The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1916. LIME IN AGRICULTURE

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13294, 25 September 1916, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1916. LIME IN AGRICULTURE

That more enthusiasm has not been shown in the matter of agricultural research is not, so much the fault of the Agricultural Department as of tin; farmers themselves. It is true they have learned, and not altogether without cause, lo look with suspicion on experls whose agricultural knowledge was too academic, mostly limited to tie 1 contents of certain text-books, and had no real consummation on Hie practical side of husbandry, so lh;:l the word

"experiment" was 100 frequently used to cloak glaring errors or economic impossibilities. Thai much pioneering of a useful sort has been done and that experiments almost foredoomed to failure commercially had lo he undertaken goes without saying. The fact remains that the sum total of work accomplished has been considerable. This will be apparent I" anyone who cares to investigate. It may reasonably be asked whal kind of developmental work would it be most profitable to carry out in the Auckland province. The prices of

manures have recently increased to such an extent thai the purchase of them in anything like adequate quantities becomes a heavy tax upon the fanner. We, therefore, suggest that the means of fertilisation ready to hand should be used to the fullest extent, and the chief of these is lime, which, however, is not a manure in the true sense of the term, tin the subject of lime supply Mr Brown, Director of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, a practical man with high scientific qualifications, writes as follows in the July issue of the Department's journal: •"This is a matter which has agitated the minds of fanners in recent linn's from the North Cape to the Bluff. It is right that it should, as, generally speaking, lime is without doubt a very frequently limiting factor in the production of the soil. lam inclined to think that on the drier and freer working soils of the plains districts on the eastern seaboards on both Islands ils effects will be scarcely apparent in the actual amount of production of pasture, although an improved quality of the pasture even there may be reflected in better condition of the slock." We wish our readers to give the fullest consideration to that aspect of the question. We know a number of farmers who have a peculiar prejudice against the use of basic slag. We have seen it laid on with a shovel, yet the pasture so treated did not appear to yield a greater growth than that which had received no treatment. Until tests have heen made in crazing stock on areas variously treated and the results noted no one can determine to what extent pasture lands may have benefited by top-dressing. Mr Brown considers that in nearly every other part of New Zealand than those areas already indicated systematic liming will be, productive of much higher net profits than have hitherto been realised, for systematic liming as described by him will undoubtedly result in an allround improvement in palatability and nutritative value, as shown by evenness of grazing, greater carrying capacity, and thrift of stock. We have in our mind's eye vast areas of swamp land in the Auckland province that would undoubtedly be benefited by liming, and might name the Hauraki Plains, including the great Piako swamp, Bukuhia, Taupiri, lower Waikato, and the fine flax and raupo area at Kawa, on the .Main Trunk line. The North is also crying out for lime, and nowhere have the resources of our greatest assets in land, the swamp areas, been tapped to any extent. The pioneer grass on swamp land is Yorkshire Fog, a very useful grass in its place, for it comes away earlier in the spring in the Auckland climate, and remains longer in the autumn than any other grass; in fact it is growing all the year round, as may be seen by anyone looking from a railway carriage on the Main Trunk line near Te Kawhata. Following what we may term this preparatory grass comes a better, namely Loftus .Major. It is almost certain that with a proper application of lime these swamps, so rich in humus, could be made valuable pasture lands, carrying grasses of high nutritive value, with a corresponding grazing capacity, all in a very short period of time. Liming and draining would naturally keep step and march to the one tune.

Here, however, we are faced with a difficulty. Since the cost of some manures has risen so rapidly, and others are almost if not altogether unprocurable, fanners have been drawing largely upon the lime supply until it is now quite exhausted. Waikato depended for its supply upon Te Kuiti. We are informed on good authority that the demand is now far ahead of the supply, and that it is difficult to procure even the ground stone. This is amazing considering that we metal our roads and ballast our railway lines with stone from Te Kuiti. The farmers in the Kararnu district are forming a company to run a co-operative lime kiln, but where the demand is for thousands of tons where merely hundreds can be produced some further action is necessary. Te Kuiti is the idea! place for burning and distributing lime. The stone carries an extraordinary high \ percentage of lime which, when burnt, i may almost be shovelled into the railway trucks. It is in the interests of the Railway Department that this wealth-producing product should be liberally distributed. The returns in

the shape of freight on produce will be almost immediate. The supply of lime, however, must bo. made adequate fur all requirements. Should the utilisation of lime prove as commercially profitable as we believe it will, the future will have no complaint to make about the increased prices of imported manures. The phosphatic manures will always be required for Waikato lands for which nitrogenous manures are not necessary except in the case of big money crops such as potatoes), and the lime supply is a matter for urgent consideration, and there will be no satisfactory end to the matter until the State shoulders its responsibility by establishing State kilns and distributing the lime to farmers at cost price. We earnestly recommend this suggestion to that practical and successful fanner' the Honourable Minister for A.uriculture..