The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-19
Making Manure Effective.

Making Manure Effective.
A large part of every farmers capital
consists OF the stable and barnyard fertil-
izers made from the excrement OF stock
worked up with the coarse hay, straw and
other fodder produced on the farm, but
which for some reason IS not eaten, says
the American Cultivator. 1t is usual to
pile this in heaps and let it ferment before
APPLYING. If 1t is reduced in bulk without
much loss of its heterogeneous elements the
manure becomes exceedingly valuable as
a fertilizer On the success of the farmer
in making this needed change, and put
ting the manure where it Will do the
greatest good, depends his cash balance
ct the close of the year. There is, there
fore. no subject which at tt1is season of
the year is more practical than the best
methods of composing manures. 1t may
be done so as to waste most of the nitro
genous elements of fertility, and causing
the manure to fire fang" or by the use
of some cheap minerals like gypsum and
kainlt the ammonia given off in heating
win be absorbed and form mineral nj
trates, which possess much greater effec.
in stimulating plant growth than any other
method of mauring.
Most of the farm-made manure Is SO
deficient in lime and potash that they need
these additions to adapt them to growing
crops, and especially in fruit production.
which requires extra fertilizing with pot
ash This kainit or the German potash
salts supplies without being caustic as
wood ashes are, and causing The manure
to heat violently and lose its ammonia.
The kainit absorbs the ammonia as fast
as il IS formed, holding Ii in soluble
form, so that the plant roots can easily
use it. If some phosphate of lime IS
mixed with the compost it will make
mira tie compound of uniting the ammonia
| TINT comes from fermenting manure with
| The phosphoric acid and lime that the min
eral fertilizer supplies. The mineral is
| also benefited by this union, as 1t prevents
the phosphate of lime from reverting into
| insolube conditions.
We believe the time is coming when very
| little manure Will be put upon land until
| 1t has been fermented, not merely to re-
duce its bulk but to make it fine and
more evenly distributed in the soil. While
| we write this we are aware that the bulk
Of barnyard manure is now drawn out
and spread as evenly as possible, and then
plowed under to ferment under the fur
row. In this way most of its mineral fer
tiity Is lost, for as plowed under the ma
| nure does not rot down until so late in
summer that no crop then growing can
| use it, and not only the mineral FERTILE
| ers, but much of the heterogeneous as well.
are washed out by the melted SHOWS and
rains OF the following fall winter and
spring Corn does not require much min
eral plant food, and is especially deficient
| in phosphate. When we were young, in
| a locality where winter wheat was the sta
| pie crop, it was a favorite practice of
| farmers to draw out manure through the
| winter for corn, spreading it on the snow
| so that as the snow melted it's soluble
| parts would be washed into the SOIL
| among the roots of clover and the grasses
| In May this wes plowed rather shallow
| so as to have the sod and the manure
| near the surface, where both would fer
| ment more rapidly. Before fall the cul.
tivator would be run, so as to cut uD
most OF this rotted sod and manure, and
| mix them with the soil So soon as the
! 9orn was well glazed it was cut. and
nake into small stocks, mat after stand
| ing a few days to dry out were hauled off
| the field. Often the spaces between the
| stocks were plcwed before the stocks
were drawn off, and other spaces were
| plowed or cultivated later and sown. In
| the first blowing an attempt was made to
| turn IN some hard pan below the furrow
| plowed in spring. But where the stocks
| stood he surface soil was often only Gull
| tivated on the surface. taking care not
to bury the hard soil butts that stood
| above the surface. If there was a favor
| able winter with plenty of snow, this lat
est sown wheat was often the best, and II
| had always good clover catch If seeded
| the following spring. The cultivation
! mixed the manure and sod while the
| blowing brought up some of the sub-soil
| in which the clover did not thrive so well.
Perhaps the best of all ways to make
manure effective is to follow 1t as soon as
possible after its application with a clover
| seeding. If the small clover seed finds a
| clod of stable manure or a pinch of phos-
| plate in close contact with Il on moist
| soil IL adds amazingly to its growth and
also enables 1t to put forth earlier the
warty nodules on its roots which decou-
pose the air. We have seen these no.
| dulles on clover which had been sown on
| ground that had been top dressed before
| il was sown, and which had only grown
| from April till September. 1t Is known
that dressing of manure will bring Glow
er in favorable season into blossom and
even to make seed the first year of its
growth. If the clover seems to be maxi
ing too much growth 1t should be either
pastured or cut for hay 10 prevent Il from
| seeding.
In applying phosphate to land there
should be either a rotting sod or a dress
ing of barnyard fertilizer TO go with IL.
and keep Il from reverting into insoluble
forms. Wherever either Of these are used
a dressing of salt at the rate of 200 to 800
pounds per acre viii add greatly to their
|. effectiveness. In this small quantity the
salt hastens decomposition of all vegeta-
bic matter. This causes the formation of
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