WAIKATO FARMERS' CLUB

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2974, 6 August 1891, Page 4

WAIKATO FARMERS' CLUB

'I'llK following intciesting piper was read by Mr H. R, Hyatt at the Cambridge meeting of the above Club on the 21st ultimo. It deals with the nature of noils in the dixtriot, and also treats of num roua experiments that he has oarlied out during the last year.

Soils. To those engaged in the practice of agriculture, a knowledge of the structure and constituents of the soil is of very great importance. As practical science (le 'elope--, the farming industry will continue to need moiu and more attention and rational study. It may seem something new to speak of " study" in relation to the work of a farmer, but it is nevertheless a fact that a study of his profession is just as necessary to make a successsful farmer as it is to make a iucoessful lawyer, or doctor. The farmer of the nineteenth century cannot afford to lose any opportunity of increasing his knowledge of soils, crops, and stock. With regard to our soils, competition demands that we should use them to their utmost advantage, and to do this we must call to our aid science aa well as experience. The cultivation of the soil has been carried on iu accordance with mauy different theories, systems, and customs, during the past history of the world ; and the progress of civilisation has always gone hand in hand with the development of agriculture. If we can form any idea of the state of mankind beforo the dawn of civilisation, it would be boforc mau had learned to increase the natural fertility of the soil by the sweat of hia brow, and roamed over the earth a mere beast of prey. In the early dawn of civilisation, when population was sparse, and the land unappropriated, only the'mosfc fertile portions of the earth's surface were required for cropping, and these needed but little or no cultivation to bring forth crops in abundance. Such land required only to be " tickled with a hoe into smiles of harvest." The supply of " fat" land wasthea equal to, or perhaps greater than the demand, the people depending for their sustenance chiefly on their flooks, and herds, which roamed over the uncultivated waste and fed upou the natural grasses. Historically, the earliest seat of civilisation and of agriculture was the Valley of the Nile. From the earliest times fairly large crops have been raised in Egypt with little expenditure of labour or ukill on the part of the husbandman. We road that in times of fumino iu the neighbouring Countries there was always " corn in Egypt." The system followed in Egypt (for it is little changed at the present day) will give us a very good idea of primitive agriculture. The Nile periodically overflows its banks, owing to the heavy rains that fall during the rainy season among the mountains of Abyssinia. These floods supply both tillage and manure. When the flood has subsided, the ground is found to be covered over with a thin deposit of mud which proves au excellent fertiliser. All that is necessary to be done, beyond scratching the surface perhaps previous to the flood with a very rude kind of plough, is to sow the seed while the land ia still under water ; the seeds germinate nnd the crop is soon ready for harvest. Under such a primitive system only the most favoured lands were deemed worthy of cultivation. But the growth of population caused greatcbanges. i.ess favoured lands, bad to be brought into cultivation, and it wa3 found that these could be made fairly productive, by being well broken up, and exposed to the action of air and rain. But it was found in the ease of theso second class lands, though they yielded good crops for a time under proper tillage, yet the crops had a tendency to grow smaller until at last tho land became exhausted, This was the system practised by the Maorics before the advent of the Europeans, and we have it on good authority that they wcro very industrious and skilful agriculturists according to this system. In many eases it was found that the old exhausted land, after a period of rest again became fertile, and this led to a system of fallowing. Tiiis system was followed by the Ancient Jews, and the law of Moses provided that the land should have rest every seventh year. The discovery that crops were increased in growth by the application of natural manures such as stable manure, leaf mould, lime, marl, etc., was perhaps the greatest advance in the history of tillage; and this has been followed by the use of artificial fertilisers. Some have recommended the sole use of chemical manures, but I think most practical farmers prefer the old stylo of using natural manures, if procurable. In thus reviewing the different systems in vogue among our less enlightened ancestors, we may gain many hints that will not prove altogether useless in tho practice of modern agriculture; for our modern system includes all previoua ones, So much land, and of such varied qualities has now been brought under the manipulation of the plough and the spado, that any one system of tillage would prove altogether inadequate. The qusstion is, How are wo to be guided in the cultivation and fertilisation of our soils ? In the scientific days many have jumped to the conclusion that the only guidance required is a knowledge of the chemical analysis of the soil we have to d»al with. But a mere knowledge of analysis is often very misleading. If we examine the analysis of a local Waikato soil for instance we find that it contains sufficient plant-food for from 50 to 100 successive crops of grain or roots. The ingredients aro there, hut not all in a soluble form available for vegetable growth, Here, you see, the use to the 1 i ruu-r of a chemical analysis is limited, and it is only after years of experience ana experiments in connection with the analysis that tho latter can be of a practical uho to him. There are of course othor circumstances which modify the growth of vegetation, besides tho mineral constituents of the soil. Temperature and rain-fall materially influence the results of thofamora' toil, and recent roaearchhas shown tho existence of minute living organisms in all soils, which have a remarkable influence on their fertility. Theso bactoria and othor organisms feed on tho humus and ammonia present in tho organic matter of tho soil, which thuH becomes osydi-ed,their nitrogen converted into nitric rcid, a very powerful fertiliser. " As a result of this process of nitrification tho nitrates which are produced present their nitrogen in a form in which it can cntor tho plants in solution. Not less Hignificant are tho functions.still under investigation, if those micro-organisms which appear to act as carriers of nitrogen between tho enormous reservoir of this clement contaiued in tho atmosphere, and tho roots of leguminous plants. Hence, bosidesjthe geology of tho soil, thechemistry of tho Foil nnd tho physics of tho soil, modern scienco must equally find a plnco for tho biology of tho soil." Although a ohemioal analysis fails to givo us all tho

