The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-26
saving Manure and Making Compogt.


OF course no farmer will deny that the
saving of manure is one of the most i'm
portant operations of the farm, especial
ly on farms where the soil has been in
cultivation many years. In the new set
Elements Of the West little or no atten-
ton is given to manure, from the fact
that it would be superfuous addition to
such rich virgin soils. 1t would not pay
for the labor of applying it. But here in
Georgia, to-day, and in Middle Georgia
particularly, the bulk of the best land
has been in cultivation and under con
tinued clean culture and the most care
less treatment, and has become so i'm
paired it is almost impossible to secure
remunerntive crops with the best of sea-
sons where no manure isused
Some of our bottom lands are still not
exhausted of their natural fertility, but
they constitute a very small proportion
of our cultivated area and few farms in
Georgia have any superabundance of this
class of land, land that needs no manure.
Intensive culture means high manuring,
and we cannot rely on commercial manures
alone to restore our farms tOpieStine CON
ditiOn or to keep them union paired from
year to year. Even if we had the capital
to buy US all that we might need of
commercial manure, we could not obtain
the highest success without the organic
manures, and thatwe cannot buy to adj
vantage inmarket. We are compelled to
make them ourselves.
Good stable manure is the highest type
of manure 1t is difficult, in fact almost
impossible, to find a substitute for it in
regard to one quality at least, its perma-
nency. For most crops we now can count
on it with more certainty than anything
we have ever used however much we
may have been paid by use Of commercial
fertilizers, l a satisfied that farmers
will generally agree with me in this pro-
position. The only difficulty about it is
we can never save half enough of it to
manure the lands that we cultivate, and
he is the best farmer who makes the most
of it under equal conditions. We are
compelled to supplement with commercial
manure, but our principal reliance should
boon the animal manure made from our
stock andthe vegetable manure grown on
the land
The small farmer who has only one
horse or mule and COW or two, perhaps,
can do very little towards securing manure
sufficient for his thirty or forty acres
from them alone. Still he must make
what he can from them, to which he must
add whatever Of cotton seed he may OBJ
tain from his crop. Then he must buy
commercial manure to finish out with, or
run upon vegetable manure. The latter
policy implies that he is not transient
tenant. for if he was such he could not
afford to SOW a crop for the benefit of his
land another year if he was uncertain of
remaining on it to get the benefit Of It,
AS to the saving of manure, the stables
should be well Uttered with pine straw
or leaves supplying fresh straw or leaves
from time to time, as it may be trodden
down or become wet or foul. AS rule,
it should be hauled out once a year, either
in December or January, and applied to
oft I1a OF ny II, f1p
A month before hauling ont it should be
dug up and thrown into sharp, high piles
and rs much of tho water as possible
evaporated, and then it should be pulver-
lied or fined so it can be uniformly APP
piled. In we'll fined condition it is
worth twice as much as when applied in
Jumps.
It is always desirable to use some phos-
phate in connection with stable manure
and very frequently it will be found much
more convenient to make this compost
in the drill applying the stable manure
first and then sprinkling the phosphate
on it before covering it. a better proper
tion can thus be secured than when mixed
together previously II there should
be much wet weather in the winter, how
ever, some time may be saved by making
the compost under shelter, using care to
get the propers proportions. As rule,
the writer much prefers to make his COM
post in the drills, putting it in wherever
practicable, sixty to ninety days IN adj
vance of planting. If cotton seed is used,
instead of stable manure, II may be a
little more convenient to make compost in
advance, but there is very little differ
ence between the two methods
At one time, one plan may be more CON
venient and desirable while at another,
the other may be preferable. Dump carts
are very desirable vehicles on the farm
for applying manure, hauling off rocks
and the like, aud even one-horse farmer
ought to have one of them They are
much handler than a wagon, and soon pay
for themselves in time and labor saved.
Applying Lime to Land.