NITROGENOUS MANURES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20309, 17 July 1929, Page 9

NITROGENOUS MANURES

EXPERIMENTS IN DOMINION,

GOOD RESULTS EXPECTED.

RESEARCH OFFICER APPOINTED

Efforts to encourage in New Zealand Iho uso of nitrogenous manures in conjunction with superphosphate and potash are to be made by tho research department of Imperial Chemical Industries, according to Dr. 11. Annett, of Matangi, near Cambridge, who returned by the Marama yesterday from Australia. Dr. Annett, who was once a member of the Indian Agricultural Service, has a farm at Matangi, and hero ho has been carrying out experimental work, principally with fertilisers. Ilis work has resulted in his recent appointment by Imperial Chemical Industries as its New Zealand experimentalist. The research branch of Imperial Chemical Industries was not concerned with attempts to advertise nitrogenous fertilisers, Dr. Annett said. Research work was its great object. The possibilities of nitrogenous fertilisers began to be fully recognised only after the war, when large factories in Germany and England, which during the war had been used in ♦lie manufacture of nitrates for high explosives, appeared to have outgrown their use. However, it was realised that the efficient plant would be of immense value in the manufacture of fertilisers and the nitrogen which had been taken from the air to destroy life was diverted into a channel of peace. Research in Britain. A large factory at Dillingham, Durham, manufactured most of the nitrates in Great Britain, Dr. Annett continued. It had t,o be demonstrated to farmers that nitrogenous fertilisers would be of great benefit to them and the result was the establishment of a special research station with a staff of scientific experts. "It has been proved definitely, both in England and on the Continent, that these fertilisers, used with phosphates and potash, have increased to a great extent the carrying capacity 'of grass lands," Dr. Annett said. "Recent experiments have shown that New Zealand will probably give better results under the r-ew system than any other country in the world. I will leave for England shortly and after consulting with experts will return to New Zealand to take charge of experimental work here." Dr. Annett said that affairs in New Zealand had been very carefully studied by Mr. Lindsay Robb, an outstanding authority on the treatment of grass lands, and his work in conjunction with the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture convinced him thai New Zealand would bo an ideal experimental ground for the use of nitrates as fertilisers.

Aid to More Production.

"On my return to New Zealand it will be part of my duties to co-operate with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research," Dr. Annett said. "Thero is still a call for increased production in the Dominion, and 1 think nitrogenous fertilisers may help greatly toward this end. A vast amount of research work remains to be done, as wo wish to determine exactly on what crops and in What manner nitrogenous fertilisers can best be used."

Dr. Annett added that the use of the new fertilisers would probably improve conditions for sheep fanning and wheat growing, as well as dairy fanning. He was unable to say whether Imperial Chemical Industries would open a factory for the manufacture of nitrates in New Zealand.