The Fertiliser Problem

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1916, Page 3

The Fertiliser Problem

Reprint from tlte "Auckland Weekly News," November zyth, /J/5.

NEW; ZEALAND'S POSITION.

INCREASED DEMANDS.

EFFECT ON PRODUCTION. There can be little doubt that- one of the most important factors in the future development of New Zealand agriculture is w abundant supply of cheap fertilisers, with the great increase in the price of [and, the steady advance in the value of farm products, the old methods of farming :ould not be jtontihued successfully. It was quite reasonable to depend entirely ipon grass for dairying when good grass and was only £lO an acre. When the land rose to £2O an acre the financial oosition was altogether different. It was iveragely profitable to depend upon native grasses for sheep when wool was the only salable product of our flocks, but when refrigeration made the carcase of a sheep or lamb more valuable than the fleece root crops and fodder crops became a necessity. 9

The financial success of farming, as of every other business, depends upon the proportion of returns in relation to the amount of capital in use, and it may be accepted as a fact that fertilisers, in conjunction with good seeds and cultivation, is the predominating feature in lifting returns on the capital invested in land. We have so much accumulated evidence of ■.he very large profits derived from topdresaing pastures and from manuring all forms of crops that there is no longer any need to supply arguments in favour of these procedures. The main need nowadays for New Zealand is to make sure of securing for itself an ever-increasing supply of fertilisers at a reasonable cost, and to -ttilise wherever possible the natural fertiliser resources of the country. At ■ho present time the by-products from cur reeling works form the greatest .source if our ,liome fertiliser supplies, and the Kulk of materials used by farmers have to bo imported. 9 That New Zealanders ;hould depend to such a large extent upon imported fertilisers could only be excused if there was no other way of securing regular supplies, but the average high cost of these importations, the disorganisation of tho fertiliser markets due to the war, and tho immense increase in prices just at a time when the. use of fertilisers was so necessary, shows that it is-fully time that wo should make some change in this class of business and organise it to our own advantage. If it will pay British and Continental manufacturers to take raw material from Pacific islands, carry it across the seas for treatment and bring it back to us over 12,000 miles of ocean, it should pay us to bring it from the islands to our own short s and work it up 'with our own labciu'.

There are undoubtedly in this country natural resources of fertilisers in the shape of phosphatic rocks. Some deposits of this material are already worked in Otago, several are known to exist in North Auckland and other parts of New Zealand, and there are probably many valuable deposits which have not yet been discovered. Sources of mineral potash have not yet been discovered, but it is by no means impossible that they exist, and we have certainly potash-bearing materials which can be utilised when the fertiliser industry is properly organised. «. Our nitrogen resources are comparatively large, but remain almost unused for lack of the necessary plant, and we have unusually great deposits "of sulphur, which, besides being & fertiliser in itself, is largely used in the manufacture of fertilisers. If New Zealand can utilise.its own native fertilisers and manufacture fertilisers from the raw material known to exist in adjacent countries, there ig every reason to believe that

iiot onlycan very large and profitable in-, 'dustries be built up, but that all th.B various branches of agriculture can be made to benefit. At the present time New Zealand imports nearly half a million pounds' worth of fertilisers each year, and this in itself could keep several fertiliser industries going, but the use of fertilisers in this country is only just beginning. Not only have we had the use of great areas of virgin land which possessed the accumulated fertility of thousands of years, but up to the present time we havt been following a very simple form of farming, which made but little drain upon the fertility of the soil. Unfortunatelj the virgin lands of New Zealand have been largely depleted of their natural fertility. The Government inquiry intc the condition of the pastoral e runs in Canterbury and Otago shows that a proportion of this naturally-grassed coun try has been so injured by overstocking and injudicious burning that it has be come practically a useless desert, and cai. only be made productive again by the us. of fertilisers and by resowing with hard;. • grasses. It is also a recognised fact tha' the millions of acres of forest country in the North Island which during tiie pas' twenty years has been cleared, am grassed by industrious settlers, does no' continue, as some people suppose, to fonv permanent pasture, .but gradually and surely goes off in quality unless re fertilised. It is estimated that even first class bush country pasture loses from V to 20 per cent, of its stock-carrying capa city Ui from twelve to fifteen years, am after that time, ii not top-dressed witl suitable fertilisers, deteriorates a rapidly In these two cases alone there is un doubted proof that the use of fertilisers in New Zealand must very largely increase in the near future. But the top dressing of South Island sheep runs am' North Island bush farms is by no mean.' tho only factor in the increased use of fertilisers. There are still,large areas of second and third-class arable country in New Zealand which can only be brough' into use by cultivation and manuring. In the North Island the gum lands,and the pumice country are typical examples. On botli classes of soils excellent results have been won by modern methods, and there are four or five million acres in the Auckland Province alone which have yet to be brought into use, and this class of land alone will require enormous amounts of fertilisers yearly. It can be readily seen, if one studies the position even casually, that where hundredweights of fertilisers have been used in the past there will be a demand in the futui'e for the same number of tons. New Zealand, instead of importing £500,00 C worth of fertilisers annually, will require probably two or three million pounds' worth, so that the importance of makinj suitable provision for this demand is ap parent. To those who have no experience of farming the expenditure of huge sums on fertilisers may seem to be an enormous and crushing' tax upon the country. Such, however, is not the case. By judicious methods of agriculture every pound spent upon fertilisers can be made to yield two or more extra in produce. Experiencv lias shown that money spent upon manure returns a better interest than almost any other form of investment.

One thing is absolutely certain, and inat is, New Zealand in the future must use an enormously increased amount of manure. Another thing is equally certain, and that is, the increased use of manures will increase the production of crops and stock out of all proportion to the cost. This being the case, it is obvious that for their own benefit New Zealanders are bound to secure for themselves the necessary supplies of fertilisers, and the mori thoroughly and completely they organise for this purpose the better will it be fot all concerned.