Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-11-06
Manure.

There is no soil that is under cu1tiva-
ton, unless it be the deltas of rivers,
that are annually fertilized by over
flows which leave behind them fresh
|sdeposits of fertilizing substances-ano
those lowlands are but too frequently
unhealthy-we say there is no soil un-
der cultivation, with this exception,
that does not require to be kept in good
condition by the application of manure.
Every crop removed from a field ex.
hausts it of portion of its constituents,
its .splant food'' as the Germans call
it, and this loss must be made good OF
the fertility of the soil can not be kept
up. Of course blowing and thorough
cultivation will do much toward keep
ing up the fertility of soil, but none
of these processes can absolutely re-
store to the land the. constituents
that the crops take from it.
These must be returned in the
shape of domestic or commercial
manures. First, thorough lining
lies at the base of good farming in
many sections. Lime is not q manure
of itself, but its action in the soil con-
verts the organic and inorganic ele-
ments otherwise locked up there into
soluble food for future crops. Assum-
ing, then, that lime has been already
applied. if the soil has been previously
exhaused by hard cropping. its full
and complete effects will not be EVIL
dent unless it has vegetable matter to
act upon in addition TO the mineral
constituents contained in the soil itself.
Where there is some life remaining in
the soil, that is to say, some elements
of fertility, lime and q crop of clover
turned under will be of immense adj
vantage in the process of regeneration.
believe. with our hot and dry sum-
mers, in keeping the fields covered as
frequently as possible with green crops.
1t is our continuous hay crops which
have so exhausted many Northern and
Eastern farms, and the damages thus
created to the soils can only be repaired
by. frequent applications of manure.
Now, manure is a term of much wide;
significance than people generally inn
agine. 1t is not restricted to the con-
tents of the barnyard and the hog pen,
the poultry house and the cattle shed,
but embraces all sorts of animal refuse
and every species of rough vegetable
matter, from a dead horse to dead
leaves. In fine, bones, wood. ashes,
marsh muck, turf from roadsides, the
waste of slaughter houses and provision
packing establishments, wool, hair,
horns fish and those valuable COM
pounds that are offered fer sale under
the general and well-known name of
fertilizers, all these are manures.
Domestic manures, however, which
can be composted on every farm, merit
attention, as their chief cost is the labor
employed. One COMPOSE heap should
be formed within easy distance Of the
house, yet sufficiently remote from it
not to become offensive when fermenta-
ton sets in The foundation of this
heap should be turf, woods mold and
leaves; over this should be spread a
layer of wood ashes and the soapsuds
which would otherwise be poured off
from the Mondays wash-tubs and per-
mitted to run to waste. When the first
layer is we'll saturated and furnished
with sufficient quantity of wood ashes,
a second layer of refuse vegetable mat
ter should be supplied and the wood
ashes and soapsuds again turned on it,
the same process being continued layer
by layer throughout the winter. When
the heap is thawed in the spring and
fermentation is we'll advanced, the
whole should be turned over and incor-
porated, and the new heap thus formed
may be suffered to remain until the
time arrives for carting it to the fold
american CuHivator.