MANURE VALUES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 994, 20 March 1891, Page 20

MANURE VALUES.

Although there is not muoh wheat grown in the Wellington Province, there are doubtless many farmers who, from old association’s Bake, take some interest in the growth of wheat in the Old Country. The old system of farming by rule of thnmb has proved a losing game in England, and the great cry now-a-days is for scientific agriculture. The English Minister of Agriculture, The Hon. Henry Chaplin, is evidently the right man in the right place. Full of practical ideas combined with most liberal and advanced notions, he, by personal visits of inspection, and carefully compiled reports, has a good grip of the present system and condition of agriculture in England. From some reports from the English Department of Agriculture for the past year we find some interesting information respecting the growth and yield of wheat. One of the best authorities on viheat-growing is Sir John B. Lawes, who, on his experimental farm at Kothamsted, devotes time, skill, and money to ascertain, upon the basis of actual facts, the capability of various soils, and what special treatment are beat suited for them. From those experiments Borne ideas, useful to New Zealand farmers, may be gained. On certain plots on his farm Sir John Lawes raised last year fine samples of wheat averaging 374 bushels to the acre. The average for the real of the district was 31 bushels, with similar soil and climate, the difference showing what can be accomplished by careful cultivation. On some stiff clay land, well supplied with farm-yard manure, he raised 50 bushels per acre, showing the mechanical effect of farm-yard manure, which, in wet seasons, such as they had in England last summer, keeps the land open and benefits the plants. Upon the land upon which artificial manures were used —guano, fconednst, nitrate of soda, and suoh like, the yield was not more than 40 bashelß—the wet weather destroying the special fertilising qualities of these manures, while the Bame soil, with farm yard manure, returned 50 bushels,

In this Colony we have not yet reached that age when our virgin soil requires heavy manuring in order to yield heavy crops. But in some of the earlier settled districts, es. pecially upon heavy clay lands, manure is gradually being more required. The Rotham. sted experiments show that the old-fashioned farm-yard manure still holds, its pride ,of place as a fertiliser, especially in heavy eoils. For light soils in districts not exposed to an excess of rainfall, bonedust and other artificial manures can be used with most benefioial results. But on clay lands, either in garden, orchards, or grain and root-growing paddocks, nothing is so successful as straw manure. When wellrotted it contains those valuable constituents necessary for tho growth of heavy crops, whilst the straw. acts mechanically in keeping the ground in a porous condition, enabling the dew, rain, and air to penetrate the 8011, and allowing the natural nitrogen of the land to ascend to the rootlets of the plants. The proper value of farm-yard manure is not sufficiently studied In this Colony. In many farms the manure heap, except it be collected from the stables, is unknown. The stock yards, as a rule, are either mud puddles in winter, or dry, hard, baked clay depots in summer, and on which animal droppings are lost in waste. The English farmer knows the value of having his stookyards well laid with broken straw and unused hay. This trodden well under foot by sheep and cattle, retaining the wealth of their droppings, is transformed into a valu able commodity, making his land more prolifio. A well-preserved manure heap Is not only an evidence of skilful farming, but an asset, yielding a handsome return.