CLAY LAND PRESERVES ITS FERTILITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 304, 20 December 1912, Page 9

CLAY LAND PRESERVES ITS FERTILITY.

Light land requires to be renovated for almost every crop, and a failure of roots tells seriously upon the succeeding grain crops. Keally strong land pre--erves its powers of production much longer than Jigiht soils, and in some cases allows of clover being mown and , removed, and wheat straw being disposed of, for years in succession. It seems in some cases as though it only I required to be well tilled and' thoroughly I exposed to the air to develop plant food I from *!_ o _ staples, as was shown tto be the case by Tull in the eighteenth ; century. Tlie policy generally followed : ■seems to be that of lightening it up j and aerating it, as by {allowing. Clay | land responds to a]] dressings of an J opening nature, suoh as town manure, ashes, lime, o*rralk, etc. In this respect it is the antithesis of really light soils.! which need to be rolled. pressed, winter folded, and consolidated in every pos sible way either by lapse of time, heavy rams, or 'Hie breading of horses. The contrast between the two classes of land is indeed most striking, and their management almost resolves itself into two dustenet -businesses. The season wh'ch rer-ls the one does not suit the other, and the treatment Which may be beneficial to the one may be injurious to I ■the other.—"Field."