Agriculture and Soil

[1902]  A LECTURE ON SOILS.

KANGAROO ISLAND COMPARED WITH OTHER PLACES.

Mr. A. E. V. Richardson delivered a lec ture at Kingscote on Saturday on "The Soils of Kangaroo Island," and his remarks were listened to by a large audience of producers from all parts of that southern dependency of the State. He dealt with agriculture generally, and specially with the soils. In his address Mr. Richardson said: Generally speaking, soils are most deficient in nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, and from a chemical point of view the natural fertility of a series based on the amount of these three substances are present, together with the amount of lime in the soil. A soil would be considered fairly fertile if on analysis it was found to contain, say, .1 per cent. nitrogen, .1 per cent. phosphoric acid, .2 per cent., potash, and 2 to 3 per cent. lime. The following table will give some indication, therefore, of the natural fertility of the ironstone country on Kangaroo Island, and fairly typical soils of Pinnaroo and Loxton, so far as we can judge them in the light of chemical analyses: [see image of the table, below]

From this table it will be noted that the ironstone soils of the island, are, compared with a good average soil, remarkably deficient in phosphoric acid and lime. The amount of nitrogen, though below the average, and potash is quite satisfactory. Soils even poorer in phosphoric acid have by the use of superphosphates been profitably worked in other parts of the State, and it is certain that these soils can only be made to bear profitable crops by the liberal use of phosphatic manures. Such feeds, moreover, being deficient in lime will benefit considerably by the judicious application of lime. These ironstone soils are almost constantly found resting on stiff yellow glacial clay subsoils, and for the most part are wet, cold, and sour. By constant cultivation and liming, and the ploughing in of green manures, these soils will rapidly sweeten and vastly improve in physical condition. 

The chemist, physicist, and biologist have now wrested from nature so many secrets regarding soils, plant needs, and manures, that it is possible profitably to utilise soils which hitherto were regarded as practically sterile. Moreover, it must always be remembered that the governing factor in crop production is in the ultimate analysis, always the rainfall, and that given a favorably climate like Kangaroo Island has, the farmer who handles his soil with care and judgment has the making of it largely in his own hands.

[1911]  KANGAROO ISLAND SOILS.

LIME VERSUS IRON. LECTURE BY PROFESSOR LOWRIE.

Professor Lowrie, Director of Agriculture, addressed a meeting of farmers in the District Hall on Wednesday evening. As the professor has to report to Parliament the result of his week's tour on the Island, and must prepare analyses to furnish data for his report, he had abandoned the idea of a public lecture, but on learning that some farmers had come in 30 miles to hear him he consented to talk to them, and at 9 o'clock began what he termed an ' informal conversational meeting' at which farmers were invited to ask questions. The professor said be had thought it unlikely that many farmers would come in in the middle of hay time, but he was glad to meet them. In getting over the Island, or as much as he had seen of it, he had found that the problem besetting the man who tackled that country was a harder one than he had anticipated. Therefore be desired to take samples for analysis. He had seen analyses of Kangaroo Island soils, but to get at the truth as far as was practicable he wanted analyses from the country he himself had inspected, and as he had to report to Parliament his better course was to keep relatively quiet. Yet he would do his best so as not to disappoint those who had come in from a distance. In going round as he had done—as far as Vivonne Bay, taking one way there and returning by another—he had had an opportunity of seeing nearly all the varieties of country they were likely to have on the Island. 

So far as he could judge from a rapid run round, the problem before the farmers of this Hundred was practically the same as beset any South Australian farmer working on land with a small proportion of limestone in it, and that differed according to the tenacity of the herbage growing upon it. Farming was plain sailing once the scrub was cleared. There was no short road to clearing but downright hard work and persistent effort. In this climate limestone land was an easy problem, very much a matter of superphosphates, but with ironstone it was different. Limestone was a sweet soil and they could apply phosphates to it and get full value for it in return, but if they applied a soluble phosphate to ironstone land they would not get full value. Because, in the first place, the salts of iron were there, making the land sour, and in the second place making it stiff owing to the small circulation of air through the soil, which made a kind of cement of it. Phosphate of iron was produced instead of phosphate of lime and if the iron gripped with the phosphoric acid they got ferric phosphate formed and that was not soluble. That was the keynote to the use of land with a large proportion of iron in it— it was a question of lime. Lime was an absolutely indispensable element in the soil for the health of the plant. How much more necessary was it therefore to use lime on that class of land where lime went down perhaps to .05. In looking at the experimental plots put in by the Department he found very heavy dressings of manure on some plots which he would not dare to use except on limestone land round here. The land would be too heavily manured. On ironstone land there was not sufficient lime to breakdown the phosphate of iron. They had to get lime from somewhere and his first suggestion was that they should work out a 

