BETTER FERTILISER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26245, 31 August 1946, Page 4

BETTER FERTILISER

The Farm

IMPROVING PROSPECTS IMPORTANCE OF SOIL ANALYSIS VARYING REQUIREMENTS (By Rusticus) Although it was estimated that it would take probably two years from the end of the war in the Pacific to restore the production of phosphate from Nauru and Ocean Islands, it appears that progress has been better than was expected. Shipments should commence fairly soo’n now, although it will be a considerable time yet before the mechanical installations for dealing with the rock on the islands are restored and it is possible to ship in large quantities. Further information on these prospects will be keenly awaited by farmers who rely on artificial fertilisers, but the outlook proving all the time, and the end of a most critical period is in sight. Although supples are better now than at any time during the war, a continuance of rationing was justified. The Government has granted an increase of 20 per cent, in superphosphate for top-dressing, and it has announced that it is prepared to import raw rock in quantities greater than pre-war consumption. All this cannot be expected to come to pass immediately. Shipping presents a problem, as well as the task of restoring machinery. Fertiliser companies, have had to face a difficult problem during the war years' to maintain a reasonably high grade and put out an article that was free running. New Zealand has had to take what rock it could get , from all parts of the world, and some of it has been of a very low grade and difficult to work. Nauru rock is the highest grade in the world and the easiest to work, and it will be a great relief to farmers and fertiliser companies alike when it is in full supply again. Lessons from Shortage

The war-time shortages have been extremely trying, and have left their mark, but they have also taught some lessons. One of these, perhaps the most important, is that the piling on of more and more fertiliser is not good farming It would be equally foolish to claim that the value of fertiliser has been over-rated, and there is plenty of evidence throughout Otago and Southland that pastures need more phosphatic fertiliser than has been available during the past few years. So far as supplies have been available and delivery has been possible, lime has been used to an increasing extent for top-dressing, and in view of the liberal applications while superphosphate has not been obtainable in the quantity desired by farmers land should show a ready response to the application of increasing applications of superphosphate. Thoughtful farmers have realised that to get the full benefit from superphosphate, lime should be applied first, and in fairly large quantities. The amount of lime and superphosphate required by particular land should not be a matter of guesswork—merely putting it on and hoping that it works out well. Soil analysis is playing an increasingly important part in the planning of good, farmers, and soil analysis is not altogether such a highly scientific process that is can be carried out only by trained chemists. Farmers can do much to help themselves in this respect, and those who have experimented before enlisting the services of chemists to carry out the analysis have reaped the full reward for their initiative.

Particularly now, when the fertiliser position is beginning to right itself, it is essental that farmers should understand exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it. The larger question arises of whether this process of feeding artificial assistance to land can be continued indefinitely, and it may be found that a change in the direction of ploughing in green matter as humus will pay handsome dividends in keeping ground in good heart. In this, as in all questions relating to f he use of. fertilisers, a farmer is a fool to himself and to his successors on die land if he does not tackle analysis of his soil as one of his most important considerations.

There is a saturation point for artificial fertilisers, and it is obvious that different soils require different treatment. Those “ different soils ” may occur in different paddocks on the same property, and the reward to be gained from a proper study of soil requirements Is a sure and worthwhile one.