Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-06-11
AGRICULTURAL.
ManureS.

some IN state of decomposition and the re-
mainder fresh and unchanged. There exists
great difference of opinion as to whether it
is most advantageous to use long or fresh ma
nures, rather than that which is completely
rotted- The difficulty is capable of adjust
ment. If the intention be only to benefit the
immediately succeeding crop, the manure
should be completely rotted but long manure.
II plouGhed in and covered, is more benef-
cial to future crops; it is much preferred for
potatoes, for rotten manures make them wa
terry and worm-eaten. If the object be to
furnish the greatest amount of organic mat
ter to the soil the sooner the application is
made the better. On compact clays the mix
ture OF straw and coarse manure is beneficial,
rendering them loose and light, while the pro-
ducts of decomposition are more completely
retained than in looser soil. Coarse manure
makes loose soils looser and loses more of its
elements in decomposing; for this reason
compact, ferment manures are best on such
soils. For crops which grow rapidly and ma
nure in short time, well fermented manures
and fine composts are more Immediately felt
turnips, buckwheat, clover and many garden
vegetables, might almost mature before de-
composition would be sufficiently advanced
in new and coarse nanures to do them any
benefit. When it is desired to force or quick
en- a crop, well fermentcd or fine heating
manure should be used, rich compost, bone
dust, or manure of horse and sheep. The |
straw of wheat, oats, &C., contains a mixture |
of saline substances, which is exceedingly val |
liable as manures to almost every crop the |
ir Of fbpt cbaF ic
omical generally to rot the straw and chaff in
the barn-yard, instead of dissipating all their
volatile matter in the air; when buried dry
they decompose slowly, and produce less
sensible effect on the succeeding crop. Du-
ring fermentation an unavoidable loss of or
ganic and Of saline matter takes place. II is,
therefore, theoretically true of dry as well as
of green vegetable matter, that it will add
most to the soil if ploughed in previous TO fer
mentation- Yet this is not the only consider
Grafton for practical man; instead of a slow
and prolonged action his crops, he may
require an immediate and powerful one for a l
shorter time, and to obtain this, may be justi- :
fed in fermenting his straw with .hc certainty L
even of a loss. Thus the dispute about the
application of long or short manures becomes [
altogether one of expediency and practical
Chaff partakes of the nature of
straw, but decomposes even more slowly when
buried dry II is also difficult to ferment -
even when mixed with IquId manure me Z
main general difference between vegetable
manure of the same kind, cut at the same age,
and applied in green or dry state Is thiS Y
The former decomposes more rapidly, anu
therefore acts more speedily the total effect 0
in either case will probably be very near the i
same. But if the vegetable matter. had been
cut at a more advanced stage, or been expo G
sed to the wheather while drying, it will no
longer exhibit the same efficacy. A ton OF Q
dry straw cut green will be much richer than ]
if cut ripe and dry; not only because the green {
plaut contains the materials from which the {
grain is afterwards formed, but because as the
,Jont rinened il restored to the earth portion
of the saline matters it originally extracted.
After it is cut, every shower that falls on 1t
washes out portion of the salt contained III
its pores.-( Sec Scientific Agriculture, by
ROGERS Johnston and Browns Field BOOK,
223.A All those troublesome pests, the rob-
hers of our fields should be cut down in their
greatest vicor and laid in the barn-yard or pig
and whenever.and however applied, are vaiu-
able as manure. 1t almost ''surpasses our cal
culation;to estimate the damages done to crops
by weeds and the consequent advantages OF
DESTROYING them in their bloom almost every |
species produces millions of seeds which are |
waited to far distant-spots ; they shade ana |
occupy the soil, and by their superior Vigor |
drain out the sustenance prepared for more |
delicate plants, and at last smother them.
The remains of plants with the excrement
and carcases of animals, if returned to the
Garth before decomposition, must contain all
the mineral, organic and gaseous matters
which the animals derive from their food, Or
the plants from the soil. The solid matters
must all pass through the process of decompo-
sition, before they assume their original, gas
eous or earthly forms, and become food for
plants. The science of manuring consists in
applying to the soil those elements which
have been taken up by growing crops; the
richest manures may be applied to failing
soil, and if they lack the particular clements
which the crop require, and which the soil
does not contain, the field grows barren.-
Farm-yard manure probably contains the great
est number of elements necessary to fertility,
but for their iull development particular plants
require special manures.
Manures operate beneficialIy in various ways:
First-by serving in some instances as food
for plants. Secondly causing chemical
changes in the soil by which other substances
are prepared to be taken up as food. Third
BY neutralizirg noxious substances in the
soil which preyent the growth of crops.-