CO-OPERATIVE LIME-BURNING 

plant to Kingscote. They would thus always have back loading, like the market gardeners, which would help to cheapen transport. He himself was going to try the shells on the beach, taking back a sample for analysis. The greater proportion of the shells of course would be lime and carbonate of lime, but that was better than nothing. Quicklime was more beneficial, because it was more active and there was as much lime in 56 1b. of quicklime as in 100 lb of limestone. On this class of soils the quicklime would burn out the organic matter quicker. He hoped to be able to get a few acres on the Telegraph Line dressed with the lime shells, but he would not expect the full value of that back the first year or the second but the soil would improve in succeeding years. But it would not pay without back-loading and that was the only thing which kept him from urging it ' baldheaded.' In New Zealand quicklime was placed on the farms ready to go through the drills at £1 a ton and the Government carried it 100 miles free on the railways. Even without back carriage they could get better results than at present. They must get lime into the soil. Whether the addition of lime would ultimately bring the country into profitable use remained to be determined. He would not give any forecast in this direction until he knew the results of his analyses. 

IRON POISON. 

He would mention another point. Where non-aerated the iron was a ferrous salt, a lower salt of iron, which apart from holding up phosphates from the plant acted as a direct poison. They could get over that by frequent cultivation. The value of cultivation was to get the air into the soil to keep the ferments in the soil alive. But if the land set hard and tight they must work it between wet and dry to keep a circulation through it. That was the remedy for iron poison, as was also the use of lime, which oxidised the low salts. The question was whether they could profitably work up that land by dressings of lime and artificial manure together to make it a successful venture. That was yet to be solved. 

Professor Dowrie described the methods adopted by the Scotch farmers. At the beginning of a 19 years lease they used to apply 6 tons of lime per acre and expected to get to get the full value of the lime back before the lease was out. Some applied as much as 9 tons per acre. But knowledge had increased and lighter dressings were now used. The common dressing was 10 to 20 cwt and even as little as 5 to 7 cwt. 

Fallowing. 

Professor Lowrie said it was a pity to see so little of this country fallowed. He could very nearly jump all over the fallow on the Island (laughter). They were not giving Nature a chance. 

A farmer—The last two years the fallow proved a failure in the back country. 

Professor Lowrie —And without fallow it would be proved a greater failure. Continuing the lecturer said that on 18in. rainfall country the man who did not fallow in South Australia did not know his business and the same applied to this Hundred. Farmers reverted constantly to the idea of putting sea shells on the land. The professor emphasised the point that it was carbonate of lime and not phosphate that gave the interchange with salts. Gypsum would not give the same benefit to that class of country as would carbonate of lime. "Put it on as seashells," observed the professor, "and give it a trial and don't expect results too soon. That is the road you will have to travel to make anything of these soils." 

Mr Noske—What is a fair dressing per acre in the back country for a first year's crop? Professor Lowrie—One ton to the acre. That is putting money into it. If you apply a few hundred-weights I don't think you would get any appreciable advantage and as the land wants lime so essentially I would say 'Go a ton if you can manage it,' If you cannot afford a ton, then put on 7 cwt. to half a ton and apply dressings of lime through the drill as often as you can afford it. 

At the conclusion of the lecture a vote of thanks to Professor Lowrie was moved by Mr F. A. Wood, who acted as chairman and the Professor expressed the hope that when he next visited the Island he would have more exact data to work on ; he would know more about the problem of the Island next year probably. Mr Wood was thanked by the professor for presiding.