information wo wish for, thoro in another way of testing soils as to their nature and capabilities, which is so simplo and practicable that it can bo easily followed by any farmer who wishes to study his soils systematically. I refer to the syatem of trial plots. The substances required by an ordinary crop many be divided into thoro classes', viz , Ist. those supplied by the air ; 2nd. thoso found in sufficient quantity in all fertile soils; 3rd those possessed by soils only to a limited extent, and which therefore need to lie supplied in the form of a manure. (1) Tho substances supplied by the air are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. (2) Soda, magnesia, sulphuric ac'd, chlorine, iron peroxide, silicia, exist in most soils, and need not be added as manures except in special crises. (3) Tho constituents ni trogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and lime, are much more rurr, and if a soil is not deficient, in them it in time becomes so under continual cropping or grazinf The manures used for supplying these fertilizers are bonedust, suptrphoaphatrs, and phosphatic guanoes for phosphoric arid ; Peruvian guano, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, and blood manure for nitrogen ; nitrate of potash, muriate of potash, kainit, and u #nrt potash ; quicklime, and

gypsum for lime. The experiments I tried were with the above manures. In the first place I pegged off my plots 7 yards by (i yards. This >.h a very convenient size ns 42 square yards bears almost the same proportion to an acre as a poiiuii does to a hundred weight. Tluis Uli on one of theae plots would represent 1 cut to "nacre. Is'o 1 plot was n.anured with ljlbs superphosphate (K.l\ and Co. A ), lib Muriate of Potash, lib sulphate of ammonia, 21b lime, Jib iron sulphate. This is what Ville calls complete or normal manure for grain. The estimated production of this plot was 50 bushels of oats to the acre, or somewhat less than I got from the main part of the paddock which I manured with Jcwt bonedust, lewt bonedust and blood (Kempthorne, Prosser and Co.'s), and 2cwt lime to the acre. This produced an excellent crop estimated at at least GO bushels per acre, with good straw and free from rust. Thus in this case, the experiment favoured natural manures as against chemical manures. Still better results were obtained from another portion of the paddock which was manured with 4cwt lime and 20 tons stockyard manure (chiefly pine leaves with cattle and horse dung) to the acre. Plot No. 2 was manured with the same as No. 1 with the exception of iron sulphate; the results were the same. In plot No. 3 the superphoshpate was omitted and the poorsr nature of the crop tended to show that the soil is deficient in phosphoric acid. In plot No. 4 the muriate of potash was omitted. In this case the crop was quite equal to, or rather better than No. 1. From this we might conclude that the supply of potash in the soil is sufficient, but I believe that these results are per" haps due to some injurious effect that this form of potash (muriate) may have upou this crop. In plot No. 5 the sulphate of ammonia was omitted. The crop showed very little difference from No. 1. In plot No. 6 the omission of lime had a marked effect, showing that the soil is deficient in soluble lime. Another plot (7) was manured with lime alone _ (51b), and the results were very good indeed though perhaps not quite equal to No. 1. As a confirmation of the result of this experiment- (viz., that the Waikato soils are deficient in lime) I may say that I was surprised at the effect of lime on a crop of beans. In a large bed of beans, I noticed that one part which had been limed the previous year produced an excellent yield—quite four times the quantity of seed that the unlimed portion of the bed produced, and also fine healthy plants. Another plot (No. 8), I manured the same as No. 1, but iu double quantity —in all, 12£lb. This of course would be out of all reason in practical farming in New Zealand, but I wanted to compare the results of natural manure with those of a liberal application of chemical manure. The yield of this plot was much superior to No. 1, and also to that of the main part of the paddock (bonedust and blood) but not quite equal to that of the stockyard manure and lime. I leave these" results to speak for themselves; but it will of course be remarked that these experiments, Btanding as they do, alone, are of little value, unless confirmed or modified by further experiments. They were, however, undertaken under numerous difficulties, chiefly in order to show how such experiments can be carried out, and I shall be glad to hear of some members of the Farmers' Club trying a similar series of trial plots. The results that I have obtained might thus be confirmed or modified, and much valuable information as to the nature and requirements of our local soils be obtained. I

recommend it to members generally as a simple and practicable process for the ratioual study of their own soils.