Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 25, 2018 17:30:45 GMT 12
This is from the WAIKATO INDEPENDENT, hear in Cambridge, from the 21 SEPTEMBER 1949
Aerial Top-dressing Has Great Possibilities
The comment made by the president Mr A. B. Baker, who is an experienced amateur flier, at the last meeting of the Cambridge Sub-Province of Federated
Farmers that it would not be many years before fertilizer was flown straight from the works and spread from the air, would be supported by most farmers who attended the farm machinery display at Te Awamutu last week. While the demonstration there of aerial top-dressing there was not altogether successful, on account of the rain winch had set in,, it revealed the great possibilities that lie ahead.
Early in the afternoon a plane piloted by Mr D. R. Greig, of Mangere, flew over the area and finally made a landing on a paddock belonged to the Waikeria Institute and from which it is believed that Kingsford Smith made his flights when he was in that area. The plane, specially equipped, was quickly loaded from a special hopper with 430 pounds of lime and was soon airborne again. Alter making a trial run over the field to be topdressed prior to his loading the plane, the pilot knew the area was able to make a perfect run without any hitch at all. He flew in low at an altitude of little more than 50 feet and released the lime with perfect timing.
The demonstration was easily the main attraction of the day and appeared to the uninitiated to be a perfect demonstration despite the fairly low visibility and the miserable conditions prevailing. However, after making three runs the pilot set his craft down on top of the hill in a confined space with the ease of an expert and went to the microphone to say that the demonstration had been a failure because of the lime sticking in the hopper in the plane and not running freely. It was too fresh from the kiln, he said, and the damp conditions had caused it to be hung up in the hopper and consequently to be distributed over too great an area, considerably reducing the 2cwt to the acre which he had intended to sow. Pelletted super was the ideal manure to sow by the aerial method, he said.
His demonstration, the first to be made in the district commercially, was to awaken interest in the aerial method of topdressing and also in the aeroplane as an agricultural implement. Mr Greig stated that the Waikato Aero Club were preparing to undertake the aerial topdressing in very near future and he had given the demonstration to stimulate interest.
That he had successfully done so was proved by the numbers of interested farmers who beseiged him after he had spoken over the loudspeaker system.
Prices as yet, he said, had not been finally decided but a conference was being held in Wellington in the near future and it was hoped that all those taking part in the conference would be able to work out a reasonable price for aerial topdressing of high country. Mr Greig said that he could sow in the vicinity of four tons per hour and that the approximate final price for aerial topdressing would be in the. vicinity of £4 per ton. During the demonstration with the plane a hopper type manure broadcaster was seen in action. The hopper was capable of holding 25cwt of superphosphate which was fed to a horizontal rotary plate at the rear and broadcast over a wide area. The unit was easily regulated and was towed by a trailer.
Aerial Top-dressing Has Great Possibilities
The comment made by the president Mr A. B. Baker, who is an experienced amateur flier, at the last meeting of the Cambridge Sub-Province of Federated
Farmers that it would not be many years before fertilizer was flown straight from the works and spread from the air, would be supported by most farmers who attended the farm machinery display at Te Awamutu last week. While the demonstration there of aerial top-dressing there was not altogether successful, on account of the rain winch had set in,, it revealed the great possibilities that lie ahead.
Early in the afternoon a plane piloted by Mr D. R. Greig, of Mangere, flew over the area and finally made a landing on a paddock belonged to the Waikeria Institute and from which it is believed that Kingsford Smith made his flights when he was in that area. The plane, specially equipped, was quickly loaded from a special hopper with 430 pounds of lime and was soon airborne again. Alter making a trial run over the field to be topdressed prior to his loading the plane, the pilot knew the area was able to make a perfect run without any hitch at all. He flew in low at an altitude of little more than 50 feet and released the lime with perfect timing.
The demonstration was easily the main attraction of the day and appeared to the uninitiated to be a perfect demonstration despite the fairly low visibility and the miserable conditions prevailing. However, after making three runs the pilot set his craft down on top of the hill in a confined space with the ease of an expert and went to the microphone to say that the demonstration had been a failure because of the lime sticking in the hopper in the plane and not running freely. It was too fresh from the kiln, he said, and the damp conditions had caused it to be hung up in the hopper and consequently to be distributed over too great an area, considerably reducing the 2cwt to the acre which he had intended to sow. Pelletted super was the ideal manure to sow by the aerial method, he said.
His demonstration, the first to be made in the district commercially, was to awaken interest in the aerial method of topdressing and also in the aeroplane as an agricultural implement. Mr Greig stated that the Waikato Aero Club were preparing to undertake the aerial topdressing in very near future and he had given the demonstration to stimulate interest.
That he had successfully done so was proved by the numbers of interested farmers who beseiged him after he had spoken over the loudspeaker system.
Prices as yet, he said, had not been finally decided but a conference was being held in Wellington in the near future and it was hoped that all those taking part in the conference would be able to work out a reasonable price for aerial topdressing of high country. Mr Greig said that he could sow in the vicinity of four tons per hour and that the approximate final price for aerial topdressing would be in the. vicinity of £4 per ton. During the demonstration with the plane a hopper type manure broadcaster was seen in action. The hopper was capable of holding 25cwt of superphosphate which was fed to a horizontal rotary plate at the rear and broadcast over a wide area. The unit was easily regulated and was towed by a trailer.
