The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-06-02
Saving and Applying Manure.


T. b. Terry in The Country Gentleman.
On the great mass of farms, practically,
all the potash and large part of the nitro
gen goes to waste 1t seems to be the
general practice of our best farmers all
over the state now, where the ground is
moderately level, so the manure will not
wash away, to drag it out fresh, daily or
frequently, and spread on land to be plowed
next spring. If they have tight floors this
seems to be perfect way. Our best far
mers, almost to man, advocate spreading
evenly over the ground when drawing out
Putting it in piles to be spread in the
spring is not advised. Numerous reports
have been given of how much better the
crop was when the manure was spread as
soon as drawn, and the earlier in the season
it was got out the better the crop, as rule.
My own land is too rolling to spread
manure on during the winter. When |
tried it have seen too much washed OH.
But l have got through with the loss from
common open yard. A roof was built
over a small yard last fall, and we are en-
loving it hugely this winter. The manure
is wheeled out and spread evenly in the
covered yard. The stock trample it solidly
so it cannot heat OF course, with the roof
over it it cannot leach any. This seems to
be perfection for me. Then this covered
yard, with water in it, is such nice place
for stock to run and drink and get exercise.
They never get wet or slip OF the ice, and
NOT a drop of manure is wasted. What we
haul out next spring will be manure, not
refuse from which the life has been drained
and leached and evaporated. During the
summer, after the manure is out, what
handy place this covered yard will be to
run in tools temporarily. Take it all
around, l expect to get about 80 per cent
interest on the investment every year.
This plan of placing the manure under
sheds in the winter, where it can be packed
hard by the cattle tramping over it, is not
new. The manure thus stored requires
good deal of water to be thrown over it to
prevent sire fanging," and the horse ma
nure should be well distributed and mixed
with the manure made from the horned
stock. In wet soft weather the manure
and coarse litter that is outside of the shell
ter should be wheeled under and evenly
distributed over the heap, which greatly
assists in moistening the pile and hastens
decomposition.
In the matter of hauling Gut and spread
ing the manure as fast as it accumulates In
the winter, if conditions are favorable, this
is doubtless the best way to save all its
constituents; but it is not the place to
spread it on land that is to be plowed down
in the spring for corn. If spread on grass
fields that are intended for pasture the
following summer, and that will be plowed
the succeeding spring for corn, the greatest
benefit will be derived from stable manure.
There is one other method by which
manure might be applied that more imme-
date benefit would be derived from it,
which is to spread it in the winter season
when the ground is frozen on the wheat
field as a top dressing. In order to do this
the bedding material should be run through
straw cutter. This would spread easily
with manure spreader, forming mulch
which would protect the young plants from
the piercing winds, which work more in
jury to the crop than any other cause.
The manure would, in addition to pro-
tecting mulch, supply the young plant with
abundant food, which would be placed in
the very mouths of the rootlets. Where
wheat is thus top dressed with fine manure
the grass seed will not miss, and an album
dant crop seldom fails to follow the wheat.
The manure is kept on the surface, where
it should be always placed, and carried
down among the roots of the grass, insur-
ing thick, tough sod, which is the direct
and only economical mode of improving the