THE PROFITABLENESS OF ARTIFICIAL MANURING.

Northern Advocate, 28 August 1913, Page 2

THE PROFITABLENESS OF ARTIFICIAL MANURING.

By a system of careful book-keep-ing on a number of small farms in Germany, the advantage of using artificials of a complete character appears to have been proved. The particulars of the tests are recorded in the " rural economic " section of the March Bulletin of the International Institute of Agriculture. The farms selected were divided into five groups. Group 1. —Farms which use nitrogenous, phosphatic, and potash manures. Group 2.—Farms which use nitrogenous and phosphatic manures, but no potash. Group 3. —Farms which use phosphatic and potash manures, but no nitrogenous manures. Group 4.—Farms which use only phosphatic manures. Group s.—Farms, which do not use artificials at all. , Complete manuring exerted the greatest influence on cereals. The heaviest crop was 168£lb (21.6 bushels per acre), and it belonged to group 1. From group 1 to group 5 the amount of crop harvested diminished steadily. Among cereals, rye and oats followed regularly in this order, while the heaviest wheat crop was met with in group 4 (exclusively phosphatic manure), and the heaviest barley crop in group 2 (phosphoric acid and nitrogen). It follows that rye and oats have by far the i greatest need fpr plant food, while wheat and barley, which occupy a better place in the rotation in regard to dressings of dung, owing to their requirements, are grown on better soil, show less sensibility or artificials.

The fact that the lowest returns per acre are recorded in group 5, the one without artificials at all, proves that the use of artificials is a determining factor in the increase of returns. A comparison with groui) 4 shows that, it is especially a question of the supply of phosphoric acid, so that the intensive use of this plant food can be unhesitatingly recommended to every farmer. The net returns per acre were as follow: — £ s d Farms that did not use phosphoric acid .... 1 15 8 Farms that did not use nitrogen 2 8 2 Farms that did not use potash 2 15 6 The farms were also grouped according to the quantities of the various artificials employed, and it was found that an increased consumption of nitrogen and phosphoric acid has the effect of increasing the net returns, but that the reverse is the case with potash Tnanures—the more considerable the quantity of potash given, the lower the net returns. From this observation it does not follow that manuring with potash is never attended by success, but that the most advantageous quantities of manures to be employed, and especially of potash manures, must be determined in each farm by means of careful experiment.