The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-11-11
EFFECT OF MANURE.
How It Develops the Natural Store of Fer
tjlIty Contained In the Soil.

The indirect effects of manure upon
the growth of crops is a subject of much
interest to farmers. The soil itself is
wholly inexhaustible. From the sur
face to the bed rock, and the rocks
themselves, from which, we should not
forget, the soil itself is derived, it CON
tains every mineral element of plant
food and some of the gaseous sub
stances, as carbonic acid, oxygen and
hydrogen, leaving only nitrogen to be
supplied from atmospheric sources,
directly or indirectly. As long, there
fore, as the earth remains the soil will
support vegetable life to the extent to
which these mineral elements are solu-
BILE and available. This fact is very i'm
portant to remember.
When vegetation is produced and in
course of timc perishes and decays, it
returns to the soil all that it has taken
from it and the most of what it derived
from the atmosphere. At first the
original growth of plants was probably
of a low order-indeed wehave proof in
the remains of the earliest vegetation
found in the oldest fossil bearing rocks,
that the first plants which appeared on
the land which was then recently lifted
above the level of the universal ocean
consisted of moses and other humble
vegetation. This was all that the soil
then could produce. But the decay Of
this early vegetation in course of long
ages which elapsed before man ap-
peared. gradually filled the soil with
organic matter, which in decay not only
furnished food for the highest orders Of
plants, but. acted upon the soil itself tc
liberate additional mineral nutriment-
All this is evident to the mind of a
thoughtful, intelligent man who has
some acquaintance with the nat
ural history of the world he Ives in.
And all that has been going on during
countless ages of the earth's history
goes on in a proportionate degree when
a farmer manures his soil. He adds a
certain quantity of plant food to the
land, but he does more; this de-
caying matter is itself an active agent
of change in the soil and produces
most useful effects in adding to
or rather developing, its natural store
of fertility, which we have said is who'll
1y inexhaustible. And as this action is
notable in light soils, we turn our atten-
tioS to this class Of soils as illustrat-
ing this important action in the clearest
manner. remarking that all other soils
behave in precisely the same manner
in this respect when they are perfectly
pulverized and made fine, mellow and
porous.
When manur or any other organic
matter is mixed with light porous soil,
it is at once attacked by the oxygen OF
the atmosphere and rapid decomposi-
ton goes on. The decomposition is
| much more rapid than it would be in
the atmosphere owing to a peculiar
property possessed by all finely divided
substances of a~ccelerating the oxidation
| of organic matter. An instance and
| proof of this is the rapid decay of Of
| fensive matter, as q carcass of an animal
or night soil, when covered with a few
inches of earth. This action is so COM
| plete that the dry earth used in common
earth closets may be utilized over and
over again after a short period of ex-
\ posture to the air for ten or twelve
| times and still remain perfectly inoffen-
sive, and to all appearance as fresh as
when first used.
But during this rapid decay the vari-
Gus gases and compounds produced by
the decomposition act upon the soil it
self and dissolve it to a considerable ex-
tent, thus increasing the available fer.
tility of it and enabling the crops to find
a larg supply of plant food of a mineral
character. This effect has been exem.
plified in growing cropsin MANFRED and
unmanured soils for the purpose of in.
vestigating this matter. Thus an aver
age of nineteen analyses of potatoe:
grown in this way showed that the ma
nured plots gave twenty-five per cent
more of mineral matter, nearly fifty pei
cent. more of heterogeneous matter. ant
about five per cent. more of water
with twenty per cent. less starch thar
the unmanured ones. The very large
addition to the mineral matter
or ash-of the crop shows clearly tina
the soluble mineral matter of tn,
tsoil had been increased and it car
not be doubted that this increase wa
due to the acton of the upo1
the soil. Moreover. another fact is ex
emplitied by the large increase in the
nitrogen contained in the crop, and tina
is that a strong nitrifying action occur,
in the soil when organic matter is mix
ed with it. this action being due to Ger
tain germ or vegetable organism which
grows rapidly in organic matter undel
these circumstances. 1t is supposed By
some chemists that the free nitrogen o
the atmosphere which is liberated iron
its mixture with the oxygen consumed
in the decay of the organic matter il
itself oxidized, in part at least, anc
nitric acid is formed. But, however
this may be, it is known that nitrate.
are very freely formed in the soil in tn,
presence of decaying organic matter
Thus the indirect effects of the manure
upon light and well %pulverized soil
may be almost as considerable as it
direct result in adding plant food Il
them.--M. y. Times.