The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1879-09-05
Barnyard Manures and How to Apply
Them,

An essay on the above subject was read by
Mr.. Samuel Is. Green before the State Agri-
cultural College of Massachusetts, which re-
ceived the first prize. The recommendations
OF Mr.. Green are not new, but they are given
IN Il manner SO plain and concise that we give
the following brief extracts therefrom as COM
prising the pith of his essay for the benefit of
our readers
The value of animal excrements lies in
their power of furnishing directly, by their
own decay, the clements of plant food con-
tanned III their structure or indirectly through
Their chemical or physical action on the soil
available material which will aid plant deycl-
opmcnt.
| In general parlance, the value of animal cx-
crement lies in and is gagged by the amount
OF easily available nitrogen, potash and phos-
| phoric acid which they may contain But
besides their value directly as fertilizers, they
often act powerfully on the soil, chemically
and physically. For instance, a dressing Of
barnyard manure applied to lifeless soil may
start chemical action, which, through its in.
| lluencc, will bring on an endless round of
changes, developing the stores of food already
| lald up in the soil in an inert condition.
Again. the same manures may, through its in
| lluencc i'll changing the color of the soil,
make IL warmer, or perhaps by separating
| The particles of the soil one from the other,
mus permitting light. and air to permcate the
same, act as an agent in developing plant
food Besides animal excrements, by their
great restorative power will often aid n soil
TO retain the more volatile valuable gases.
Our manurcs should be treated in the fol-
lowing ways to secure their most economical
use: The manure should always be kept I'M
dcr cover when in pile, if possible thus say
ing 1t from Il teaching, which must necessar-
y Take place when exposed to the weather
Some sort of absorbent should be added to
the manure to aid in its handling and to pre-
vent the liquid portion and volatile gases from
running to waste. This should be supplied
inform OF an occasional admixture of peat,
loan, sand, DC Again, it is often adyanta-
geous when manure is rapidly decomposing,
TO add slight covering of plaster to the pile;
by this means the evaporation of ammonia is
most etlcctually prevented, and the work of
decomposition tllrthered in the most econom-
zeal manner.
When barnyard manure is well rotted there
is no need and nothing is gained by compost
ing it. When it is green-undecomp
is generally advantageous to compost it, espe-
cally where m immediate effect is wanted
from its application.
This is done by making manure pile, UNI
dcr cover, if possible, and mixing with it suf-
ilcicnt absorbcnts to prevent all loss from de-
cay add some alkali or plaster. This pile
should be forkGd over occasionally to prevent
too rapid heating and to make it fine. BY
TINS means fertilizer is obtained that Is
quick and active i'll its action, and will give
much better results where quick returns are
wanted than ifleft to dccompose, exposed to
the drying effect of the weather, as when
spread thinly in the field.
Upon applying manure to plowed land the
writer says:
The manure for this purpose need not ne
cessallly DC so well dccomposed as that for
top dressing, nor need it be so fine, vet it is
preferable to have it free from all coarse ma.
terlal. The manure in this case should be ap-
pliGd Ill the fall OH heavy lands, rs clayey
loans, that it may become well incorporated
with and decOmpOScd in the soil by the bcnc-
iclal action of frost and the weather, as in
such SOILS decay progresses very slowly and
we wish to hasten it; besides, such soils are
very rctentiyc of all the products of decom-
position, so there is no danger from the waste.
But where the soil we have to deal with is of
u hight, sandy texture, the manure should be
applied in the spring, as decomposition gocs
on 100 rapidly III such, and we do not in this
case need so much the stimulating action of
thc weather to get the full value of our fer
tlllzcrs. Again, decomposition is too rapid,
part OF our manure may be reduced to an
inert form as not to be available for plant
lood; and, besides, i'll II sandy soil part of
INC soluble manure would probably he lost hy
the wedding which it must experience if cX-
posed to an all winters wcathering. Manure
should be applied to the surface, in case of
heavy clays, to four inches beneath the same
on sandy soils.
It's generally best to apply barnyard ma
nurc broadcast over the land Seldom is any
thing gained by It's application to the hills or
drills which would not have resulted the
same when well spread broadcast, for the
roots OF our ordinary farm crops on good soil
cover an enormous area and make the plant
independent of what is in the hill