[1916]  . . . More reasons than actual deficiency of the recognised essential ingredients of fertility in the soil may account for the poorness of the crop on the trial plots carried out by the Agricultural Department in MacGillivray. I can point to a wheat crop grown in my immediate neighborhood on £60 an acre land, cultivated and manured in the usual way, and yielding a crop that could only be termed a failure on the poorest land. It would be impossible to treat a small piece of scrub land in the manner necessary to obtain good results the first year. Even at Pinnaroo, on an admittedly better class of land, the benefits of the scorching fire are too well known. Kangaroo Island soils, not being supplied with an overabundance of lime, render the fire treatment more necessary still. Those who have seen the improvement on raw sour land by systematic cultivation elsewhere, are prepared to speak with confidence of the results of the four years' experiments, if carried out as proposed by the Department of Agriculture. A drawback is the tenacity of life of the native vegetation, which, chemical analysis to the contrary, seem to find sufficient nutriment in the soil to make clearing the land a more lengthy operation than else where. Those who have tried killing the narrow leaf know this to their cost, and it does not look altogether as though the soil were incapable of supporting useful vegetation. The clearing, I venture to say, will for some years constitute the most expensive item in the growth of crops. Comparing the soil analytically with many others, it is only in its deficiency of phosphoric acid that it is specially weak, and yet the rich-looking flats of Millicent are in many cases equally low. So little of this element is really necessary for the growth of a successful crop that even if the whole of its requirements were supplied artificially the expense would not be great. When, by systematic cultivation and manuring, the eradication of the native scrub, and the mellowing influence of exposure to sun and air, the development of favorable soil bacteria is encouraged, the resultant crops will, without doubt, warrant reasonable transport facilities. A recurrence of droughty years might impress more vividly the necessity of developing these districts of the State where the rainfall is thoroughly reliable. 

I am, E. AITCHISON. Woodville Park, May 19, 1916.

[1941]  SOIL DEFICIENCY PROBLEMS. Phosphate, Nitrogen And Copper METHODS OP PASTURE PRODUCTION

The development of the higher rainfall districts of the South-East and Kangaroo Island has presented various problems, the chief of which has probably been soil fertility, associated with soil deficiencies, mainly phosphate and nitrogen. Considerable discussion has arisen as to the possibilities of pasture development over the districts mentioned, and pioneers of these areas, together with agricultural experts, hold widely divergent views as to the future economic development of the South-East and Island respectively.

Through the Soils Division of the Waite Research Institute, together with the Department of Agriculture, valuable experimental work in connection with Kangaroo Island soils and the development of pastures has been carried out during the past two years, and, although he contends that there are problems still to be solved, the Director of Waite Institute, Professor J. A. Prescott, has contributed to 'The Chronicle' the following informative article dealing with experimental work to date, the results of which must prove of great value to both old and new settlers on the island.

By PROFESSOR J. A. PRESCOTT, Director Waite Institute.

During the past few years scientific workers associated with the Animal Nutrition Laboratory and with the Waite Institute in Adelaide, have taken a great deal of interest in Kangaroo Island, and as a result of this interest the problems associated with the development of the Island are becoming more clearly defined and better understood. The pioneer work was done on Major Seager's property at Hawk's Nest, where the first investigations on coast disease were made. The area was not altogether suited to a complete investigation of the disease, and eventually this main investigation was transferred to Robe, but in the meanwhile officers of the Nutritions Laboratory had learned a great deal about this section of the Island and had conducted a variety of experiments on pasture establishment, some of which, conducted on the lower country of Hawk's Nest, led to the establishment of excellent pastures of Phalaris. The local ironstone soils, however, continued to present problems. The next stage in the investigations of the problems of the Island was associated with the large scale development of areas mainly in hundreds of Cassini and Duncan by a group of pastoralists, who based their activities on the assumption that the future of the Island lay in pastoral development rather than in cropping, and who solved the main problems of scrub clearing by the use of heavy tractors, suitable rollers and ploughs. The establishment of pastures remained, however, full of pitfalls, and it has only been by close observation on the part of the settlers, coupled with the co-operation of scientific investigators like Mr. T. H. Strong, the bacteriologist of the Soils Division at the Waite Institute, that the problems appear to have been solved.   . . .

[continues at length. See DEVELOPMENT OF KANGAROO ISLAND (1941, May 1). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92417116 

[1942]  To Increase Growth in Ironstone Soils

ADELAIDE: Professor H. C. Trumble, head of the Agronomy Department at Waite Institute, announced today that Mr A. J. Anderson, an officer of the Institute, had discovered that the application of molybdenum to ironstone soils had resulted in a striking response in growth of subterranean clover, lucerne, and associated grasses. This finding is likely to have a bearing on the future production of the ironstone soils of the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, and soils of similar type in other parts of the State.