Sowing Hill Country From The Air
Seed And Fertiliser By
'Plane
Successful Trials At
Ohakea
(PA.) Palmerston North, March 15
An R.N.Z.A.F. converted Grumman Avenger bomber at Ohakea yesterday carried out .the first joint fertiliser and seed-sowing operation attempted from the air in New Zealand. The trials were a successful full-dress rehearsal for a similar operation on a larger scale on hill country in the Masterton district soon.
The trials were the results of six months' experiment on distribution and flying technique by the Air Force at Ohakea. Last October a top-dressing trial was held at Temata, in the Raglan district, but results were unsatisfactory. Yesterday, superphosphate was used in pellet form, eliminating the wastage involved in imperfect distribution with powdered super. A flat 50-acre paddock was the site of tests. Swatches 32 chains long and two and a-half chains wide were covered as the plain flew at a carefully-cal-culated speed of 110 miles an hour at a height of 400 feet.
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Bibliographic details
Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14928, 16 March 1949, Page 3
Word Count
162Sowing Hill Country From The Air Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14928, 16 March 1949, Page 3
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