The Chanute times., 1898-01-14
How TO Apply Manure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

barnyard manure 1t should be the ain
OF every farmer to produce as mucl
as possible. We want a quantity o
fertilizing substances to cover ou
broad acres, and to make any recon
pense to our lands, for the abundan
crops they bear us. This Is one o
the great difficulties with which W.
have to contend. Our farms are Sc
large, and generally so insufficiently
stocked, that it is impossible for mos
of us to produce annually anything like
the quantity of manure that we sc
earnestly desire to use. The first thing
therefore, that we should do, Is tc
stock our farms as heavily as the land
Will support, or as we can afford to
buy, even if we were obliged to buy
some extra grain to winter them. Hav-
Ing done this, we should remember that
1t is not alone in bulk that the value OF
manure consists. We should remem-
than quantity. In order to get rich
manure it is necessary that we feed
our cattle nutritious and abundant
food, and keep them in warm and COM
Portable barns. The richer the food
we feed the better will our manure be,
and the difference in value, load for
load, between the droppings of half
starved and poorly kept animals, and
those of others who are generously fed
and warmly housed, is much greater
iS Corn
meal, oats and bran, with good tame
hay will make, l think the best arti-
Gle that it is possible for us to get.
would here recommend the use of straw
or cut cornstalks for bedding; they
will absorb the liquid manure which
would otherwise go to waste, and
which Is very valuable. There is also
this advantage, that where we pile our
manure and use much straw that there
is no danger of losing ammonia by fer
mentation; the acids produced from
the fermenting straw will hold all the
ammonia found in the heap. What we
want is good manure, and the richer
it is and the bigger the pile the better
The next point is to properly care for
our manure, and this is point that
needs to be well dwelt upon This in
deed may be said to be our weak spot
Many of us make large quantities of
rich manure, and then through care
lessness suffer it to go to waste For
tunes have been lost in this manner,
fortunes are being lost by it now; the
richness that would fill our corn-cribs
with grain, our barns with hay, our
pockets with greenbacks, is being
swept into our rivers or absorbed by
the air. Our cattle should not be al
lowed to range all over the farm in
winter. They should be kept, when
out of the barn, in close yard where
there is an abundant supply Of good |
water, and where all the coarse feed |
of the farm which is not fed in the
barn should be brought to them. This
yard should not be exposed to running
water; and the manure which will ac-
cumulate in 1t should at intervals be
made into large piles, where it will
ferment and decompose, and become
fit food for plants. Manure cellars
and sheds do not speak of, because
l believe that if we pile it in our yards
or elsewhere where it is not exposed
to water from roofs or running streams.
natural rainfall will be beneficial rath-
er than detrimental to it, by assist
ing the decomposition and fermenta-
tion OF the mass. We now come to the
application Of manure to the soil, and
here indeed we have a diversity of
opinions Some recommend to apply
ii In winter, others in spring, others
again in autumn. Some would plow
under green manure, others would top
dress grass lands with it, when we'll
rotted. Those who advocate the haul
ing and spreading of green manure on
grass lands during the winter, argue
that the surface of the land is pro-
tected from sudden changes during the
winter, and the first thaw carries the
manure to the roots, where it causes
a vigorous growth early in the spring.
II the ground is plowed for a spring
crop, it is also benefited by having the
ready to be absorbed by the
soil as soon as the ground thaws; the
seed, as soon as it sprouts, finds what
it needs close at hand. They also ar
que that it is cheaper to haul it dur
ing the winter, when work is slack
and that by this course we escape the
waste of manure in the yards. In an
swer to this 1t is said that in thawing
manure upon frozen land much of it
is carried off in spring by rains, par
ticularly if there be much fall to the
land. In hauling out green manure it
is certain we haul out great guam
tity of water-some estimate it as high s
as eighty per cent-which is waste
If labor. 1 will simply say that from s
my own experience, which is limited,
and from what read of the experience
Of others, am decidedly in favor of
piling manure until it is thoroughly ]
1ecomposed, and. then of applying 1t {
as top-dressing to meadow land as soon I
as possible after haying. In applying |
It at this time it will promote Wig S
orous growth. of after math, which is