FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1922, Page 2

FARM AND DAIRY.

Writes our Urenui correspondent:—That the application of lime to the soil in this and other districts Is most, necessary, .Is becoming more apparent every season, and is generally recognised by farmers, but just how to apply It as regards quantity and with what other ingredients, is a matter in which many of us are not too well versed, and failing expert opinion as to the requirements of different localities, a certain amount, of guesswork prevails. We are told that the application of lime alone will cause exhaustion of the soil if cropped every year; yet it proves highly beneficial when farmyard manure, green crops, or chemical fertilizers are also applied. Also, that although lime is found in the structure of all plants, it is not what may be strictly termed a fertilizer, but it serves to hasten the chemical action of other organic and Inorganic materials existing in soils, and thus prepares plant foods for better assimilation by plants. But it ateo has to be remembered that without sufficient lime in the land, artificial fertilizers will not effect their full benefit, and superphosphates used on soil deficient in lime, will produce an acid condition.

Last year Mr. J. F. Phillips, of the Mimi, who is one of the largest suppliers to the Wai-toi-toi factory, top-dressed some fifty acres with an application of 7cwt. of lime and about 4cwt. of superphosphate, and though this amount could probably ba reduced in most cases to, say, scwt. of the former and 2cwt. of the latter, yet his paddocks have

resYx>nded marvellously to this treatment, and his factory returns are a striking illustration of the benefits to be derived by enriching the soil with the necessary fertilizer.

Mr. Phillips is at present milking some 95 cows, ten of these being two-year-old first calvers, and some twenty second calvers. Up to the end of January the herd had averaged just upon l»0lbs of butter-fat per cow, and ns they are still yielding something like lib each of fat per day, and still have plenty of feed (turnips and maize being grown as a supplementary fodder) it is safe to assume they will reach between 250 and 300 lbs by the end of the season. For a herd of this size, this is a very creditable stowing, and I understand, compares favorably with many of the smaller herds which are being tested around Bell Block and elsewhere.