Jidy2, 1920.] Agrimdtuml Gazette of N.S.W. 495 



Soil Improvement for Maize» 



I. — Manures and Fertilisers. 



[Continued from page 324.] 



H. WENHOLZ, B.Sc. (Agr.), Inspector of Agriculture. 



Experience with Fertilisers for Maize ia New South- Wales. 

 Experiments with fertihsers for maize (both for grain and fodder) have been 

 carried out in nearly all the maize districts of the State for many years, and 

 as these tests have been made on farmei's' experiment plots under typical 

 farming conditions, their value will be readily admitted. It is realised that 

 in testing fertilisers somewhat different results may be obtained according to 

 the season, and this fact, in addition to the impracticability of eliminating 

 experimental error on these plots, leads us to recommend that farmers should 

 be advised by the average of collective results over several seasons as presented 

 here rather than by individual results obtained even on their own farms. 



Owing to the absence of potash fertilisers during the last few years aird 

 the different form. (and increased price) of this fertiliser now on the market, 

 further tests will have to be carried out before any recommendations can be 

 made regarding potash for maize. While the Department is in a position 

 to recommend strongly difierent fertilisers or mixtures (according to the 

 district) as being highl}^ profitable for niaize on the I'esults to date, further 

 success is hoped for, and it is essential that these tests should be con- 

 tinued. The most important conclusion which can be presented is that 

 there is a significant difference in the kind and amount of fertiliser which 

 has given best results in the different districts of the State. It is likely, too, 

 when further data has been collected, that some similar conclusion will be 

 reached in regard to the different soils in each district, but this is not possible 

 •just now owing to the absence of a definite classification of the soils on which 

 the experiments have been conducted and owing also to the number of 

 tests on each class of soil necessary to a reliable average result being still 

 incomplete. There is, however, sufiicient evidence to conclude that even in 

 the same district the fertiliser which gives the best results for grain may 

 not always be the most profitable for fodder. The results will therefore be 

 given separately for grain and for fodder, and the division of the State into 

 districts for the fertilisers recommended will not be more than a rough 

 classification, dependent mostly on length of growing season. 



Fertilisers for Grain. 



Coastal Districts. 

 Reference has already been made to the results obtained from the use of 

 soluble nitrogenous fertilisers like nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia. 

 It has been fairly conclusively proved that on the coast it is not only unpro- 

 fitable but harmful to apply any of these fertilisers to a maize crop for grain. 



