per top, .0-1.5 grams. L l