The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-12-10
farm aud Garden.
Surface Manuring Grass Lands.
BY WI. j. FOWLER.


There is no better way of using manure
than top-dressing grass land If done in
the fall with fine manure, on land that is
not too much set on edge nor yet liable to
overflow, the loss from surface-manuring
grass lands is almost imperceptible. The
roots and even the leaves Of grass hold
the fertilizer from washing or teaching
away, and winter SHOWS and rains carry
the particles of manure into the soil and
thoroughly difuse it.
If the field is to be pastwed or moved
the coming year, only finely fotted ma
nures should be used But if the land
is to be plowed for corn or potatoes, it
matters little how coarse the manure is.
1t is better, of course, to have some fer
mentation of manure. Piing it up even
for a few days Will kill many weed seeds,
and viii besides disintegrate the manure
so as to make more Of its elements soluble
and available for plant food I think
that all fresh manure has to undergo
some decomposition before it can be taken
up by growing plants. fit Is buried In
its fresh state this decomposition occurs
in the soil during the heats of summer.
Very often we see In corn planted on sod
which has been literally dressed with
coarse manure, very little benefit from
either until July. As farmers says
&c The roots than get hold of the manure -
But the roots of a corn plant week after
it comes above the surface have already
struck down to the bottom of the furrow
and into whatever manure may be buried
there If the plant does not Immediately
show the benefit, it is probably because
none of the manure IS IN condition to be
taken up by the roots Therefore, even
for blowing under in the spring, it IS bet
ter to have manures at least partially
rotted.
But a more important point is to have
the manure spread as early as possible in
the season. 1t is better to draw out the
manure made as often as once a week
through fall, winter and spring. Almost
always that spread earliest will give the
best results. The too common practice
of waiting tin near the time for blowing,
drawing fresh manure from the BARNARD,
often without any fermentation, and Turn
ing it to the bottom Of deep furow, is a
wasteful one In a dry season manure
thus left may do the crop no good and if
it is very. coarse and strawy may be even
a damage. Thus a years use of the ma
nure is lost. At the best, it cannot feed
as many roots as if early spread upon the
surface, because it cannot be thoroughly
commingled with the soil.
But for top-dressing gross-lands we may
often proftably use substances less val
liable than manure. Leaf-mould, muck,
and scrapings from the wood or barnyard
may be used with profit Every one has
noticed the fertility which follows the
yearly flooding of river bottom. The
earth brought yearly is very slight in
extent, and often not very rich, but it
makes a deep and practically inexhausti-
bic soil Some of this is probably due to
fine mineral elements held in solution by
the water and thus brought in contact
with the soil but it shows that yearly
top-dressing even if very slight Will main
tain fertility.
Commercial manures have not thus far
been much used in this country as top
dressings. Our farmers have chiefly found
their use for cotton in the South and for
wheat in the North, and have preferred to
apply the fertilizer with the seed. But
in England and Scotland commercial fer
tiizers, especially phosphates, have been
long used as direct applications for grass
lands. They will certainly cause a growth
of grass such as nothing else will, and it
Will be of such sweet and nutritious quail
ity that stock will leave other parts OF
the field to feed upon it. I have seen
this experiment tried, and the result was
entirely satisfactory. The pastures on a
poor field are neither so strong nor SO
nutritious and sweet as where phos-
pilates have been freely used. The same
Is true to some extent of lime and potash,
especially the latter. In newly cleared
field COWS will keep the heritage around
a partly burned stump eaten close, while
elsewhere it may be rank and coarse. !
do not see why sowing ashes on field
may not have the same effect in making
its pastures palatable
One of the best top-dressings for grass
lands is salt, applied at the rate of a
barrel per acre. The cost is triAing, and
the effect of salt in disintegrating the ele-
ments of fertility is such as to add largely
to any crop. Salt dissolves so readily
that it is best to defer its application until
spring Besides the soda being an i'm
portant constituent of many plants, the
application Of salt indirectly applies pot
ash, phosphates, and other elements Of
fertility which it iberates in the soil, and
makes available. If care is taken to use
salt only during the growing seasons, the
,.ontr nf ,,lnr,ts t. l-n m the fertility thnS