USE OF SERPENTINE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 68, Issue 5943, 15 May 1944, Page 5

USE OF SERPENTINE

VIEWS OF LIEUTENANT-COL-ONEL MATSON COMPULSION THE OBJECTION On the question of the use of serpentine superphosphate LieutenantColonel J. Matson, of Oparau, writes that the issue is not Whether straight superphosphate is no better than serpentine, but whether superphosphate reverted with serpentine is superior to that reverted with lime. “On some soils,” states Colonel Matson, “ it probably is—for example some Waikato farms which have been drenched with phosphatic manures for many years; but there is, as yet, not sufficient evidence to justify a sweeping compulsion on all farmers to use it. But even if some superiority could be shown to exist, is that superiority sufficient to justify an increase in the cost of manuring of some 45 per cent in applying to the soil a given quantity of phosphatic acid ? “ The continual iteration of the claim that 1 cwt. of serpentine superphosphate is as good as 1 cwt. of straight superphosphate is wholly irrelevant to the case of that large body of farmers who never did and have no desire to apply straight superphosphate to their land,” he says. “ They used slag, ground rock phosphate, or basic superphosphate. The last was either purchased as such or reverted on the farm. There is no good reason why they should be prohibited from using basic superphosphate now. “ Educated farmers who understand the chemistry of the matter have never been allowed to state their case to the Minister of Agriculture, much less cross-examine tbe protagonists of serpentine. Those who have tried have met with a display of intolerance verging on the discourteous, and have given up in disgust. “ The oft-quoted support that was given to serpentine by the Primary Production Council was obtained on a purely ex parte statement of its alleged merits. That it has merits in certain conditions nobody denies. It is the universal compulsory aspect, irrespective of conditions and irrespective of cost, that is resented.”