The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1889-08-17
RURAL TOPICS.
INFORMATION FOR THE HUSBAND
MAN AND HOUSEWIFE.
Stock Breeder, Poulterer. Nurseryman,
and HouseIeeper.
THE FARM
The Mode of Applying Manure.

The Mode of Applying Manure.
With many farmers this is the time of
year that the larger part of the manure
is drawn upon the land. With too many
the only thought seems to be to get the
manure out of the way just so 1t will not
clog the pillow when being turned under.
This is nothing less than great waste
of that that should be the means of
largely increasing crops. AS to the
why" care should be used in the spread
ing of manure, Levi Stockbridge, of the
Massachusetts, Agricultural College,
writes:
Tie results we desire to obtain by the
use of manures should determine their
mode of application.
These objects are:
First.-TLat the food elements the
manure contains may be absorbed by the
roots of plants.
Second-That it's oxidation and de-
composition i'll the soil may develop
plant food out of soil PARTICLES.
Third-That it may absorb and hold
water, take salts for their solution and
condense the grasses of the air, and give
them out to nourish plants.
Plants obtain all their soil food by
their roots and in the form of solution.
These organs of all our cultivated
and tendrils, permeate the entire sur
face soil in search of food, and if the
manure is applied in Jumps and shovel
fuls in careless manner at q consid-
erable distance apart, large portion
of the roots are deprived of their food,
or exhaust their vitality in searching for
it.
Therefore, the more thoroughly man
IRE is comminuted, and the more evenly
it is distributed through the entire sur
face soil, the more effective will it be in
producing rapid growth and large
crop.
1t may be said if the manure is on the
land an any condition the plants Will
get it sooner or later; and it is very near
the truth, though it is but half tue
story.
Prime cost and the cost of handling
makes manure very expensive sub
stance. 1t is no inconsiderable part of
the capital in the business of farming,
and if 1t is thrown upon the land III such
q manner that it does not feed crops at
once it is dead capital.
If farmer applies 500 worth of
manure to his land, the quicker he can
have the money returned IN crops, the
better for him.
To apply it in such manner that he
will DE obliged to till his land two or
three years and wait that time for the
return is very poor economy.
The soil elements of plant food-the
potash, lime, magnesia, etc, are gener-
ally locked up in soil PARTICLES in the
form of silicates, and insoluble. Ma
nure decomposing in the soil in contact
with these PARTICLES decomposes them
and makes their elements ut once avail
able.
The greater the number oil soil PARTICLES
in contact with the manure, or the more
thoroughly the soil and manure are in
termingled, the greater viii be the
quantity of plant food developed; and
the great gain is, this food costs moth
ing but the labor of distributing the
manure properly.
The law of the equal distribution Of
manure holds good III relation to the
third object of its use. In the soil it
soon takes the form of humus, a sub
stance which holds its own weight of
water, but gives up readily when in con-
tact with an absorbing root.
As the roots are generally ditfused, SO
should he the manure, and in time of
drouth its good effects are distinctly
marked. This humus has a stronger at
tractive power for fertilizing gases and
salts than water; the latter containing
these substances may saturate the entire
soil and pass down to the springs, but
the humus of manure over which 1t
passes retains the substances for the
nourishment of plants.
For these reasons to throw the ma
nure upon the land with no regard for its
even distribution, results in losing a
large part IF its value as plant food-of
its power to develop food from the soil,
to gather and retain the same plant
growth.