Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-06
Saving Manure and Making Compost

OF course no farmer will deny that the
saving of manure is one of the most i'm
pOrtant operations of the farm, especially
on farms where the soil has been in cult
walton many years. In the new settle
ments of the West little or no attention is
given to manure, from the fact that it
would be a superfiuOuS addition to such
rich virgin soils. 1t would not pay for
the labor of applying it. But here in
Georgia to-day, and in Middle Georgia
particularly, the bulk of the best land has
long been in cultivation and under con-
tinued clean culture and the most care
less treatment, has become so impaired it
is almost impossible to secure remunera-
tive crops with the best of seasons where
no manure is used. Some of our bottom
lands are still ineXhausted of their natu-
raj fertility, but they constitute very
small proportion of our cultivated area,
and few farms in Georgia have any SUI
peraDundance of this class of land-land
that needs no manure.
Intensive culture means high manur-
ing, and we cannot rely on commercial
manures alone to restore our soils to pris-
tine condition or to keep them unimpaired
from year to year. Even if we had the
capital to enable us to buy all that We
might need of commercial manure, we
could not attain the highest success with
out the organic manures, and these we
cannot buy to advantage in market. We
are compelled to make them ourselves.
Good stable manure is the very highest
type OF manure. 1t is difficult, in fact al
most impossible, to find a substitute for
it in regard to one quality at least-its
permanency. For most crops we know
that we can count on it with more GER
tainty than anything we have ever used,
however much we may have been paid by
the use of commercial substitutes. RI am
satisfied that farmers generally will agree
with me i'll this prOposition.t The OILY
difficulty about it is we can never save
half enough of it to manure the lands that
we cultivate, and he is the best farmer
who makes the most of it under equal
conditions. We are compelled to supple
ment with commercial manures, but our
principal reliance should pc on the ami
NAL manure made from our stock and the
vegetable manure grown on the land. The
small farmer who has only one horse or
mule and COW or two, perhaps, can do
very little towards securing manure sui
ficient for his 30 or 40 acres from them
alone. Still he must make what he can
from them, to which he must add what
ever OF cotton seed he may obtain from
his crop. Then he must buy commercial
manure to finish out with or rely upon
vegetable manure. The latter policy i'm
plies that he is not transient tenant, for
a crop for the benefit of his land another
year if he was uncertain of remaining ON
it to get the benefits of it.
AS to the saving of manure, his stable
should be well Uttered with pine straw or
leaves, supplying fresh straw or leaves
from time to time, as it may be trOdden
down or become wet and foul. AS a rule,
it should be hauled out once year, either
in December or January, and applied to
the land, either broadcast or in burrows.
A month before hauling out it should be
dug up and thrown into sharp high piles
and as much of the water as possible
evaporated, and then it should be pulver-
lied or fined so that it can be uniformly
applied. In a well-fned condition it is
worth twice as much as Whca applied in
humps. 1t is always desirable % use some
phosphate in connection with stable ma
nure, and very frequently it viii be found
much more convenient to make this COM
post in the drill, applying the stable ma
nure first and then sprinkling the phos-
phate on it before covering 1t. A better
proportion can thus be secured than when
mixed together previously. Ii thel should
be much wet weather in the winter, how
ever, some time may be saved by making
the compost under shelter, usingcare to
get the proper proportions. AS rule,
the writer much prefers to make his COM
post in the drills, putting it in, wherever
practicable, 60 to 80 days in advance of
! planting. If cOttOn-seed is used. instead
/ of stable manure, it may be a little more
/ convenient to make compost in advance,
! but there is very little difference between
! the two methods. At one time one plan
may be more convenient and desirable,
/ while at another the other may be prefer
able. Dump carts are very desirable We
hicles on the farm for applying manure,