USE OF FERTILISERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 162, 10 June 1929, Page 8

USE OF FERTILISERS

IN S-ERVICE OF MANKIND

ADDRESS AT ROTARY CLUB. The speaker at to-day’s meeting of the Rotary Club was Mr F. L. C. Scrivener, B.Sc., of Massey Agricultural College, who chose as his subject “The Soil and Fertilisers in the Service of Man.” Rotarian R. T. Jaggard was in the chair. In opening, the speaker stated that the planting and growing of seeds, whence came our crops, had always been a subject of intense interest to mankind. Records showed that from earliest time the human race had recognised and used manures, and throughout the ages relevant facts had been sorted from irrelevant. It was not true that the modern soil chemist was merely discovering what the practical man had known all the time, because scientific and correlated research could discover and establish in a few years what would take the farmers manv years. In the seventeenth century’ investigators were looking for some “principle of vegetation” which they imagine underlay all vegetable growth. They did not recognise that air, water and soil each played their part. Advances in pure science by men not connected with agriculture had helped greatly tho work of the agricultural investigators. Such developments were the discovery of the composition of the air and recognition of the principle that a plant could only take out of the soil what was in it. It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the study of soils and manures had reached the stage where fundamentals had been clearly realised and sought after. About this time —1830 —or >iherenboiits—the famous Rothamsted research station in England had been established. Sometimes an apparently simple problem offered great difficulty, e.g., the question of whether a soil did or did not contain sufficient lime. INCREASED DEMAND. Continuing, the speaker said that the population of the world had increased enormously and people were now looking°for a higher standard of living. These two factors each led to an increased demand for food and the scientist and farmer had to supply tins. “Wo may be only at the beginning of what the soil may produce. Ido not want you to think that we are experimenting only on the lines of manuring,” said Mr Scrivener. ' Other methods of increasing crop production are also being tried. For instance, for several years past the slow discharge oi a high voltage electric current has been tried and has been found to increase certain crops by about 50 per cent. Another method of crop increase which has been tho subject oi experiment is feeding the plant with air in hot houses. This, of course, is not possible on a large scale, but where practicable has given good results. Phosphates, said Mr Scrivener, were now being used in increasingly large quantities, and while he did not suggest that our resources were anywliero near exhaustion, it was interesting to note the present production. this was about 7,000,000 tons a year, ot which 3,000,000 tons came from the Untied States, a similar quantity from North. Africa and 500,000 tons irom the Pacific Islands whence New Zealand obtained her supplies. In addition to phosphates, a considerable amount of nitrogenous lertiliser was now being used. A largo plant had been establishedm the North ol’ England and was extracting nitrogen from the air by the method perfected by Germany during the war, and upwards of a quarter million tons were manufactured during 1928. It was rather significant to realise that a great proportion of this nitrogenous manure was going to older countries like India and China where it would probably have a great effect in raising the standard of living. In recent years the manufacture of fertilisers had so advanced that fertilisers were now being put on the market, one cwt of which contained as much plant food as one oirt of sulphate of ammonia and three cwt of superphosphates. The speaker was not prepared to say whether the disadvantages of concentration outweighed the advantages. ' LESSONS OF RESEARCH. In experimenting in New Zealand the research chemist might quite easily observe some fact that, while not of any applicability to this Dominion, might be of great importance to some other part of tho world where scientists were dealing with problems somewhat similar to ours. This was what might be called research in tho broader sense of the word. In New Zealand thdy had the more special duty not only of solving local problems but of getting the farmers to bring into practical use the lessons taught by research.

In reply to a question, Mr Scrivener stated that superphosphate ever since its first manufacture had been considered to cause acidity in the soil. It was manufactured from sulphuric acid, and so far as one could test it by the ordinary litmus paper, it was acid. It had also been noticed that on certain soils, where superphosphate had been used for a number of years, certain plants grew which were usually associated with acid soils. But more accurate methods of testing for acids in soil had been introduced and experiments at Rothamsted had recently raised some doubt as to the acidity of superphosphate. Whether this absence of acid applied only to English conditions or was general had yet to he determined. At Massey Agricultural College experiments had recently been commenced to determine the question.

On the motion of Rotarian F. R. B. Chin, the club tendered its heartiest thanks to the speaker for his interesting address.