Ashburton Guardian. MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRÆVALEBIT MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1909. PERPETUAL FERTILITY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7691, 11 January 1909, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian. MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRÆVALEBIT MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1909. PERPETUAL FERTILITY.

Notwithstanding all other adverse circumstances, it may be that, had the soil of Palestine continued fertile, the Jews would never, as a nation, have left their native land. It is a fact that the land ceased to be profitably prod'uctivo;' and men who have looked carefully into the circumstances state that that was dxie to over-cultivation and imder-manurin" or non-manuring —that is, the soil was for ages drained of its substance without receiving m return a corresponding amount of nourishment. Of this kind of thing there are at least well-established modern instances. "Whole counties m the older States of America were so . over-cropped and so under-manured 1 that the land became barren, and the same thing has happened on a smaller scale m some parts of Australia. Wise men m the Old World, conscious of general or particular facts m this connection, have long been thinking and experimenting along lines likely to lead to the discovery of principles, and tol the evolution of practices, that, will keep soil perpetually productive. One observer sets out facts and asks suggestive questions. Farmyard manure is (he says) a diminishing quantity. It j does not matter a jot what the cause I may be—motors of various sorts taking tho place of horses, or a proper partiality for "artificials," or the influence of shocked sanitarians and vegetarians. The fact remains, and the problem confronts us, How is the farmer to manage with a more lightlyladen dung-cart than he used to have ? An extensive experimenter declares that the solution of all agricultural difficulties resolves itself into the cheap production of a good turf. He maintains that the success of agriculture depends, m the first place, not asthe average farmer says, on raising prices, but on the cheapening of production. Second, the cheapest food for stock is grass. Third, the cheapest manure for soil is a turf composed largely of deeprooting plants. Finally, the cheapest, deepest and best tillers, drainers and warmers of the soil are the roots -_ of plants. Then science supplies a. specific m Nitro-Bacterine, which Professor Bottomley, of King's College, London, has for some time been supplying to experimenters, many of whom have reported very remarkable results. One well-known grower divided his onion bed into two halves and sprayed one half with the Nitro-Bacterine and left the other to the ordinary influence of, wind and weather. When he weighed his crop he found that the onions thathad been sprayed were 39 per cent, larger than those which had not been treated wiuh Nitro-Bacterine. Then the effect' of treating strawberries with Nitro-Bacterine has been extraordinary. The effect (m one .important experiment') was not so much m the increase of the strawberries, but a row of strawberry plant's carefully sprayed with' Nitro-Bacterine . produced a second crop, while the parallel row which was not so treated produced only one crop. In dealing with flowers also the effect of Nitro-Baoterine has been very extraordinary. Experiments were made with some calceolarias. The plants treated with Nitro-Bacterine began to flower, much 6opner than those Avhich were not treated, and continued to flower long after the last blossom had faded-on the plants that were left without treatment. ,It appears, too, that Nitro-Bactcrino is equally effective with cereals;. and m a case' m which it had been applied to barley, the grower reported that _ the plant had come away more rapidly, that tho straw was stronger and taller, and that> the ears were heavier, and, to far as ho could judge, the barley was of better quality. No doubt, Professor Bottomley's records will be studied by the Agricultural Department of New Zealand, for, oven at the present stage, they are suggestive m a high degree—suggestive of the possibility of securing perpetual fertility for the soil.