(05 



III orchards !iiulchiii>;' oi the Irmt 

 trees with j^reen crops, staWlc man- 

 ure, dead leaves, etc., is of parti- 

 cular value. 



Bv jjrowing crops in a proper 

 rotation, applyinjr the nvanures re- 

 quired for each cro]), the fertility 

 of soil will he increased and jjood 

 results obtained. 



In the case of mciny crops which, 

 on account of local conditions, do 

 not allow a rotation en crops — 

 like, for instance, sujjar cane — it is 

 .ilways most profittvblc to give the 

 land, after a few years of crop- 

 ping, a complete rest. Instead of 

 leaving the land bare of fallow, 

 it is best to grow plants like 

 pigeon peas, wild indigo, and lan- 

 tana, which cover and protect the 

 soil, and at the same time enrich 

 the soil in humus and make fur- 

 ther amounts of mineral plant 

 foods available, so that after a few 

 vears of rest it is again complete- 

 Iv renovated and fit to grow heavy 

 crops. 



— Lime. — 



In many of our soils the want of 

 lime is very apparent, and is fre- 

 quently shown by strong acid re- 

 action of soil and subsoil. Many 

 plants are very susceptible to soil 

 acidity ; and application of artifi- 

 cial fertilisers, and more particu- 

 larly siich with an acid reaction, 

 is frequently an absolute waste; of 

 money, unless the acidity is cor- 

 rected by a previous application 

 of lime in one form or another. 

 Only in the case of heavy clayey 

 soils the use of quick lime or air- 

 slaked lime is to be recommended; 

 for lighter soils carbonate of lime, 

 in the form of limestones screen- 

 ings, and also sulphate of lime or 

 gj-psum, are to be preferred, and 

 all have to be applied as a top- 

 dressing. Particularly after plough- 

 ing in heavy crops of green man- 

 ure, many soils develop a high 

 acidity, and may require liming. 



As a rule, soils under cultiva- 

 tion for some years will require 

 comiilete fertilisers in order to ob- 

 tain good crops and maintain the 

 fertility of the soil. It is of in- 

 terest to mention that in Hawaii 

 the extreanely rich virgin soils, 

 when put under sugar cane, are 

 manured with heavy dressings of 

 artificial fertilisers from the very 

 start, and consequently a heavy 

 yield is obtained and maintained 

 for years. 



Still, the fact must not be over- 

 looked that in many cases com- 

 plete fertilisers are not always 

 necessary and their us© not econo- 



mic. .\s an iiisl.uice the mcanur- 

 iii^;- ol wheat may be mentioned, 

 which is quite (lilfereiit in Austra- 

 lia than in other countries. Prac- 

 tical experiences, gained in South 

 .\ustralia and \ ictoria, have shown; 

 that ev en \ ery light dressings of 

 snper[)hospliate give excellent re- 

 sults, frequently even be'tter than 

 an application of complete fer- 

 tilisers. Unfortunately, this ex- 

 perience is not universal ; and al- 

 ready in New South Wales excep- 

 tions have been found, and it is 

 quite likely that our wheat'grow- 

 ers win find m-ore camplete fer- 

 tilisers in certain localities better 

 than superphosphate used by it- 

 .self. All this is a matter of ex- 

 perience, which cannot be gained 

 in a year or two and experiments 

 in this direction should be encour- 

 aged. No farmer should hestitate 

 to do a little experimenting of his 

 own, as it is quite probable that 

 his soil reqiuires a slightly different 

 treatment than his neighbour's 

 land. 



The plant foods which are gener- 

 ally supplied by artificial fertilisers 

 are ; — 



Nitrogen, Potash, and Phos- 

 phoric Acid ; and, , as they may be 

 used in various forms, a few re- 

 marks on these points are neces- 

 sary. It must be also borne in 

 mind that the plants can only abf 

 sorb, by the aid of the roots, such 

 mineral plant foods which are actu- 

 ally in solution ; and,i therefore, 

 sufficient moisture must be present 

 in the soil, and the plant foods in 

 the manure should be in a fairly 

 soluble form. It is always best 

 to use artificial fertilisers in the 

 most concentrated form, in order 

 to save freight and handling ; and 

 therefore, only such will be used 

 in the manure formulae recom- 

 mended for the different crops. 



Nitrogen is one of the most im- 

 portant and, at the same time, 

 most expensive ingredient of arti- 

 ficial 'fertilisers. 



— Nitrogen. — 



Nitrogen promotes and stimu- 

 lates the growth of leaves and 

 stettn, but rather retards, on ac- 

 count of a m.ore luxuriant growth, 

 the development of buds and flow- 

 ers. The leaves generally show a 

 deep-'green colour, and the whole 

 plant becomes more vigorcus after 

 application of a nitrogenous man- 

 ure. In the form of nitrates it is 

 most active and most readily 

 available to plant life, and is gen- 

 erallv applied in the form of ni- 

 trate of soda, or Chili saltpetre, 



which c<;ntaiiis Iroiii i -i/^ to l6 

 per cent, ol nitrogen. Saltpetre is, 

 howcAer, very soluble and, unless, 

 directly used up by the plant, 

 may be readily leached out and 

 lost in the drainage water. At the 

 present day it is nein r r/i:laced by 

 the artificial product nitrate of 

 lime, which is just as active and 

 available, but not so easily leach- 

 ed out, and has a much better auc- 

 tion on the soil on account of the 

 larye amount of lime it contains. 

 Both fertilisers absorb moisture 

 from' the air, are not suitable to 

 mix with other fertilisers, and are 

 also bad to handle. They are gen. 

 erally applied as top-dres.sings in 

 repeated small amounts at the 

 time when the crop is ready to 

 utilise them. 



— Nitrolim. — 



Nitrolim, or cyanam-ide, is an- 

 other artificial product, containing 

 about 1 8 to 19 per cent, of nitro- 

 gen and over 60 per cent, of lime. 

 The nitrogen is not qoiite so readi- 

 ly available as in nitrate of lime, 

 but it comes very close in its ac- 

 tion and has other advantages. It 

 may be readily mixed with other 

 fertilisers, and may be applied 

 some time before planting. When 

 using this fertiliser by itself, it is 

 best to mix it with about twice itsi 

 weight of fine soil, to apply the 

 mixture in drills oi- broadcast it, 

 and co\er well with soil, by sub- 

 sequent harrowing or cultivating, 

 a week or two before sowing or 

 planting the crop. When mixing 

 nitrolim, in the preparation of 

 complete fertilisers, with super- 

 phosphate, it is advisable to 

 sprinkle from time to time with a 

 little water during the mixing, in 

 order to keep down the heat pro- 

 duced by a chemical interaction, 

 and to add the potassium sulphate 

 last. 



In most of the manuring formu- 

 lae, this nitrogenous manure is 

 used, but it may be replaced if de- 

 sired by the same amount of am- 

 monium-sulphate, or increased 

 amounts of dried blood. 



Dried blood contains from 12 to 

 13 ]>er cent, of nitrogen in a fairly 

 available form, and many crops 

 seem to benefit particularly by 

 this nitrogenous manure, which, 

 however, is rather scarce and not 

 easily obtainable. Blood may, be 

 mixed with other fertilisers, and 

 can be applied some time before 

 planting. 



(To be Continued). 



