LIQUID MANURE.

Waikato Times, Issue 12123, 6 November 1911, Page 5

LIQUID MANURE.

ITS VALUE ON PASTURE. It will come as a surprise to many farmers to learn, on the authority of so well known a writer a s Mr Primrise McConnell, that liquid manure when applied to pasture lands does not possess many merits. In au article on the subject, which appears in this month's Agricultural Journal Mr McConnell writes as foflows "I was asked the question the other day, 'Does it pay to apply liquid farmyard manure ?' My reply, which may shock the theorist, was a decided negative. "Forty years ago pumps and tanks were erected, more or less, over the whole of England and Scotland. Today 90 per cent of the erections are dying a natural death through neglect, as it has been abundantly proved, not only by individual farmers, but also by a, long course of experiments at Rothamstead, that, even apart from the fact that it is almost impossible to get hands to undertake the filthy work, 'the game is not worth the candle.' "The analysis of liquid manure shows that it is highly nitrogenous, the principal fertilising elementsphosphoric acid —being entirely absent Everyday it is be doming more apparent that the application of hignly rl'trogenous manures in the end does not pay—that is, where the resultant crops (more particularly grass and hay) are used for feeding purposes. Tne reason, of course, is that quality is sacrificed to 1 bulk. "It As quite true that wherever liquid manure is applied the effect, as judged by the eye, is everything that could be desired ; but the digestive organs of our farm-stock, which form a laboratory that the farmer can always rely upon, tell a different tale, and all feeding experiments, matter where carried out, have had the same result.

"A certain proportion of nitrogen tn the soil is, of course, necessary, but all' that is required can be dhiefIy obtained by the growth of clovers, lucerne, peas, tares, etc. Where feeding-value of a crop is not essential, as a market-garden produce, iiquid manure may fill a place, .but even then I am of the opinion that nitragen can be applied more cheaply in the form of nitrate of so-da, or sulphate of ammonia, and certainly Mth mora comfort to the person applying it. "It may seem a pity that millions of gallons of this manure are daily run"lt may seem a pity that millions of ning to waste, lout facts cannot ue ignored. If liquid manure is applied year after year to pasture lands, tfce hulk of the crop will be enormously increased, but the finer grasses and clovers will entirely disappear. "'On one farm in my native coun-

try liquid manure was tested on the most elaborate scale, the manure being applied through an extensive system of irrigation pipes the result was a complete failure. It has often struck me that this system of manuring may lie the means of spreading broadcast on our paddocks many of the diseases to which our farm stock are liable—abortion, for instance. Of coursa, tMis is only a suggestion, and i offer it for what it is is worth. "I am aware that this system of manuring is almost non-existent in New Zealand, and to any farmer who thinks of trying the experiment my advice would be 'Don't.j On pasture lands the application phosporic acid (and potash where required) is all that is necessary. This application will encourage the growth of clovers, and the latter will be the means of securing all the nitrogen that is required." •