GLACIER RIVER SILT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 182, 6 August 1935, Page 11

GLACIER RIVER SILT

IRRIGATION PROJECTS. POSSIBLE VALUE AS MANURE. When conducting experiments to determine the amount of silt carried by Mid-Canterbury ‘and South Canterbury rivers the irrigation experts nuw working at Tvmuka made what promises to prove an interesting discox ery. They found that in some of the Canterbury rivers such a high percentage of line silt with a dclyiite food value was often carried that if th-e water could be deposited on the countryside its effect would probably be highly beneficial. All necessary tests have been made to prove the content of the food-value in this silt, the exlent to which it carried in the rivers at certain tinres, ami its likely effect on the land. From these tests it appears that, quite apart from the benefits derived from th-e water itself in some of the South Canterbury irrigation systems likely to be in operation in the n ®xt few years, the deposit of the silt may become a very important factor in the general improvement of the productive qualities of the countryside.