MANURE SUBSIDY

Southland Times, Issue 22040, 13 June 1933, Page 6

MANURE SUBSIDY

FARMING IN SOUTHLAND SUPER AS OPPOSED TO MIXED MANURES BEST BASAL DRESSING (By an Experienced Agricultural Adviser.) The question whether the use of superphosphate as a basal dressing meets crop requirements in Southland as opposed to the use of what are termed “mixed manures,” composed largely of insoluble phosphates, blood and bone, etc., is the point under discussion. It is interesting in this respect to review briefly what crops Southland produces, with the object of satisfying one’s self whether superphosphate and its various combinations can or cannot meet all the requirements of southern farmers. So far as cereal crops are concerned Southland has 60,000 acres in oats, wheat and barley, the largest proportion of this area being in oats to the extent of over 56,000 acres. Rank growth of a leafy nature is fatal to the oat crop, causing it to lodge, and the invariable practice is to eschew stimulating or forcing fertilizers in the growing of oats, so that the common practice in the south is either fo do without the use of manure for this crop or at most to use a mixture of “super” and lime. Experimental experience has proved the wisdom of such manurial treatment with this crop.

In regard to the 4000 acres sown in wheat experiments have shown most definitely that the only payable fertilizer is superphosphate, and official recommendations are to this effect. Barley is grown in such small quantities that it need not be considered. In brief, for cereals superphosphate or a mixture of “super” and lime should generally speaking meet the needs of all farmers. Best Results from Super. In all, Southland has a total area of 1,107,793 acres of grass and clover, of which 36,514 acres were cut last season for the production of hay, seed, or ensilage, and in respect to this large acreage it can unquestionably be asserted that the fertilizer which has given the best results as a top-dressing material is superphosphate. Official trials most emphatically point in this direction, and it has been conclusively shown by the Department of Agriculture that the use of superphosphate, either alone or in conjunction with lime, is the chief fertilizer which should be considered by the farmer for topdressing. Granted there are special circumstances where, for the production of early grass on young paddocks is desired, in such circumstances the use of nitrogen is advocated, but where such conditions do arise ammoniated “super” which bears the subsidy fully meets the occasion. Again, in districts such as the Mataura Valley, where a definite potash deficiency has been located, it may be necessary to supplement a “super” dressing by the addition of potash. The use of a mixed manure on sheep land would be of little avail in this connection in view of the small proportion of potash contained in such mixtures.

As a root or green forage producing province, Southland undoubtedly is one of the most important districts in the Dominion, growing as it does, exclusive of potatoes, 132,000 acres of turnips, rape, and chou moellier, and it is in connection with the production of these crops that the advocates of mixed manures may feel that they have special claims on the grower. In the past it has been contended that the use of “super” in large quantities, when sown with seed of the brassicae family, had a detrimental effect on the germination of the seed. Whilst it is to be admitted that such is the case in dry climates, it is not so when moist conditions prevail, such as are usual at the time of sowing root crops in Southland. Mixed Manures. Further, the damage can be completely avoided by the use of a mixture of “super” and lime, or the use of reverted “super,” and in this connection it has to be pointed out that the bulk of Southland farmers invariably mix lime with* their turnip manures. Most mixed manures contain a proportion of blood in their composition, and as has been shown by departmental trials, blood is extremely damaging in its effect upon germination. Consequently the sowing of “mixed manures” with root crops would be just as likely to cause damage to the seed as straight superphosphate. The prevalence of club-root in Southland is admitted to be most serious; in fact, it inhibits the growing of turnips in many localities. The organism causing this disease has been shown to have a decided liking for acid soil conditions, and it has been held that the use. of superphosphate, by increasing the acidity of the soil, would naturally encourage the growth of the club-root organism, thus accelerating the rapidity with which the disease might spread throughout the crop. While this point must be conceded to a limited extent it is to be borne in mind that the chief preventive of the disease recommended by the department is the application of a liberal dressing of lime some time prior to sowing the crop and the use of a basic fertilizer at the time of sowing. There can be no doubt that reverted superphosphate meets such requirements in all respects, as does a mixture of “super” and lime. In fact, one would go so far as to say that in “mixed manures” containing blood or sulphate of ammonia, the danger of increasing soil acidity would be greater than that incurred by the use of “super.”

Lime Widely Used.

That Southland farmers are in the habit of mixing lime with their manures and using it freely on their grass lands is evidenced from the fact that of 69,000 tons of lime used in the South Island, Southland uses 44,000 tons. The buga-boo of super encouraging clubroot is, therefore, not to be given special credence in that the Department of Agriculture has given wide publicity to the necessity of farmers mixing lime with their turnip manures or to using reverted “super” or basic manures, and the majority of farmers are thoroughly familiar with the necessity of taking this precaution. In regard to potatoes, 1302 acres are laid down in this crop, and experiments, coupled with experience, have conclusively shown that a heavy dressing of at least scwt per acre of superphosphate in conjunction with potash is the most satisfactory fertilizer which can be used.

In conclusion, one must assume that whilst a few farmers may have individual perference for certain proprietary mixed manures the experience of the majority, coupled with the results of individual experiments, conclusively prove that “super” as a basal manure is the most economical and most valuable fertilizer whether it be applied to cereals, grass, or roots.

It is of interest to note that the recommendations of the Fertilizer Committee of the Southland Provincial Farmers’ Union on the question of a general subsidy on all fertilizers are: 1. That subsidy be not extended to fertilizers other than superphosphate, for the following reasons: (a) That the margin of profit to merchants on superphosphate is very much less than on any other of the fertilizers commonly used; (b) that in view of the difficulty that the Government has in continuing the present subsidy on superphosphate

any request for further subsidies would certainly endanger the present subsidy; (c) this committee is of the opinion that much of the propaganda against “super ’ is not justified, and does not agree with the statement that the present subsidy is of more use to the North Island and Canterbury than to Southland. It is officially stated that over 15,000 tons of superphosphate, reverted super and ammoniated super (comprising the super group) were sent into Southland last season.