AGRICULURAL CHEMISTRY. LECTURE BY MR. MacIVOR AT CAMBRIDGE. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] (from our own correspondent.) Cambridge, Last Night.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1368, 7 April 1881, Page 3

AGRICULURAL CHEMISTRY. LECTURE BY MR. MacIVOR AT CAMBRIDGE. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] (from our own correspondent.) Cambridge, Last Night.

To-night Mr Maclvor delivered a lecture in the Public Hal], under the auspices of the Farmers' Glub, on the subject of Agricultural Chemistry. Mr J. 0. Firth occupied the chair. The hall was well filled, the pastoral and agricultural interests of tho district being largely represented. The speaker dealt at considerable length with the composition of plant;*, and the constitution of the soil pretty much in the manner set forth in j the report of his lecture published in your j issue of Tuesday last. He then went on to deal with the district soils. He had made a careful inspection of the Matamata Estate in company with Mr Forth, and had come to the conclusion that it was of granite origin. It consisted of a fine decomposed granite. The worth of that soil from an agricultural point of view depended upon the constituents of the granite. He had known of similar soil in Aberdeen which was of very poor quality indeed j in Victoria, however, he had met with a soil of this description which contained good fertilising. He had come to the conclusion that by careful cultivation the soil of this district was capable of being developed into good agricultural country. It was of a light sandy nature, and such soils were very retentive of water. It had a considerable admixture of very white sand which many would no doubt mistake for pipeclay, that the great power for retaining water was found. It contained many of the constituents of plant food and he had no hesitation in saying that by careful cultivation it was a soil capable of bearing good crops. In regard to the general principles to be laid down for working the soil his impression was that a course of cropping would be benefical ; first a clover crop should be put in and immediately afterwards a orop of Wheat, &o. The most suitable manures for the land was phosphorate of lime. The speaker then referred to the suitabiiities of the district for the growth of beet root ; both as regards the soil and climate it was admirably adapted for that growth, and considering that the Government held out inducements for its cultivation he thought it was the duty of capitalists to give the matter serious attention. The mannfacture of sugar from beet root had become a most important industry in France. It afforded empioymet for thousands of people. It had been estimated that one acre of land would yield about two tons of sugar ; that was about the average yield of the plantations in France. Then again they had to remember that beet could be grown without deterioration to the land, provided they resolved that portion of the beet which was regarded aa waste to the land. In replying to questions, Mr Maclvor said clover acted beneficially on land from the length of its roots ; they sunk to a great depth into the soil, and by that means the plant food was brought up from a great depth to the surface, and the surface of the land was thereby enx'iched. In replying to a question as to the means which ought to be adopted for the restoration of clover - producing powers, Mr Maclvor Baid : It was a wellknown fact that clover grown in the land, after three or four years' rotation, died away. In the Old Country that state of things was called clover sickness. -Some years ago Mr Laws and Gilbert, two eminent chemical agricultui'ists, had given this subject careful consideration; they had grown clover for several years in succession ; the first three years it succeeded very well ; the fourth year the crop commenced to fall away ; and the fifth year it was not worth cutting. The fourth and fifth year they tried every description of manure, but to no avail ; they came to the conclusion that the failure was not due to the exhaustion of the soil, but due entirely to some cause outside of that, and so far they have been unable to explain the cause. All that they can say is, that the land had become clover sick. They came to the conclusion that it was impossible to get a good clover crop oftener than that shown above. What he suggested was that the ground might be put the first two years in clover ; the third in wheat ; the next in some other thing, and then put in clover again. Replying to a questson as to the thistle nuisance, he said that he had been asked a similar question at Ballarat, and he would state now what he stated then, that he hoped to be able to prove that-the thistle was not the great plague to the country which it was supposed by many to be. The observation on that oocasion was received with laughter, and none laughed more heartily than a number of hardheaded Scotchmen, who were present. There was at this time a Thistle Act in force in Victoria, imposing a penalty of five pounds. He had come into contact with two stationholders, who had year after year, paid the penalty rather than cut down the thiptles. In that way they had been mulcted in perhaps five or six hundred pounds. A drough set in and the grass failed, and these were the only men whose sheep were saved, the crop of thistles being available — when all other pasture failed. Hewasthefirstagricultural chemist who had made a chemical emamintion of the thistle, arid he could tell them that it contained more nutriment than the cabbage, and some, otheir garden plants, and if once they got their stock educated to eat it they would find it of great value for fattening purposes. They might laugh, but he knew qf his own knowledge that horses and sheep preferred it to other herbage, and he knew cattle go miles to get it. It was only a matter of educating them to eat it, and in time they would find that in New Zealand the cattle would become as' partial to -it as they were in Victoria. As regards its effects upon the land, he mentioned a tract of, country in Victoria known as tho Smoaton Plains. These plains had been cultivated year after year with wheat for nearly a quarter of a century. Ultimately, they became exhausted and. were abandoned. A few thistle seeds settled in the ground, and ultimately the plains became overrun with them. The thistle roots sink to a great depth, a depth perI haps of 10 feet, or even 20 feet, and by that means they brine up to " the surface the plant food, and the noil is enriched by that food. The^resnlt of' this on theSmeaton Plains was that they became as rich as ever. That was solely attributeable to the beneficial effects of the thistle roots, i ,For one argument they could bring against, the thistle, he could brjng ten in favour of it. He certainly would prefer a few thousand acres of thistle land to land in fern. He was asked if he 'could suggest a remedy for preventing the great mortality which took place" amongst the young sheep.- He replied that* if, the mortality was due to the quality of the herbage on which they were fed, what ho wojald, suggest was an application of bonodust a? a means of im- < provide tKe* s6iL His r&fco'tf for suggesting, that was , that , the soil could be deficient in no other substance than' that

of .which boneduat was the fertiliser. In reply to another question, he said that Peruvian guano wjmi ,pf gfreat advantage to the frQil..., l|t,n^glit; be/ however, that they applied it yearTafter year, after the land had become saturated, and a falling off of the crop- plight take glace, but that was attributable to thie exhaustive of other substances, besides that for ,the restoration of which guano was, applied. A rotation of manures was quite as necessary to profitable farming as a rotation of crops. , , ' \ After other questions had been answered a vote of thanks was accorded to the speaker, and the meeting broke up. Among those present were the following — Messrs Sheehan andMoas M.HYR.'s, Ohepmell (Piako), E. B. Walker, Dilworth, Howard, Wilson, Hicks, Buttle, J. P. Campbell, Wells, Kirkwood, Southatn, Baillie, Fisher, and most of the leading settlers.