THE MANURING OF CROPS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 576, 14 June 1913, Page 2

THE MANURING OF CROPS.

EXPERIMENTS IN TE KUITI DISTRICT. There is no doubt but that a great amount of money is misspent in the matter of manure, and especially is this so in a new district like part of the King Country. Some of our farmers who have come from such districts as Manawatu or Rangitikei have used the manures they have u«9d there, hoping for the same splendid results, and great has been their disappointment when they have seen sueh poor results. There is no doubt but that special districts and special classes of soils must have their special mixture of manures. Several farmers about Te Kuiti have been experimenting with manures this season, and in many cases with very satisfactory results,. Among those who have done a lot of investigating on work on the quiet we can mention Messrs Lorrigan and Sloman, and Messrs Thomas and McAdam. These people being keenly interested in the welfare of this district have searched all over New Zealand for information regarding suitable* manures. The analysis and formula Dr Sloman received for Dunedin University as a complete manure for our local fern soils has given splendid results in most case 3, and especially is this so in regard to a crop of swedes on Mr Reynolds farm near Hangatiki. Mr Reynolds is more than pleased with the results of applying only one cwt per acre of complete manure, consisting o£ 92i of basic slag, 5 per cent, sulphate of potash, and 2J per cent, nitrate of soda; this being the Dunedin University basis for a complate manure. On Messrs Shannon and Thomaß's property another experiment has been udertaken with good results. They tried sheep mauure only, that is the manure cleaned out of the sheep yards and from benealh the night pens. A very light application of this manure in the trenches with potatoes has given them a crop equal to 17 tons to t;he acre of splendid tubers. The public school gardens in Te Kuiti have also undertaken some very useful manurial experiments this last season, and as a suggestion it would be a good idea if a first, second, and third prize was offered for the best assay on the subject by the school children.