Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-10-21
Management Of Manures.

So much has been written and said about
the proper management of manures that
one would suppose the failures and mistakes
IN practice would be the exception rather
than the rule. But some farmers still holi
to the opinion. apparently, that leached
ashes are worth as much as uneached. In
teIIIgent practice has long since demonstrated
that manures made under cover, like the barn
cellar, have a far more marked effect than
those exposed in the yard, and scientific in
vesrigatiun has shown that the really valuable
constituents are those that are soluble, and
of course. easily washed out and carried away
by the rains.
The analogy between common Darn manure
and ashes is u correct one and holds good III
Tracti e. Ashes after being leached are CON-
parativey worthless for the manufacture OF
soap The life is gone, and however good
they may be for other purposes, as for top
dressing, they are worthless for the main
purpose for which they arc used. And 80
manure, after it s washed and leached in
the rains may still be of some service a
mulchIng, protection to the roots of the
grass or fruit trees, but a manure for crops
Of any kind its stimulating power has gone.
end it is comparatively worthless, All expe
Renee shows this, all scientific Investigation
shows it, and every intelligent farmer knows
that is is so, in practice knows that the
rains take the heat out of the mnnure, and
yet instances of the most careless manage
ment or rather neglect of manures are innu-
merable. The wastes of the farm begin
with the manure heap. the foundation of all
success at farming. and they are seen at every
step on manv farm, and are sufficient tc
make the difference between success and
failure in any farming operation We do
not a'lrde now TO want of judgement IN
composing and handling and increasing this
indispensable article, SO much as the reck-
less exposure to the teaching effect OF the
rams, water, washing out the soluble con-
stituents of common yard or barn manures
Probably the actual loss by the mismanage-
ment of manures. and the want of system
and economy in saving and applying manurei
in this commonwealth, is not Tar short Of 8
million dollars year. No other source OF
waste Is so directly preludicial to success IL
farming, aud no other could be moro easily
prevented.
II a farmer, like the ancient orator, were
asked what was the first great requisite o
success in farming. he would unquestionabl,
answer manure. What the second, the al
swer would still be manure. What the third
the answer must again be manure. 1t is tn
beginning the middle and the end of success
the one thing needful, without which we cal
hardly have the face to expect blessing up
efforts.
Il s related of a certain French priest
who, as was the custom in his country, year
ago, was going about Blessing the fields o
his parishioners at the beginning of the season
that he came to one 50 miserably bad an,
i'll managed as TO stagger his faith, when
closing his book, he turned to dhe owner ant
eaid-'' My son, blessing won't help thi
field, it wants manure" How often, In go
ing about the farms of this State, on tn
same errand. would he have to stop and re
fuse his blessing for the want Of manure!
The fact is, good and clean cultivation ar
of the utmost importance, but with all this
the soil must still have the elements of plan
growth, or the plough and the harrow vii
run in vain, and these can only be createt
and kept up in tbesoile BY tho heqssetaP
piioarion- Of nspures. : Mspures eitber con
stitute directly, or assist Indirectly the sup
ply of q large parsof vegetable life. W.
kDWs ths-sYc1y 6xmrzkuOHs itgega -
he goes on permitting waste in tho form Q
mandre ct whdch h Aaa19ll ~peld aDaaGesn
iahed if be could but is a Is. the extent
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