TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30,1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1134, 30 September 1879, Page 2

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1879.

FERTILISERS FOR OUR SOILSTTxdek the above heading, the ' New ZeaUnd Country Journal' for Sep-; tetnber contains a long and interesting article. To drainage it gives first pluce as a fertiliser, for on all cold wet soils manures, without drainage, are only thrown away. As most of oar farmers, will admit, farmyard manure can scarcely be looked to, when labor of all kinds is deal?, aa a ready or profitable fertiliser. It is on artificial manures chiefly, that the farmer then mast depend. The journal referred to, however, before going into the merits or demerits of these, touches upon one source of fertilisation which every cultivator -has within his means, and that is, deeper ploughing. The ordinary four or five inch farrow must give place to one double that depth. This, however, cannot be effected at once. An extra irch is as much, at any time, as should be brought to the surface. But, the subsoil plough should be a*"- once brought into requisition, to prepare for the deeper working of the land. There li«ve been cases m Waikato, brought to . our notice, where a resort at once front a four or /five to a seven inch furrow has been attended with the most beneficial results, but as a rale the subsoil plough should first loosen the under soil, which, will, the next seasofn, be m a fitter condition to be brought to the surface, by deeper ploughing and mixed with the top soil. Subsoil ploughing, except on dry soils, without drainage, will be of little value, nor whero it is adopted will it more than temporarily supersed the use of fertilisers. The time must come when themew riches brought ap from below will be exhausted, as the top soil now is, and fertilisers will have to be resorted to. The object of the cultivator, however, Bhould be, not -to run out his soil till it is dog poor, and then renovate, but to keep it m good heart and equal profitable productiveness throughout, and, therefore, whether or no he draw upon the soil for assistanse from below, by subsoiling, or whether he contents himself with the thorough cultivation of the prosent depth stirred, he will have to reaort to artificial manures as fertilisers. The < New .Zealand Country Journal' refers amongst artificial manures, more especially to bones, and we give the following from its pages as of 'spqcial interest td settlers as the period for sowing green crops is now coming on : — " We shall now proceed to consider the question of bones, as a manure for the fields of Canterbury, and, indeed, most of the soils of New Zealand, which are said to be generally deficient m phosphate of lime,, hencfl the suitability of any fertiliser, which will supply this want, at the cheapest rate. Tins is to be found m bones, which are within our reach and can be obtained m unlimited quantities. Let the demand only spring up, the supply will not. long be wanting. Bones are used m several forms — such aa raw, aud boiled, fresh and rotten, fermented and unfermented, whole, broken, and powdered, digested, m acids, and mixed m various conditions and composts. The most profitable manner of using bones, for turnips or mangolds, is m conjunction with some active stimulant, such as Peruvian guano, which is to hnd m Dunedin — cash prior-, £U per ton. One cwt would suffice for four acres used m the. following mariner : purchase the i-inch bones required for the season's crop, screen them, the dush obtained from a good, sample will be very considerable, and if fermented before used, so much the better, to every J-cwf of dust add £-cwt of Peruvian guano, £-cwt fire ashes made from burned weeds, roots, and tu«socks, m all' 1 cwt ier ncre. The rough bones should be fermented by being mized m a heap an r l well wetted and covered over with sand six inches, atid left so for at least three or four weeks, when the same may be well mixed and sown broadcast, and gathered into drills if desired, or simply harrowed m, and the seed drilled m rows from 24 to 28 inches apart, along with the compost as above, this will give the young plants a good start, of great importance m turnip cxilture, from three to four cwt of bones per acr», with good after-culture, will on ordinary soil and a favourable season, produce a. good crop. Where iarmyard manure ia availablefttwo cwt of bones and 10 to 12 tons of manure per acre, will produce' still bettor results ; but tho manure must be well rotted. However, farmyard manure can hardly be taken into account m considering 1 colonial practice. Bones mny be used on^ all lands of soils (oxcept. wet and undrained land), they are equally efficacious as a manure for potatoes, turnips, mangolds, carrots, and all kinds of cereals and grosses. For old pasture lands which cannot bo conveniently broken up, a dressing of £-inch bones supplied m July or August, the ground having been previously weß harrowed, and rolled immediately tho bohee are sown, from five to ten cwt may be used, with advantage, per acre. The practice is to take a crop of Jiay-off boned land the first year after boning, if this cannot be done, all cattle shonld bo removed for at least three months af tor boning, to allow them to become well bedded amongst the roots of tho grasses. We are aware that bones are being used already to some extent {or racing

root crops m this ooriutry, Mr Moody, of Kuikauui, informs us that some nine yours Jigo ho saw a trial made of steamed bones on a piece of poor unproductive lnnd near lnvereargill — the result was a lino crop of turnips, and to this day the eJl'cci; is observable m the pasture. The experiment was iustitued to refute tho idea entertained by some of the famvrs that bones subjected to high preesuro steam wore rendered valueless It is well known, However, that ordinary boiled bonca are more lusMng."