The Southern Cross PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, April 25. Lime as a Fertiliser.

Southern Cross, Volume 4, Issue 4, 25 April 1896, Page 8

The Southern Cross PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, April 25. Lime as a Fertiliser.

In a country largely dependent upon agriculture the question of suitable fertilisers must always be a matter of more than ordinary importance; and in this connection it will have been noticed that for the past year or two there has been an extensive anxiety on the part of quite a number of people that the farmer should use lime, and that in large quantities. To assist in bringing this about, the Government were asked to reduce the lime freights. This they did, and as the farmer did not respond, his selfconstituted friends asked for afurther reduction, which was refused. Even into Parliament the lime agitation found its way. The politicians seized upon it as a trump card, and played the game for all that it was worth, but that misguided man, the farmer, paid little heed to the lime agitators, and went on in the old way. Quite recently, however, the Milburn Lime Company have brought the lime question prominently before the public by means of a special excursion of farmers to Edendale, there to see the effects produced by an extensive use of lime. From the published reports of the proceedings outsiders would come to the conclusion that hereafter farmers would abandon every description of fertiliser except lime. But, as a matter of fact, he will do nothing of the sort, because he knows better. To try to make people believe that lime alone will produce heavy crops of roots or cereals is pure nonsense. If such were the case why do the farmers of the Southland district use every year several thousand tons of Island guano and bonedust, which is imported for the purpose ? It must not be supposed from the foregoing remarks that we undervalue the use of lime in agriculture, but it must be used in land which has been well and sufficiently drained, otherwise it is simply thrown away. On heavy clay soils the action of the lime is very beneficial. It makes these soils more mellow, develops their fertility, and gives a more healthy character to the vegetation growing on such laud, and generally the outcome of using l lime upon all soils is to encourage the decomposition of organic matter in the soil. Jt neutralizes the acids which make land sour, and improves the quality of the herbage. It at the same time improves the physical character of the soil, and promotes healthy growth. Every cultivated plant needs a supply of lime for the proper building up of its structure ; but here the all-important point comes in— Does the use of lime render a supply of some other manure unnecessary ? The action of the lime is to bring into

useful condition the organic matter; which is iu the soil, and by its cpp--tinued use the-' organic or fertilising' matter of the soil would be completely exhausted unless fresh supplies werefrom time to time added ; or, in plains language, heavy and continuous liming would enable the farmer tp takeout of the soil the whole of its fertilising matter and leave it on his handspractically barren. Hence it must be distinctly understood that under a system of good husbandry the larger the quantity of lime Used, the more manure also should be supplied. The successful cultivation of the land depends upon this course beingfollowed, and its neglect will soon show itself in the decreased produceof the land.

It is well known that very large quantities of island guano are imported into this district, and used for the growth of root crops; but it is not generally understood that this manure contains on an average some twenty per cent of carbonate of lime, so that every year, unknown to himself, the farmer is liming his land* and so far as it goes perhaps to the extent that is required ; and when we take into account the very moderate price of this fertiliser the question arises whether it would not be betterfor the farmer in the majority of instances to use it instead of lime. Its low price and great value specially recommend it for tbs purpose. Even bonedust contains a certain proportion of carbonate of lime, and where superphosphate is used, it should be remembered that nearly one-half of this manure is sulphate of lime. Of course there are times when, under certain conditions, lime, pure and simple, may be used to advantage, but when cropping has been carried to a certain point, the abstracted fertility must be restored by the application of more valuable fertilizers. We think we have said enough to show that however valuable lime may be to farmers, their salvation does not depend upon it, and the extrema anxiety of some people to thrust it down their throats has,, to say the least, a questionable look about it. The proposal of the Otago Times that the Government should make special ai’rangements! with the Mil burn Lime Company for the supply of lima to farmers is certainly a strange proposal. It looks like a bare-faced attempt to throw the whole lime trade of the country into the hands of the Company. There are large and valuable deposits of lime at Winton, and in the Forest Hill district, and these can be utilised when required. Drainage must precede liming, and where farmers are ready to use lime they will do so. The country cannot be made iu a day. The heavy crops of turnips and oats obtained in Southland prove clearly that the farmers of this distiict at anyrate know what they are about, and it is hardly likely that at the bidding of their self-constituted advisers they will depart from the course which has hitherto proved so successful.