WHEAT-MANURING EXPERIENCE IN CANTERBURY.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 43, Issue 5, 20 November 1931, Page 358

WHEAT-MANURING EXPERIENCE IN CANTERBURY.

The following note is extracted from the October issue of the Wheatgrower (organ of the N.Z. Wheatgrowers’ Co-operative Association): —

In a series of very sound manurial experiments conducted over the past seven or eight years the Department of Agriculture has demonstrated that the effect of applying i cwt. of super with the seed at wheat-sowing increases the yield, on an average, by about 5 or 6 bushels per acre. In the main, farmers have accepted the value of this, and have applied superphosphate with their wheat ; however, this year, owing to the economic conditions, some farmers took the risk of sowing some of their wheat without manure.

At a recent meeting of the Farmers’ Union held at Springston one farmer present stated that he sowed some wheat this year on a fallowed piece of good land, and ran out of manure when he had still 4 acres to do to finish the paddock. He did not bother to get any more manure. He started that the manured portion of the field is looking healthy, with a vigorous growth, whilst the part not manured appears as though a . fire had gone over the paddock. It is looking brown, and it seems as though the non-manured portion will yield many bushels less than the manured. Somewhat similar experiences have been recorded in South and Mid Canterbury.

Whilst super is most important for autumn-sown wheat, it is even more important for spring-sown, the crop having a shorter period in which to find its food-supply and develop its grain.