USE OF FARM WASTE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23150, 23 September 1938, Page 5

USE OF FARM WASTE

COMPOST MANUFACTURE VALUE OF INDORE PROCESS MARKED BENEFIT TO SOIL BY QUIIHRE During the past seven years, worldwide interest has been aroused in what is now known as the Indore process of making compost, or humus, from the vegetable and animal matter too frequently burned or otherwise wasted on the average farm. First developed by Sir Albert Howard to aid the cotton-growers of India, composting has now become a recognised and highly appreciated method of maintaining soil fertility in almost all parts of the world where tea, coffee, sugarcane and other crops are grown, and where animal manure is difficult to secure. In the manufacture of humus by this process, there is found to be an actual gain of nitrogen content of all material, often as high as 2o per cent. This, combined with the fact that humus provides a suitable, medium for the encouragement of bacterial activity and multiplication, means an immense enrichment of the soil following its application, even in moderate quantities. One interesting fact which has been demonstrated in the many applications of the Indore process in widely-separ-ated countries since 193], is that the use of animal waste products, is essential for the proper conversion of the vegetable matter to humus. This is not because they are the only activators available, but because the verdict given by "Mother Earth" between humus made with animal wastes and by the use of chemical activators has in every instance been in favour of the former.

This confirms the old and welltried principle that it is impossible to farm for long without animals. The balance between organic matter of vegetable origin and that of animal origin must be maintained.