IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP PASTURES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10064, 11 August 1910, Page 3

IMPROVEMENT OF SHEEP PASTURES.

The Farmers' Gazette, in referring to a carefully dpvised experiment carried out in County Wexlord on the use of basic sl.>k tbe improvement of pastures and the consqueent increase in value of sheep fed on such enriched land?, say that other experiments on the manuring of pasture

f land with different manures have alao ( been carried rut, airi on a which has | evoked considerable interest was tried | last season on a field at Lucan, I kindly lent by Colonel Irwin to the promoters of too experiment— I well-known Irish firms of manure ' rmnufacturers, in conjunction with i cue Potash syndicate. The tests were carefully supervised by an exper- | ienced farmer, Mr Terence Brooks, Leixlip, and were designed to ascerI tain how far the herbage improved } by the usa of potassic superphospate | would result in an increased weight of mutton from sheep grazed on it. The field consisted of six Irish acres of uniform land, and it was divided into two equal plots by wire fencing. One plot was left in its natural condition, unmanured,, the other re- ' ceived in January last a dressing of putassic superphosphate at the rate of 10 cwt per Irish acre. Forty store sheep, of [equal weight and quality so far as possible, where divided into two lots of twenty each, and put on ;_the plots. They were carefully weighed on May 7th last, marked, numbered, and teh weights recorded, and at intervals of a month throughout the season both lots had their weights regularly entered up As early as tbe second weighing, carried out on June 4th, it was evident that the manured plot was showing a decided improvement, and the impovement continued right up to the fourth weighing in September. Indeed, so excellent was the effect of the potassic superphosphate in increasing the herbage that the sheep on thia plot were quite una'ole to keep it cropped, and to prevent waste a mowing machine was run over the plot, and hay to the approximate value to £5 taken off it. In addition the sheep were exhibiting the advantages of more and better feeding, and the following increased weights were shown over the unmanured plot, viz,—

June 381bs. July 52 „ August 68 ~ September fi2 ~ Total 220 If thi3 increase is estimated at even as low a figure as 3d per lb the increased value amounts to £2 15s for the four months' grazing, a3 a result of the action of the potassic superphosphate. In addition, there should be added the vaiue of the hay already mentioned, and furthermore, a distinct improvement was observable in the quality of the herbage, giving the impression that the advantage would be maintained format least a number of years if the pasture was grazed by any class of faim stock. Farmers who are desirous of improving their pastures would do well to institute a few similar experiments on their own holdings. On some classes of soils one fertilizer

might prove more advantageous than another,but by having an unroanured plot as a control, the relative values of different fertilizers would be obtained for various kinds of land .