ON THE FARM

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 7, Issue 60, 30 November 1937, Page 7

ON THE FARM

NATURAL MANURES

Value of Compost Heaps

Demonstrated

FERTILITY RESTORED

Five years ago a 325-acre farm at Surfleet, Lincolnshire, was almost derelict. Only four labourers were employed permanently upon it. Today it shows a rich, fine tilth, parts of it are yielding horticultural produce worth £6OO an acre, and 70 persons are permanently employed on it. It has been done by Captain R. G. M. Wilson, who began his career in the Royal Engineers, went into business in the City for two years, eschewed that life and took on this farm in 1932. How did he do it? First of all he started restoring fertility by the orthodox method of livestock and the plough. But now that the land is in better heart he is depending more and more upon using compost of rotted green stuff, such as cabbage "stalks and leaves, grass, potato haulms, and even the less fibrous weeds. He hopes to dispense with artificial manures in time, and for the last two years no artificials at all have been used on the horticultural part of the farm, known as “Iceni Nurseries.” Captain Wilson is using these compost heaps, but up to the present time has done more with the “Indore method. This was rediscovered by Sir Albert Howard in Central India, when he was Director of the Institute of Plant Industry at Indore; For long he could not think why the natives got better results than he, with all his scientific equipment. Enlightenment came when he realised the basic difference between their methods and his. They could not afford “artificials,” so put back as compost all unwanted vegetation that comes from the land, consciously fulfilling a natural law. By this method, used at Surfleet, weeds, cabbage leaves and stalks,, any kind of living “rubbish,” are mixed with horse or cow manure in pits and turned every three weeks. The compost" is made and ready for use in 12 weeks. Tremendous heat is generated in the pits—up to 160 degrees C.— which reduces everything to a fine texture. Surfleet itself is the test of the efficacy of these methods. It would be difficult to imagine market garden crops that look healthier or with a better bloom on them. The flowers are of truer colours and last longer after they are cut; the vegetables have a richer flavour. At the show of spring vegetables in London this year the produce from the Iceni Nurseries was in competition with that grown by the greatest experts in the country, but the nine entries took seven first prizes. But these manuring methods, which are really centuries old, would not alone have made the farm the financial success it is unless modern methods were linked with them. Motor power, of course, is used wherever possible for cultivation, a light railway runs around the market gardens, the latest breeds of lettuce, etc., that science has perfected are used. The extra fertility of the land is being used to make it crop to the utmost, with one crop following another in quick succession. The farm maintains two shops in London.

MANURES FOR TURNIPS

The use of a phosphatic fertiliser with turnips has given such consistently good results that it has now become standard practice on all farms. Various forms of phosphate are on the market, and it is not strange that there is a doubt in the minds of some farmers about the most suitable one to use. Under our conditions it is essential that the phosphate be quick acting, so that the ydung turnips will be stimulated in the early stages. Quickacting phosphates encourage a strong rooting system and aid the crop to rapidly pass through the period when it is vulnerable to attacks from the brown beetle. A water soluble phosphate such as super when drilled in close contact with the seed is the ideal, but unfortunately it causes severe injury to the germination. In the past trials run by the Department of Agriculture established the fact that if the super was mixed with equal parts of carbonate of lime and allowed to revert, the- germination injury was avoided and the quick action of the phosphate was not affected to any extent. Mixing is best carried out on a granary floor, and if the lime and super is turned, allowed to stand for two or three hours, and turned again, it can be safely bagged up next day. If bagged up immediately after mixing, it will burst the bags and set in a hard mass. Many farmers mix super and lime bag for bag into the drill, but this does not allow the super to revert, and injury to germination still occurs. Mixing should be carried out a week before sowing, so that chemical action is fully completed before the manure is used. Using 2-4 cwt. of this mixture per acre gives the best results, the biggest drawback being the labour and time required for mixing. To overcome this disadvantage fertiliser firms have placed on the market a manure for turnips called Reverted Superphosphate, in which lime is already added to super. The analysis is given as 10 % burnt lime and 19% of phosphoric acid. Compared with super, containing 20.14 per cent, phosphoric acid, the addition of the lime does not lower the phosphoric acid content to any appreciable extent. With super at £4/8/6 and reverted super at £4/10/6 the cost of 11.2 lbs. of lime and the mixing is 2/- per ton. With lime at 16/- a ton on trucks 2cwt. of the mixture super lcwt. and ITme lcwt., costs £4/8/6 plus s.6d, or £4/9/31, to which must be added extra cartage on lime and a charge for mixing. As few farmers relish the task of mixing super and lime, the reverted super appears the best proposition. In order to test out turnip manures used in actual practice trials were laid down last year under actual field conditions. Two of these were situated in North Canterbury—one at Swannanoa and the other at Oxford. The plots were two chains long, and each treatment was repeated ten times. Manures used were: 1. Super 2cwt. plus carbonate of lime 2cwt. per acre. 2. Reverted super 249 lbs. j:>er acre. 3. Super lcwt. plus blood and bone' lcwt. 4. Proprietary turnip manure, 2cwt. Germination counts were taken 33 days after sowing, and the superiority of the super plus lime mixture was easily discernable. Later, weights were taken of mature bulbs and yields per acre computed. Following is a summary of germination counts and yields per acre: — Oxford

