FARM NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13484, 26 July 1907, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

SCIENTIFIC POTATO MANURING.

A circular issued by the Department of Agriculture, Great Britain, gives' the gist of the latest experimental information on this subject. "Probably," it is remarked, "no crop grown on the farm receives more manure than the potato crop. Although, in most cases, the plant responds readily to,, liberal manuring, it is doubtful if it is a greedier feeder tkan other fallow crops. It should be borne in mind that the largest possible crop is not always the most profitable, and that an excess of. manurial ingredients over the requirements of the crops may lead to considerable waste. It may be argued that any such excess will benefit future crops, but the farmer wants the highest return on the first crop — residual value being generally a more or less doubtful asset."

Reference, is then made to the results of manuring with farmyard manure alone. "In manuring potatoes," the circular states, "a certain amount of farmyard manure is always beneficial. It may be applied at different periods of the year, but most experiments show that spring applications give the best results. A dressing of twenty loads of farmyard manure per acre is not uncommon, and with such treatment alone good crops may often be 6btained. v It frequently happens, however, that the foliage is encouraged at the expense of the roots, especially when artificials are also applied, > and actually heavier and more profitable crops can be grown by using half the above quantity with arti- ' ficials. If the land is in very poor condition, twenty loads may prove more profitable than ten, but in many cases the former quantity is too large to be applied with profit."

With regard to supplementing farmyard manure with artificials, the comments arez-r-'^he most common system of manuring potatoes is to apply a moderate dressing of farmyard manure — say about ten loads per acre — an<jl supplementing with artificials. In the case of the latter caution is necessary ; it is believed that artificials are frequently applied in excess of tlie requirements of the crop, and that, in consequence, smaller profits are obtained than when more economical methods are followed. When crops of from nine to ten tons per acre ,can be grown solely by the aid of moderate^ dressings "of farmyard manure, there* is a risk that any increase in yield obtained by v the additional use of artificials may be produced at too great a cost. Tlie following mixture of artificials per acre may be recommended as a safe and reliable, one in most circumstances, and no farmer should use artificials in greater quantity along with ten loads of farmyard manure until he has thoroughly satisfied himself by experiment that it can be done with profit : — lewt sulphate of ammonia, 2cw-t superphosphate, lewt sulphate of potash."

The report as to the results of the \ise of artificials without any admixture of farmyard manure sets forth that, "although farmyard manure is generally regarded as essential in the manuring of potatoes, very good and highly profitable crops can be grown without it. The following mixture of artificials per acre may .generally -be depended upon to produce as' big a. crop of potatoes as ten loads of farmyard manure, viz. : 2cwt sulphate of ammonia, 4cwt superphosphate, 2cwt sulphate of potash. As to sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda, when used along with farmyard manure, there is generally little to choose between these two sources of nitrogen, but when no farmyard manure is used the results are mostly in favour of sulphate of ammonia."