MANURING OF WHEAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20704, 30 April 1929, Page 4

MANURING OF WHEAT.

RESULTS OF DEPARTMENTAL EXPERIMENTS. RECOMMENDATIONS TO WHEAT GROWERS. ' Throughout the past six years the fields division of the Department, of Agriculture has been engaged on experimental work in respect to the manuring of wheat. The April issue of the Journal of Agriculture contains a long account of the results ohtained and a summary of the,six seasons’ researches. . The report runs into "Sever; pagcS, and gives reasons for everything, but the points that will interest wheatgrowers most are those dealing with definite i cornu .dations that the department feels it can safely make to farmers. - These are given below, as simply as possible and shorn of all technicalities. Use at least lewt per acre of superphosphate at linie of sowing, irrespective of the previous crop. The use of greater quantities is not intended to bo discouraged, but until increased quantities are tried out no definite recommendations are justified; Do not be discouraged by the fact that super is a little difficult to drill satisfactorily in damp weather. The drill, stars should be removed and scraped at least once a day.. The use of slow-acting phos pbates is not justified simply because they run through the drill more satisfactorily than super. It is the solubility of super which enables it to act quickly and effectively, and most soluble fertilisers are troublesome to sow on account of the fact that they absorb moisture from the atmo sphere in the sa - way as common salt. The use of potash on wheat cannot .be recommended at -u-esent. Future work may reveal certain advantages which have not yet made themselves apparent.

Make a trial dressing of soluble nitrogen in the spring on crops •which. have been sown with super. It is considered that not sufficient work has yet been' done to warrant recommending a general dressing of .nitrogen. Farmers are advised to purchase a few bags of one of the more , common, nitrogenous manures, and to top-dress a few strips in each wheat field at the rate of from lewt to 2cwt per acre, according to the nitrogen content of the fertiliser used. The crops most likely to show an easily discernible response are those which are inclined to be light in colour about the end of August ot during September. For trial purposes the quantity applied per. acre should not he stinted, because where observation is being relied upon to indicate response the" effect of a fairly large quantity will be more easily-detected. Make the application some time in September. This may not be the best time, but until further experimental work U carried out a better time cannot be recommended. Much research is required on such matters as time and quantity of application with the numerous forms of soluble nitrogenous fertilisers.