The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-12
Making Richer Manure.

A large part of the value of fer .ilizsrs is
due to the promptness of their action, says
the American CHltiUat0r. Stable mauures
are always provsrbially slow. They are
composed generally in great part of coarse
straw or other material used for bedding,
and, except from granted animals, the ex-
crement contains ridiculously small pro-
portion of available plant food Fresh
dung is not available until some ferme lta-
ton takes place. Until warm weather in
cites this the stable manure does little good.
After the heats of summer begin, the
coarse manure in large amount may even
injure crops by increasing droughts. The
manure applied in spring is often only
brought into soluble form by autumn, when
fall rains and winter SHOWS are ready to
wash away its most valuable portion into
bitches and rivers.
We believe heartily in stable manure, but
| it is no desractioa from its value to wish
| that 1t were more Immediately available.
| Two ways are open for doing this, one indi-
rect, by feeding richer foods containing
| more heterogeneous and mineral elements, and
the other direct, by adding to the manure
| nile potash, phosphates and nitrates in the
| concentrated forms in which they are fur
| nished in commercial manures. This is
what may often be dons with great advan-
tage. Stable manures are generally apt TO
| be deficient in phosphate. and the CONNER
| cial phosphate contains at best only very
small proportions of ammonia, though this
| rather than the mineral is what gives grain
| its more vigorous growth at the start. In
J an ammon ated phosphate there is usually
only about 2 per cent. of ammonia, or in
dressing Of 100 pounds per acre about three
| pounds.
1t is evident, therefore, that mixture of
the phosphate with stable manure benefits
| both, by making ana keeping both in availa
| BILE condition for crops.
| A still greater Improvement to most
manure heaps is the addition with the phos-
| phate of dressing, say of Twenty-Five
| pounds of nitrate of soda evenly distributed,
| to each load of manure. Eight loads of
such manure per acre would give a dressing
of 200 pounds of nitrogen in available
| form, and do any crop more good than
either the phosphate or stable manure can
possibly do.
| What Is wanted in stable manure is a ten
| deucy to deoompose rapidly, and nothing
better promotes this than nitrate of soda.
Phosphate alone is liable quickly to revert
to insolubIe forms, and nitrate of soda is the
| best preventive of this. The nj rate of soda
| is more expensive per ton than commercial
| phosphate, but is much more effective for
| Immediate results, and a comparatively
small amount per acre will produce great
increase of crop. Since the discovery of
nitrate beds in South America, this fertil-
izer can be procured much more cheaply
than was thought possible few years ago.
1t can now be had for $50 to $50 per tou,
and possibly less. In appearance it resem-
bles common salt, ana should be made as
fine as possible before distributing, as a little
will, for most crops, be sufficient if it reaches
them all.
In every case where either nitrate of soda
or phosphate Is used to enrich manure,
clover should be sowh if it is with grain
crop, SO as to leave something on the land
after the crop is removed. The nitrate is
very soluble, while the phosphate is liable
to revert and become useless until made
soluble again. Glover roots prevent the
loss Of nitrates, while they greatly aid the
solublility of the phosphate which the soil
contains. Soils long cropped with wheat
produce good crops wnen clover is grown on
them, though only the roots are left in the
soil. Owing to its solubility it is letter tc
defer the application of nitrate of soda tx
land until spring, as otherwise much of it:
value will be washed away by floods thai
often occur the latter part of winter as the
snow goes off aud the land is filed with
| water.