MANURE FOR FARMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1939, Page 6

MANURE FOR FARMS

DETERMINING PROPER TREATMENT. FURTHER SOIL SURVEYS NEEDED. The great importance of soil surveys as an indicator of the fertiliser requirements of farming lands was stressed by Mr P. B. Lynch, assistant crop experimentalist of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, in a paper presented to the New Zealand Grasslands Conference at Canterbury Agricultural College, Mr Lynch said that while a great deal of experimental work had been done on the response of pasture to manurial treatment before soil analysis was well understood, much of it was of little practical importance, and was further handicapped by the formidable number of variants that intruded, “The outstanding feature of research into soils and their fertiliser requirements is the direct application of the results to farming pratice,” he said. "The more economical use of fertilisers is a substantial contribution towards the financial success of farming operations as a whole. Viewed today, the better use of fertilisers must lead to a greater volume of prodution with the same expenditure of effort. CONFIRMATORY EVIDENCE. “From another aspect, possibly of more immediate importance, it is imperative that we should have a detailed knowledge of the fertiliser requirements of our soils. This is in case the necessity of rationing supplies of artificial manures should arise. Rapid soil surveys of extensive farming areas enable one to fix the approximate boundaries of the main soil types of a district. In most cases such soil types can be closely related to soils which have been intensively studied in the course of detailed soil surveys and subsequent ‘response surveys.’ The manurial trials already in existence are generally sufficient to afford confirmatory evidence, so that within the space of a month or two it is possible to classify large farming areas according to their manurial requirements. Rationing of fertiliser supplies could then be placed on a sound basis, to the benefit of the community as a whole. Further, such a survey would indicate the possibilities of increasing production by means such as top-dressing, breaking in of new land, and better farming methods in general, on the area examined. Such work, in fact, extracts the maximum amount of information from research already completed. with the minimum of additional labour. “The last few years have seen great advances in the technique cf field experimental work, but it would appear in many cases that the practical aspect lias been somewhat neglected. With fertiliser studies, however, it is the farmer's point of view with which we are most concerned. The application of soil survey work to such investigations is particularly valuable in that it enables ones to deal with the farm as a unit, instead of dealing with a district embracing many square miles. VARIATIONS ELIMINATED. “Many sources of variations are eliminated when trials are laid down with reference to soil type. Improved analytical work, particularly with regard to soil analysis, lias offered invaluable assistance. Many apparently anomalous results from trials have boon explained by a chemical study of the soil. The recent advances in knowledge with regard to the 'fixation* of,the nutrients applied to tlie soil in a form unavailable to the plant, has suggested explanations lor the poor responses to manures on certain soil types, and also possible means for the more economical use of fertilisers on such soils." Work in the North Island indicated

the necessity of a thorough knowledge of the soils of our farming country. As detailed soil surveys of large areas were costly and long operations, it would ‘seem that intensive studies ot small representative areas would oe the best line of approach. Tlie results of such investigations could be applied to the surrounding districts with the result that in a short time farmers would be in a position to obtain maximum efficiency in the use of fertilisers on grasslands.