Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-09-03
Value and Management of Manure.

tlOn.-W eSte1W Hurdt.
Value and Management of Manure.
Manure of some kind is the chief want
of every intelligent tiller Of the soil. It's
preparation and application is the foun-
dation of successful culture. Without it
he may underdrain his land in the most
approved manner, loosen the sub-soil to
any extent, pillow, mix, pulverize and
cultivate to infinity, and yet cannot pro-
duce remunerative crops in succession;
in short, his expense will be incurred in
vain, his labor lost. With it he may
make all these expenses afford him an
annual profit of large per cent; may
reap rich reward for all his labors in
the most abundant crops may improve
his farm until every rod of it shall be-
come fertile as the most productive gar
den, and beautiful as anything in nature
can be. How then shall this want be
supplied? Shall we go abroad and
search the whole earth for sources
supply, bring lime from distant kilns,
improved poudrette, phosphate, super
phosphate, ammoniated superphosphate
and muriate of lime from our large cities,
shell lime, fish manure and animal fer
tilizers, from the sea-coast, plaster Paris
from the north countries, green sand
mari from the south, salt from the At
lantic, guano from the far-otf isles of the
Pacific, wool waste, horn shavings, bones
and bone dust from all regions? Shall
we do all this, and incur almost unlim-
tied expense, while the substantial good
we seek is within our reach, on our own
farms, but being wasted and lost, and by
its decay and loss increasing earth's pol
buttons and multiplying the sum of hui
man suffering? Would it not be better
economy and wiser to husband first the
manurial resources Of the farm? Many
intelligent men believe that there are
placed within the reach of the farmer
ample materials to fertilize all the land
he can probably occupy. However that
may be it is certain that there are mate
rails at hand which, if carefully saved
and composted or otherwise prepared,
would vastly increase his present supply.
When manure is itself the product of the
farm, instead of being obtained at the
cost of other farm products, it is then
| the handspring of all real profit in farm
ing operations. Consequently he who
succeeds best in the home manufacture
| of manure, other things being equal, is
| likely to be the most successful farmer.
But where, even at home, shall we look
| first for the supply of our prime want?
! answer, to the barn yard, or more prop
erly the barn-celar / believe that
| among all the fertilizers ever invented
or discovered by man there is none
which, in all respects, surpasses, or
even equals in permanent value, the
| droppings of the farmers domestic ami
mails composted with such materials as
every farmer may readily obtain in his
own vicinity. | am aware that there is
great diversity of opinion in regard to
the relative value Of the article in ques-
! ton, and that even "doctors disagree"
| as to the best methods of applying it;
| but ] am also aware that all practical
| farmers agree IN assigning it a high
positive value and succeed in finding
some profitable method of application.
! 1t is true that some complain that as they
apply it on their soils ii heats quickly and
cXhausts its own powers long before the
crop for which it is intended is fully ma
tured. while Others say that it lies cold
and heavy in their soils without ahording
! apparent benefit to the crop until late in
| the season | think these difficulties,
! however, and their remedy may gener
!
manner in which the manure is prepared
and used and of the soil to which it is
applied. l suppose that the solid eXcre-
ment of animals yields large proper
ton of seed-forming elements, and that
these elements are developed slowly, not
acting upon plants materially in the
early stage of their growth, while there
is a deficiency of those elements specially
needed to produce luxuriant growth of
leaves and stalks; so that if a crop, as of
| corn, for instance, be cultivated with this
manure alone there will be danger that
it will grow slowly and be small, al
though what seed it does yield may be of
superior quality. This deficiency in the
solid is richly supplied in the liquid ex-
crement. which affords in abundance
those elements most needed to insure
, rapid and healthy growth of leaves and
stalks, while it lacks supply of them
so largely furnished by the former. And
if the crop were cultivated with the liquid
alone, applying it, as our farmers com
monty apply their manures, before the
growth of the plant commences it would
be forced in the early stage of its growth
! M would ,,ra sppt N, tinapt j;srla,-