The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1885-10-28
Pine Straw Manure.

Pine Straw Manure.
(Frona the As;gatsta Chroniele.)
In the Chronicle of September 25
the following appears:
"Mr. P. J. Berckmans says that pine
straw renders manure almost value
less. Southern farmers should know
this and be wise accordingly"
At the August. meeting Of the Rich
mond County Agricultural Society,
the subject for discussion being the
management of Cattle" the question
of material for bedding purposes was
broached, and in my comments upon
the very able paper of Mr.. Staples,
who was the essayist for that month, I
stated "that pine straw as bedding
material was undesirable, as it rem
dered the manure almost valueless,
and, if used in large proportions, it
often proved an injury to the land"
Your reporter gave the correct
words, but by publishing them has
placed you under the necessity of re-
ceiving the explanation Of the reasons
upon which l base my assertions, and
if you see proper to publish these, l
will thus be enabled to reply to several
inquiries which have lately been made
upon the subject.
In az essay upon "Manures," read
in 1870 before the Richmond County
Agricultural Society, when referring
to animal manurcs, l said:
although this term, strictly speak
ing, means only such as are produce ed
either from the excrements' of animals
or from their flesh, blood or bones, it
is usually applied to manures pro-
duced from the excremeEis Of animals
and the admixture of straw, leaves, or
other vegetable matter used as litter,
this being commonly termed stable
manure. The quality depends much
upon the food given to cattle, as we'll
as upon the nature of the litter used.
The richer the food, the richer will be
the manure produced. Wheat and oat
straw, oak leaves, hay, grass, corn
stalks, and similar vegetable matter,
should be freely used for litter. Avoid
pine straw, pine sawdust, or pine
shavings, all being injurious 10 land
from the resinous principles the con-
tain.'
This assertion gave rise at the time
to considerable discussion and reply
to many arguments against it was
published in the Chronicle. ] cannot
better answer the queries lately re-
ceived than to refer to my reply.
'sPine straw as mulch is good. AS
a disintegrating medium for very stiff
clay soils, inpermeable to air, it can
be beneficial, but only for that pur>
pose. The leaf of the pine is COM
posed Of silicate "a hard mineral sub
stance) vegetable fibre and rosin. Both
silicate and vegetable base are insolu-
BILE, hence not svailable as plant food.
The ashes of pine straw, submitted to
ANALYSIS, give less potash as a result
than the ashes of any other vegetable,
the proportion being 0.45 in 1000
parts. Wheat straw, after the grain is
formed, gives. $50 Of potash in 200
parts, and before the heads are formed
yields 4.70 parts of potash; corn stalks
contain II .5 parts; COW peas from 200
to $50 in 1000 parts; oak leaves 1853;
willow leaves 2.S5; elm and maple
leaves $50 parts Of potash in 1000
parts. Potato vines are also rich in
potash. Potash being one Of the main
constituents of the plantsSWe usually
grow as agricultural crops, It is evil
dent that a soil deficient in itcannot
be productive and pine straw csnnot
give what is required, because it can
not undergo transformation which
would make it soluble and thus be alb
sorbed by plants.
"Referring to the analysis Of soils
Of different countries, it is shown that
resincus matter is contained in some
sterile soils, and in such rust attacks
wheat, rye or oats.
- ssThis is so well known in portions
IN Europe where pine woods abound
and where the inhabitants are conceded
to be the best agriculturists in the
world, and as careful of producing
and saving manures as are the Chinese,
that no tiller of the soil however short
of raw material to bed his COW or pig,
will allow any pine straw 10 be used
for that purpose (this article is used
fol fuel only by the poorer classes) :;
they we'll know that rust would be the
result if used in the manures. One of
our tenants covered part of a field
with pine straw, and for several years
afterwards could not raise either wheat
or clover on it, Notwithstanding heavy
manuring afterwards.
ssFive years ago I planted Irish
potatoes and gave them heavy mulch
ing of pine straw, the ground being
well manured previous to planting the
potatoes. The straw was plowed in
during winter and the ground planted
in corn the following spring, and that
portion previously mulched produced
stalks two feet smaller than the other
portion of the field which had, how
ever, never been manured before. The
second year the field was sown in oats,
and the difference in the yield being
less than half upon the mulched por-
ton.
ssThe same result has been noticed
in the vegetable garden, where several
classes Of vegetables, especially peas,
could not be grown successfully when
using manure made with pine straw
when manure made with either oat
straw or oak leaves was used the WELD
was always better.
81 could say more, but deem these
remarks sufficient to sustain my opin-
ion, which is the result Of personal
experience, although it NAV conflict