FARMERS' UNION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18072, 14 May 1924, Page 4

FARMERS' UNION.

hororata branch.

On Monday night/Mr F. E. .Ward. Instructor, Agricultural Department, E «» » lecture on and Bo•S.;" to a vexy well utteflded of members o£ the Horora-ta branch of the. F&xmexa' Union.. * . r Mr H Oliver, in introducing the speaker*, mentioned that Mi Ward had jitet coneluded a . strenuoua week at the Timaru \?*n£ on rising oongratulatod the; branch upon making such a proarrfsvve move u the introduction of a hew root o°™. : petition. Much good had accraed in other Subnets frdEQ similar competitions, aa ; fa*y were ? aMe «8 e*chapgo ideas and obtain results from, numerous clfcerimenw. _i.n opening his ieotura, Mr Ward emed that the use o± fertiliser was not the line of demarcation between euccess and failure in ; farming. It was necessary to have a high proportion of organic matter in the boU, and. the soil could be imade to. grow ite owo. humus. •It had bean found that, withbut fertiliser tWre was B7,UUWb of organic. matter per acre, but Sii.OUUlh per acre with the aonlication of lertiliaera. in iNew Zealand the etiiee had not been reached when, .greea. manuring had bocome necessary, but in oilier, Countries, where there was a j short supply Of organic matter,: it had been' louid necea-; sary to green manure.. -The epeitner advocated deep ploughing, .whtch he , iu&uiitained made a:larger amount of plant tood available and increased tne moisture-noiding capacity. By means of lantern slides, plant constituents' were shown—nitrogen, poiaah, ana pnosphorus. In older countries nitrogen was Used extensively, but "it had been found unnecessary, in vlns country and tended' to cauee crops to lodgo, on account of nitrogen producing leaf growth. It was unnecessary tor cereaia in It ew Zealand, be cause the bacterial lie was so great, potash gave colour and discase-resisuiig powerH, but phosphate seemed to be the colli litucnt needed. Borne farmers were ot the opinion that phosphates produced acidity, in the soil but this was not the case. Basio super gave better resu.ts on certain soils; particularly those in good hoart. The three classed of phosphatic manures rniost in use were tucalcic manures containing three parts of iime, bicaluic manures having two parts, and monocaicic manures one part. .Nauru rock phosphate was best suited to wet soils, mo lecturer then gave the analysis of the grades of superpnosphate". He was of the opinion that Super, was tho mos; satislactory; 44-16 was\ the cheapest, having 22 per cent, more phosphate to 11 per cent, increase in price. Xiao latter was rather sticky and duncUit in application, being extremely hard' on drills if caro was not tadjen.

Mr Ward then went very fully into the methods at present beaig adopved by the Department in carrying out mammal experiments. Tile scheme was Slow, but more definite results would be obtained in the long run. The Department was experimenting by dividing a iield into five narrow strips, using superphoopiiate, basic, super, superphosphate plus blood, basic super cuid blood, and control. By means ot scatjsucs it was shown that great reuance could bo placed upon the . results of experiments being correct, as there wua ampie provision for the elimination ot disturbing factors. Why results varied was due to the difference in soil composition, varying moisture content (higli ana low lana), and previous cropping or manuring. In was shown that in a test to arrive at the amount or dry matter in mangolds, many results came out near the average. The table showed that if only a few results had been taken tile results would have bten unreliable. in speaking of an experimental area, at Preosit.ton, he said that the control gave ,a yield of 37 bushels of wheat per acre, while superphosphate gave 46 blisheiS, superphosphate and blood <3 bushels, basic super 42 bushels, and basic super plus biooct 41 bushels. The application ot lertiaser teen one cwt per acre. At Lincoln College the following results were obtained:—Control 52 bushels, basio super 64 bushels, superphosphate and blood 57 bushels, supeijnKiaphate £7 bushels, and bas.c super and biood 54 bushels. At Irweil, after a crop of barley, the following re3mts were obtained:— Control 41 bushels, superphosphate 41, basic superphosphate 42, super and blood 43, basio super plus blood 43 • The lecturer made it clear that these were the results of one season, only, and that a large repetition of the experiment would be necessary conclusions could bo drawn. Mr Ward next dealt wuh the top-dressing of pastures, showing by means of slides the advantages accruing from the application of fertilisers. > At the conclusion of the lecture* Mr "Ward answered many questions satisfactorily, and on Mr Oliver proposing a very hearty vote of thanks. thp appreciation of the audience was shown by acclamation.