Summer Cultivation

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 17, 20 January 1940, Page 9 (Supplement)

Summer Cultivation

Garden Notes

SUMMER cultivation is no mere bit of scientific or faddish gardening. It existed long before what we now call "scientific culturc" was introduced. It was practised by the ancicnts, and was the origin of the word "manure," which is derived from "manoeuvre," which simply means "handwork." To manure (or manoeuvre) a soil really meant in the earlier .days to "handwork" it, to tickle it with a hoe. Nowadays to manure a soil is to give it a dose of some fertiliser. It is a poor substitute in comparison. Let a

summer crop, well worked with the hoe or harrow, try to compete with the one that is treated with fertilisers and no hoeing; the crop that lias been worked with the hoc will come out on top every time. On an ordinary soil tillage is always more powerful. The world over, great stress is laid upon experiments with fertilisers, but little is said about tillage. The two combined are no doubt worthy of all attention and praise, but tillage should receive equal attention, for it is equally important. Many cannot afford quantities of manure, and many more cannot make

head nor tail of the results of the comparative tests of different qualities and FpS brands of manure that are published- a The same cannot be said of cultiva- 9 tion. There are no elaborate tabulated j] details necessary. The whole problem 3 is work—plenty of it. If fertilisers are a worth three times their cost, cultiva- 3 tion is worth its cost 30 times. 3 «• 1