Germination: Differences greater than .9 plants per 10 feet are statistically insignificant. Yields: Yield of treatment 1 (super 2cwt. plus lime 2cwt.) significantly greater than the remainder. Swannanoa

Differences in germination of 1.2 plants per 10ft, are statistically significant. Yield: No significant difference. Treatment 1 had many more bulbs, lmt these did not develop as much as those on the other plots. Proprietary manure and super plus blood and bone cannot be advocated, as they do not compare favourably with sxiper 2 plus lime 2 on costs and on results. In the light of present knowledge it would appear that the mixture of equal quantities of super and lime well reverted before sowing is still the best all-round manuro for turnips if the

Shipments of Meat FIRST HALF OF NOVEMBER The New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board is advised by cable from its London office that the shipments from Australia, South America, and South Africa to the United Kingdom during the first half of November, 1937, were as follows: Australia: Carcases mutton 15,908 Carcases lamb 615,146 Quarters beef (frozen) ... 57,258 Quarters beef (chilled) ... 10,485 South America: Carcases mutton ... ... 3,526 Carcases lamb ... ... 153,042 Quarters beef (frozen) ... 3,001 Quarters beef (chilled) ... 168,819 South Africa (including Southern Rhodesia) : Quarters beef (chilled) ... 2,264 From New Zealand The shipments from New Zealand to the United Kingdom during the same period were as follows: Carcases mutton ... ... 12,786 Carcases lamb ... ... 71,516 Quarters beef (frozen) ... 3,844 Quarters beef (chilled) ... 3,377

Rabbitskin Sate

FAIRLY SATISFACTORY PRICES

Messrs Dalgety & Co. Ltd., Dunedin, under date November 25 as follows: — We held our first summer sale today, when we offered a medium catalogue to a. full bench of buyers. The offering comprised principally summers, springs, and milkys, and, considering the depressed state of the overseas markets, sold at fairly satisfactory prices. Outgoings and winter grades declined up to 18d, spring bucks and does 8d to 14d, summer broken sd, and summers sd. For a small parcel of first winter bucks 521 d was realised. Our cable report from London received today advises that rabbitskins are practically unsaleable, even at a 50 per cent, decline, and all catalogues were withdrawn. All orders at the moment are withdrawn, and America is right out of the market. The following are the , prices realised at Dunedin: Small 101 d lb., runners 10id, racks 14£d, summers 15fd, summer broken 15£d, winter broken 13d, springs 20d, spring bucks 22d, spring does 20£d, outgoing winter bucks 26d, outgoing winter does 22d, winters 30$d, milky 15*d to 18fd, hareskins BJd, autumns 22d, summer blacks lOd, winter blacks 12d.

farmer will take tho trouble to mix it. Not only is the germination far superior and the yield better or at least equal to other manures, but also there is the added benefit to the soil from the lcwt. of lime. Nowhere in North Canterbury is there soil which will not respond to applications of lime. Where cartage and mixing of large quantities have to be considered there is a place for a manure such as reverted phosphate, but there is room for improvement in the manufacture of the present product. Results from trials are of course only reliable if carried out over a number of years, and a further series of trials on similar lines to those carried out last year has been put down this season. In North Canterbury this year, trials are situated on the farms of H. James, Amberley, and A. Hunt, Waipara, In conclusion, I wish to point out that when sowing lucerne only, the super and lime mixture should be used. The inoculum which is applied to the seed is very sensitive to a soluble fertiliser, and if a stand is not a success at the inception it is always a failure. (Written by A. S. Nash, Instructor in Agriculture, Rangiora).

Treatment Av. no. plants per 10ft. x 7in. Tons p. ac. 1 ... 15.3 37.5 Treatment 2 ... 12.3 31.4 Treatment 3 ... 10.9 32.8 Treatment 4 ... 10.8 32.3

Average Relative: Yield, no. plants Super 2 + tons 10ft. x 7in: lime 2 = 100. per acre 1 ... 18.1 100 10.5 2 ... 11.5 63.5 10.6 3 ... 10.5 58.0 10.9 4 ... 10.2 56.4 10.8