IMPROVING POOR PASTURES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19050, 22 June 1925, Page 14

IMPROVING POOR PASTURES

The benefits resulting from the proper use of fertilisers on grass lands arc now becoming widely recognised. . A consistent advocate of tho practice in England, Professor William Somerville, recently contributed an interesting article to the London Times urging upon farmers a more liberal use of basic slag with the object of improving poor grass land.. Commenting on tho article, a writer m Country Life says: The Professor has long had experience of this work.- -. It began in 1896, when he carried out some notable experiments at Cockle Park, Northumberland. The experiment came to be known as "manuring for meat, and subsequently as "manuring for milk.'" .Within a year or two of the start the Board of Agriculture was so pleased with the results that it decided to duplicate tho work in other parts of the country. It was shown that by a very simple process much poor grass land could be made to carry twice as much stock and each animal thrive twice as well, so the increase in production was fourfold. Now what emerges is that poor land needs, most of all things, phosphates; and in most cases phosphates alone are necessary, ile describes the process as simplicity itself. It consists of putting on about half a ton per acre of basic slag of ujedium quality, and in a few months the barren becomes fertile. One dose of slag costing thirty shillings per acre will usually give results for at least ten years. The phosphatic dressing acts through the clover or other leguminous plants present in tho herbage. Of the legumes tho best is wild white clover. A plant so small as to be covered by a penny may occupy a square yard of ground after it has been stimulated by phospbatr noiirisiiiM'tt. Professor Spnu-r-, vilte's most interesting experiments have been conducted on laticl that ho bought with the intention of making a profit. One of tho most interesting was Poverty Bottom. That property, when he took it over in 1911, carried a flock of 100 ewes, and 40 cattle. In 1916 is supported a herd of 120 cattle and a flock of over 200 ewes. The stock in 1911 were lean and poor, whereas those of 1916 were fat and healthy. Professor Somerville purchased an area of about 500 acres in the Cotswolds in 1923, and in the winter of 1923-24 dressed it with 250 tons of slag. Tho following summer the undressed bands 40 yardq wide which he left as controls couid be seen two miles away. When ho took over the farm in October 1923 it was carrying 102 cattle and 285 sheep, while a year later tho stock totalled 135 cattle and 843 sh(.\ep. Theso are arguments that ought to appeal to a business inind. That basic slag on nearly every description of soil —except that which is so rich and well cultivated that it is already attaining tho maximum production —will give satisfactory and remunerative results was proved long ago on estates purchased by Professor Somerville and dealt with on the same lines that he lectured about in college. It is a case of practice and theory going together.