The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-12-13
Increasing the supply of lsEauure.

Except in the new States, where the
land has not long been under cultiva-
ton, manure is one of the great neces-
sites to the farmer. And even in those
fertile soils which now produce abundant
crops there will, in a few years, be q
scarcity of plant food, and to them, as to
the land which has been longer under the
pillow, it will become necessary to apply
manure, Fortunately tor their own
interests the great mass of farmers are
convinced that they can not farm sue
cessfully without manure. All do not,
however, regard it equally valuable and
consequently do not take equal pains to
cure and apply it-a fact which goes
very far award showing why it is that
one farmer VIII obtain much larger crops
than his neighbor who owns equally good
| land.
AS all farmers keep live stock there
will be more or less manure on every
farm. But the quantity thus obtained
is insufficient and ought to be largely
increased. Most farmers recognize this
principle and take some pains to
add to the manure material which
will be beneficial to the crops
1t has been found that, if prop
erly treated, quite proportion of foreign
material can be employed with good re-
suits. Right here is where many farmers
make a great mistake. They are too
anxious to obtain large quantity with
out regard to the quality of mixture.
| In this section it Is quite a common
/ custom for farmers tG clean out their
| barnyard in the fall and then draw in a
! quantity of muck, loan, or sand, and
| spread 1t on the bottom of the yard to a
depth of six or eight inches. The cattle
are kept yarded during the winter and
! their drOppings fall upon this DIRT. But
when it Is remembered that four or five
| two-horse loads of dirt are put in the
yard for each animal kept therein, and
also, that the cattle being stabbed al
night are only in the yard from six to
ten hours per day, and that quite pro
portion of this time Is spent under the
sheds or near the stables where nc
dirt was put, it becomes very evident
that it can not receive in this Way very
great addition of fertilizing material
| During the nights of summer some
farmers yard the cows which they milk
on this dirt, and there Ia a slight gaiI
from this source. Some farmers g
through this process every yesr-draw II
lot OF dirt, yard their cattle on it anC
the next fall dig it up and call it manure
Now this material looks almost exactly
like dirt, and it is hard to see now it car
have been very greatly improved by
being trOdden down py the animal
which have been yarded on it. do no
assert that such " composing" doe
not pay, but l am free to say tina
there are methods which will be far NOR,
J profitable. And a great many farmer
take a different course from that de
scribed above. They draw in the dirt ant
let it lie, as the Others do, until summer
Then they dig it up and mix it with
quantity of stable manure, let it heat an,
work it up fine by occasionally pitchin
it over. This pays well, still / do no
consider it the best method which can b
( pursued.
In order TO obtain the best results from
composing it is necessary that the foreig1
( material and the manure should be in
timately mingled. 1t is also importan
to save the liquid manure and to kee
the whole mass from injury by expOsur
10 the weather. Therefore | deem /
necessary that the composing should b
done gradually, that an absorbent shoul
be employed, and that the manure shoul
be stored under cover until wanted 70
use. The barn cellar, now 50 common