News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-02-05
CROSS-PLOWING IN THE SPRING
Henry Stewart Gives the Results of a, Row
Experiments.

| Experiments.
The management of manure in tb
soil is always a subject of interest +
farmers. There Is much difference O
opinion in respect to the use of manur
and its pratlcal bearing upon the vel,
OF the crops. For instance, one farmer
believes IN surface manuring altogether
another thinks manure should be ploweC
in; another would have it spread upo,
the soil already plowed and thoroughly
mixed with it by narrowing or with til,
cultivator others prefer to pillow il
manure in the fall and cross-plow i
back to the surface in the spring. AL
these methods have their advocates. apC
each one of them will profess to have
good proofs of the value of his way O
doing. it But while each way may be
! good there are certainly some bette,
than others, and it is well to have such
questions discussed and try to find ou+
why one way is or ought to be better thar
the others. From what is known of the
action of the soil upon organic matter il
seems reasonable to suppose that the
best way of using the manure is to mix
it as evenly as possible through the soil.
The soil, when well plowed and broken
up being very porous, exerts a strong
oxidizing action, such as is known to be
common to all finely divided or exceed
ilely 10 GUS substances. Familiar in
stances of this action are given bv
spongy platinum, which will cause alco-
hol to slowly burn away without any
flame or heat being applied, and wooden
or cotton waste Or rags which, when sat
urated with oil or turpentine, will gen.
crate sufficient heat to intiame and burn
by the absorption of oxygen. The same
is true, but to less extent. with all very
porous substan ces, and is true to a
marked extent with the soil. This
is shown by a well-known expert
ment, VIZ, to bury in the soil quantity
of flowers of sulphur and iron filings
and leave them for "a hours, when, by a
rapid process of oxidation. the mass be-
comes III an active state of combustion.
and flames burst from the soil. A SINH
lar action takes place when organic mat
ter is buried in the soil, and manure
plowed in is acted upon in this manner
and becomes subject to an active fer
mentations by which it is decomposed,
furnls hes material for the rapid produc.
ton OF nltrates by means of living germs.
which increase with amazing rapidity.
and IN doing this acts also as a solvent
for the mineral matter of the soil.
Thus the manure not only adds to the
soil its own contribution, but it exerts a
strong chemical effect upon it. To do
this with full effect the manure must be
buried in the soil. Ii it is only spread
upon the surface partial action occurs
and no more; the soil is aided to the ex-
tent of the addition of the manure. but
no active nitrification can occur, nor is
there possible any solvent action upon
the mineral matter. This is the theo-
retical view of the case, it is true: but in
this case the theory is certainly both an
explanation of and is explained by the
actual practice and experience of farm
ers during scores of years past. 1t NAV
be said that many farmers have found
that manure spread upon the surface
produces quite equal results with ma
1ure that has been plowed into the soil.
Ih1s Is by no means a satisfactory argu-
nent, because no one can know the eff
ect Of the variations of soil, quality of
manure, and many other eleme nts in the
Ease which would affect the result and
which do affect results in the most sur
orising manner when such experiments
ire made side by side upon the same
oil.
In our own practice for many years
We have found that manure plowed into |
he soil In such manner that it is not |
buried flat, and out of the way of the |
beneficial action of the atmosphere, but |
S covered in between lap burrows laid |
N edge at an angle of As degrees, so
hat the air has abundant access to the |
oil, and through every part of it; that
nanures SO plowed in, in the fall to be
more completely mixed by cross blowing
II by the cultivator, or best still by such |
II implement as the Acme pulverizing
harrow which mixes very intimately the
oil and the manure, will always produce
he very best results. By such a
Method Early Rose potatoes have
'ielded $50 bushels per acre; corn has
Produced rs to80 bushels; oats, 70 bush
Is; wheat, IS bushels, aud the succeed
lg grass and clover have produced 81
DDS per acre. An Ohio farmer, who is a
pecial potato grower, produces 24O
ushels per acre by this manner of Gull
walton. Many other farmers practice
with success.