American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-11-21
The Application Of Manure &.

was to spread it on the surface and to
pillow it in, except in the application to
meadow-land, and then the manure was
composted or well rotted, and applied as
IA topdressing. In all cases the manure
must be old, or composted with some alb
sorbent, such as muck, rubbish, sawdust,
etc. In case the manure was fresh from
the stables, it was placed in small heaps, |
and allowed to so remain until the time
of culture, when it was spread out and
at once plowed under. A farmer near
me, who places high value on manure,
and who is careful to use all there is at
hand, pursues this practice and with good |
results, having better average crops than
his neighbors who pay less attention to
this subject. While there is no question
that this practice will pay, there is no |
reason to suppose that the same manure |
applied as a top-dressing will pay better |
In short. there has been sufficient eX- |
perience to prove its truth.
One great objection to the use of raw
or unfermented manure is the seeds of
weeds and of the grasses; but l have
shown that, in most instances, this is no
objection, as these weeds and grasses are
destroyed by the process of preparation
of the soil and of culture. We will sup
| pose that Farmer a has manure Tor ten
acres of cortland, and that he has stub
| ble-land on which to apply it. The old
| plan would be to haul out the manure at
| this season, place it in heaps to remain
until spring, and then spread it out, pillow
under, and plant at once. OF course all
the seeds in it would be ready to come
up and to grow with the corn making a
greatlyincreased amount of labor to
cultivate the crop; and many of our
good farmers think that this increased
labor costs more than is repaid by the
increased value of the crop, and for
81, Al, Il
directly to the corn-crop Sup
pose We first plow the stubble-land,
or, rather, it had been plowed i'm
mediately after harvest, and at the
time of applying the manure subject it to
a thorough narrowing This would have
killed the growth of autumn weeds and
the surface would be in good condition
to haul the manure for the purpose of
spreading it direct from the wagon, when
it may remain undisturbed through the
| winter. Before it is time to plant the
corn and after the first crop of vernal
weeds have made their appearance the
whole should be again narrowed. This
will destroy the crop of weeds and at
the same time commute the surface of
the soil and the manure and thus prepare
it for the seed. A rolling at this stage
of the proceeding will facilitate the
sprOuting of another crop of the seeds
of weeds and of the grasses or clover, if
there were any in the manure, and before
the corn is up this second crop of weeds
should be destroyed by narrowing. Thus
it will be seen that the blowing and the
application of manure can be done in the
fall, and all we have to do in the spring
is to harrow the ground when we are
ready to plant, the second narrowing be
ing part of the after-culture. But the
manure is wasted during the winter, it is
suggested. Not in the least, as it is the
office of the soil to hold plantfood until
the roots of the plants demand it, and
! all the plant-food that the frost, the rain,
the snow and the dew have extracted
from the manure is carried down into
the soil and given up to its keeping. The
, , potash that has been liXiviated from the
ashes of the grasses that the annual fires
have supplied for untold centuries is yet
in the keeping of our prairie soils, max
, ing vast store of this food that ages OF
sapping will not exhaust. 1t is only very
: sandy soils that refuse to hold the plant
.. food and these must have clay added to
. them for this purpose. We need fear nc
loss in this respect from any of our clay
loans or clay-soils, for the plant-food
sent down to their keeping will be avail
able at the proper time.
q 1t will thus be seen that, in preparing
: the garden for early vegetables, we need
! not be over-nice in the use of unfer'
IlltHtCu ullCi Will tuC SCCuS vi
weeds. for, if we apply such manures in
6 the autumn, we can destroy two crops o.
weeds before the peas, beets, onions
carrots, parsnips and similar plants are
p out of the ground We need not pillow
, the garden in spring for those crops, pro
f viding that we have given it a good deer
, blowing at this season, when the manure
= may be applied. The cultivator, roller
9 and harrow may be used in the prepare
+ ton for seeding in the spring, and the
harrow and roller may be called in tC
, destroy the second crop of weeds before
r these plants appear above ground. The
r narrowing will not in the least disturb
r them before that time. Potatoes and
! corn can have the same treatment, and
have narrowed winter wheat, oats and
I spring wheat after they were two or three
r inches high, for two purposes: one to
kill the young weeds, and the other to
q break up the crust that had been formed
/ | in order to admit the air to the soil.
l. This plan of culture will obviate one
$ serious objection TO the use of our barn
: yard manure for our cultivated crops. II
S is time that our farmers gave more atten
ton to this subject, as the increased dry
5 ness of our soils demands the manure
+ not oAy as supplying plant-food, but to
C so change the mechanical condition o.
o the soil for the better holding of moist
e ures, as we know that there must be thu
Y vapor of water in the soil to produce tn,
S proper condition for plant growth. TIL,
s manure, then, has two-fold, or rather
5 three-fold, office: first, as supplyin.
It plant-food; second, when the refuse par
= of it (humus) is mixed with the sell, il
. acts as IA plantfood holder-not the foot
l. from its own substance, but that iron
d the atmosphere; thirdly, changing thu
mechanical condition of the soil an,
n adding to its capacity to hold moisture