DO FERTILISER RESULTS LAST?

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 15 April 1922, Page 3

DO FERTILISER RESULTS LAST?

This has been a live question for many years. The opinion of a prominent*. English agricultural chemist is valuable. « In'an article entitled "Unexhausted Manurial Values" Professor James Hendrick, of the University of Aberdeen, gives the following conclusions: Note: Professor Hendrick uses the word "manure" to mean commercial fertiliser as well as animal excrement.

1. In determining the unexhausted manurial value of feeding stuffs, digestible nitrogen should be treated separately from indigestible. The digestible nitrogen leaves little or no residue in the soil after th» first crop. On the other hand, the indigestible nitrogen, together with the phosphate and potash, are only gradually exhausted, and may be allowed a period of at least four years before exhaustion is complete.

2. The liberal use of manures and feeding stuffs on a farm in poor condition builds up the fertility of the soil and increases the stock of manure produced on the farm. Once the fertility has been built up, it can be maintained with a smaller expenditure on manures and feeding stuffs. When the fertility of a farm, or its capacity for producing crops, has been increased by a tenant, he is entitled to compensation for the improvement thus effected, no matter how long it is since fertilisers and feeding stuffs were used, by means of which the increased fertility was first built up. ■ >

3. In the case of certain classes of manures the period which elapses before they are completely exhausted depends upon the quantity used. The length of the period before exhaustion is reached will depend on the amount of manure used. The manures to which this •principle chiefly applies are phosphates and lime, both of which can, as a general rule, be applied in large dressings without producing any but a beneficial result.