NITROGENOUS MANURE

Northland Age, Volume II, Issue 33, 20 August 1930, Page 7

NITROGENOUS MANURE

QUICKNESS OF RESPONSE VALUE IN GRASSLANDS The most recenr development is the use of nitrogenous manures, particularly sulphate of ammoniaThe first commercial shipments of the new synthetic sulphate of ammonia arrived in New Zealand from England in the late autumn of 1929. Mr. A. H. Cockayne, Director of the New Zealand Plant Research Station, advised farmers to try out this fertiliser on grassland, applying it in winter to phosphated grassland to bring forward the syring growth of pasture to provide “the early bite.”

Used in this way sulphate of ammonia was being largely experimented with at Home and on the Continent, and trials in New Zealand in 1928 were promising enough to warrant Mr. Cockayne advising farmers to give it a trial. It says much for the progressive spirit of New Zealand farmers that in the first year several hundred farmers applied sulphate of ammonia to grassland, nearly all for the first time.

The actual quickness of responce from sulphate of ammonia seems to depend a good deal on the time of application. For instance, if application is made in tne late spring, when weather conditions are fairly mild, the effect is very noticeable in a few days, whereas, from application made in the winter, it would take two or three weeks before any appreciable effect is noticed. There was a unanimity of opinion among sulphate of ammonia users, that the effect of sulphate of ammonia applied in the lata winter did bring on grass growth in the spring in anything from three to six weeks earlier than usual. The out-of-season grass is of much higher money value than grass produced at any other time of the year. It enables the farmer to bring his cows in early with safety and start them off in good condition.

One farmer secured two and a half times as much butterfat in August this last year because of ammonia-treated pastures available in the spring, as he did a year before from the same he,d. A number of others increased their early spring butterfat production by 100 per cent. Sheep farmers were also able to carry a large number of stock particularly ewes and lambs in the early spring mon-ths and it helped materially in increasing the percentage of lambs got away fat from their mothers.