The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-04-13
Burying Manure In the Soil.

Perhaps in no better way is the progress
of agriculture illustrated than in the man.
ner Of applying manure now, and the course
of practice Of century ago. No one
thought Of applying manure on the surface
It was dead vegetable matter and must be
buried; and like all dead things the sooner
it was put out of sight the greater the profit
to the living plant. Morton in his Cyclic
p@dia of Agriculture well puts the belief in
the past when he says "the quicker farm
ward manure is buried the better"
This is not true now. Any cyclop@dist
who would write thus would not command
the respect of intelligent readers. There
is some difference of opinion among some
of our best farmers as to how near the
surface the manure is to be put; but no one
favors burying it. Some will have it that
it is best just above, some prefer it just
below; but that it should be somewhere
near the surface all believe.
The great argument used for burying
manure by people Of the past was that 80
much of the valuable matter escaped into
the atmosphere. So much benefit has been
found to result from surface-manuring, that
many argue that what escapes is no great
loss. But this is probably an error. 1t is
now known that the reason for the great
fertility which follows dry season is ow-
ing to the absorbent power of dry earth
which takes in from the atmosphere the
heterogeneous particles which have escaped
from decaying vegetable matter. This
shows that the atmosphere is mine OF
richness, and that we add to this mine
every time we expose our manure-heaps to
its influences. If we can save this to our
selves; if we can hold it from passing into
this airy nothingness, it must be our advan-
tage to do so.
The advantages which have flowed from
surface-manuring is not probably because
there is no loss, but because the roots OF
plants can make better used Of what is left.
If we dig cut young tree We find that
most of its roots are just beneath the sur
face; an inch Or SO deeper there are fewer
roots, and as we go deeper there are still
less. We may find some roots six feet or
more down, but the bulk are just beneath
the surface. The food in this surface
mauuring system is therefore just where
the mass of roots can profit by it. This is
no doubt the plan. In this way the sur
face advocate have won their victory in
spite of the loss, and not because there is
no loss of good plant-f food by the exposure
This is the principle on which so much
good has been found to flow from mixing
dry earth with manure. 1t is stated that
one of the best farmers of New York hauls
under cover during summer large quantity
of dry earth, which he keeps dry, and that
during the winter season he adds this to
his manure-heap, about load for Load
The result he says is that this load OF added
earth is equal to another load OF stable
manure 1t takes up the gases which he
saws would have gone into the atmosphere.
1t has not added anything TO the manure,
but simply saved what would have been
lost.
These are all things bearing on this ques-
ton of deep-manuring. The soil below is
never very dry, and hence cannot take up
much, When near the surface the law
comes into play. Thus surface-roots, sur
face-feeding, and dry surface-earth all
argue against the deep deposit of manure.
Germantoaon Telegraph.