HOW TO USE MANURES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 388, 23 June 1928, Page 28

HOW TO USE MANURES

! There are few things about which i the average gardener is more haphazard than the addition of artificial manures to the garden. Speaking generally, it should be given when the plants need “pushing," for summer and autumn flowering, but unless applied properly, it simply represents so much money wasted. The ideal time to apply a fertiliser is during damp weather, when the soil will absorb it readily. Then, after the rain the roil be raked or hoed and thus the full benefit is gained. On the other hand, if a fertiliser'is spread roughly on the ground in dryweather, most of it will blow away or be absorbed in the atmosphere. Under arid conditions the soil should be watered both before and after an application. This will take the “fire'' out of the chemicals and at the same time send the building properties down to the plant roots. Particularly does this apply to superphosphate, bonedust and blood and bone. Nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia are best used in liquid form. To a kerosene-tin of water ISoz. of sulphate is enough to add for a tonic, and to the same quantity of water 2oz. of nitrate makes the right strength. Both of these liquids should be used after watering, and kept away from the stems of the plants. For flower garden use an even weaker mixture is recommended. Stable refuse placed in a bag in a tub of water will make an excellent tonic. It should be broken down to the colour of tea before being applied. Any' liquid fertiliser will hold plants together in hot weather, and as its work is done below the surface, its effectiveness is not diminished by the sun. If a liberal mulching of grass or leaf-mould is mixed with the soil, there will be an added coolness which will push the plants to do their best. An interesting account of a series of experiments conducted at the North of Scotland College of Agriculture to determine which of the many ‘weedkillers” was the most efficient, appears in the Scottish "Journal of Agriculture.” After reporting oh several more or less unsuccessful experiments, the article states that copper sulphate has proved a very efficient weed killer, provided the proper weather conditions are available at and subsequent to the date of application. The initial outlay may appear heavy, but when one considers that two dressings in 192 f have kept a plot on the walks at Craibstone free from weeds up to November, 1927, and there is every prospect that the effect of these dressings will continue to be felt for several seasons