Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-04-13
Agricultural Items.

MANURING FOR INDIAN CoRN.-!n
the course of some remarks on this sub
Jet, writer in the Country Gentleman
says; Detailed accounts OF the processes
by which good crops are obtained are
valuable, especially when clear state
ment is given of the condition of the land
before preparation for the crop. Without
this statement, readers are sometimes led
to place too much reliance on the sub
stances used in manuring, which upon
trial fail to produce the expected result.
l have noticed, in journals devoted to
agriculture, statements Of large crops OF
Indian corn obtained from worn out fields
during the past seas on or two, by judi
cious application of manures, apparently
well authenticated; and my own expert
ence in former years confirms me IN the
conclusion that the amount OF yield per
acre is only limited by the insufticlency OF
manure applied. Corn is such gour-
mand that no danger may be apprehended
from excessive manuring. If this is the
case, it seems most important to make an
ample provision as to quantity. Let the
application pc judicious, but above all let
it be plentiful: get it on, no matter if it
cannot all be applied in the fall and
winter keep on carting and spreading
until the last acre is turned under, before
narrowing to plant. l have witnessed
surprising results from spreading and
blowing in long unfermented' manures
from the farm-yard just before planting
Then apply little fine manure to the hill,
and the quantity thus applied should be
judiciously proportional to the condition
OF the field. fit has a liberal manuring
broadcast, there is little danger of over
doing the matter; but if the land is thin
and has had no manure plowed or har-
rowed in, caution must be observed on
this point.-I have known farmers to
spoil their crops by applying too much in
such circumstances, the result being a
crop Of stalks with very little corn.
But how shall we obtain manure in suf-
ficient quantities ? The best advice | can
give is to gather every resource of the
farm in the way of absorbents, and use
them freely under stock. There is a
great deal more which may answer this
purpose on farm, than most persons
euPPosc, uutll uoCeSSlty ODllStS Inen 10
hunt it up. One of the best manufac-
tories on the farm is good pen of hogs.
Let there be no rings in their shouts, as
this would spoil the machine: and then
be sure you feed the pen as faithfully as
you do the hogs. They will convert al
most everything imaginable into short
manure. Two or three years since the
fall months being very rainy, my hog pen
became exceedingly muddy, and I directed
my workman to load and cart large
quantity Of blackberry bushes, brambles,
or, as they are often called, bullbriars,
&C., and throw them into the pen, which
he did, though not without expressing
some astonishment at the thought of put
ting such stuff into hog pen "he said
he never saw the like of that BEFORE" in
ten or twelve days they were literally
torn to atoms and could scarcely be dis
tinguished from the general mass. re-
peated it again and again 1.-THE briars had
fully ripened there canes) and carted
from the pen in the spring fine lot of
manure for corn hills. By twelve
months trial, 1 ascertained that one hog,
shut up and managed as above named
gave twenty farm loads of good manure,
and on one occasion carted from nv hog
pen 300 farm loads accumulated during
the year.