BASIC SLAG.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144085, 2 May 1913, Page 8

BASIC SLAG.

In a recent issue of the Journal of the British Board of Agriculture there was, a lengthy article on the •'purchase and use of basic slag,” from which we take, the following:— Quantity per Acre.—ln ordinary manuring the. must economical system is to giyo repeated applications of comparatively small quantities rather than largo dressings at one particular time; the ease of slug, however, is rather difficult. Basic slag does not act so much directly on the pasture as indirectly, by first of all encouraging a strong growth of white ■ clover and other leguminous plants, which in their turn enrich and improve the soil, and this end is gained by a liberal dressing—7cwt. to iOcwt. per acre according to quality at the very outset. It is therefore suggested .that a heavy dressing, the effect of which might be expected to last some considerable time, is better than, repeated applications of small quantities; but it does not follow that when the effect of the first application is beginning to disappear a second application would not prove profitable and desirable; in many eases where a second application has been given after five or six years, the effects hare been very good and profitable, though, naturally, not so striking as those-attending the first manuring. Danger to Stock.—Sometimes the idea is entertained that basic slag, if taken oven in small quantities by stock, proves highly injurious; it may, therefore, be observed that there is no danger of special injury resulting, even-if stock have not been removed from the field at-the time the slag is applied. Basic slag has been used in certain cases as a food, with tiio special object of supplying bone-making ingredients, with quite satisfactory results. It is, however, advisable to wait until a heavy shower has washed most of the slag off the herbage before turning stock into tho pasture.