SOIL FERTILITY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25161, 17 April 1947, Page 3

SOIL FERTILITY

USE OF ORGANIC WASTES

“INCONTROVERTIBLE FACTS” SET OUT (P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 16. The Auckland and Suburban Drainage League has received from Lord Bledisloe a statement on soil fertility in relation to the utilisation of organic wastes in the manufacture of. organic fertilisers. Lord . Bledisloe states:— ‘‘lt needs no Royal Commission to decide (for no one can controvert) the following facts: ‘‘(1) That humus is essential to maximum soil fertility. “(2) That plant and animal residues (out of which compost is formed) are the most effective media for the production of humus. ‘‘(3) That rotting vegetation, when incorporated in surface soil, is the main source of these plant residues, and that farmyard manure (including horse manure—now greatly reduced by automobile traction) and human excreta constitute these animal residues. “(4) That these animal residues, whether emitted from man or beast, result from the ingestion of food (not utilised in maintaining life or physical energy) which is itself derived from the soil, and if not returned thereto passes into drains, water courses, rivers, and the sea with a huge net loss of land fertility and of the means (micro-organic and physical) of maintaining it. “(5) Artificial (or chemical) fertilisers, if properly selected, are invaluable in promoting the growth of plants, the residues of which when ploughed back into the soil help in making good the loss of humus, but they cannot restore animal residues (like human excreta) which, if not returned to the soil or dealt with in septic tanks, are discharged into drains, with the ocean as their ultimate destination.

‘‘These are self-evident propositions, which have no need of a Royal Commission to express an opinion upon. What the Tatter (or some similar Gov-ernment-appointed tribunal) could usefully do is to explore the practicability and best methods of utilising ‘garbage and sewage’ (as fertilising agents) under the conditions prevailing in the country concerned. Certain municipalities in Great Britain (Maidenhead in Berkshire) are already utilising this material in the interests of the maintenance of soil fertility and. food output, as well as the pockets of their ratepayers.”