The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-05
FARM AND
GARDEN II
INTERESTS
The Question of soil Fertility.

Correspondence Country Gentleman.
My farm barnyard is an ordinary one,
where the manure was piled out and frozen
in the winter. exposed to teaching rains
in the spring and summer and hauled out in
the early fall. The teaching from rainfall
was not only apparent in the dark-colored
rivulets after a rain. but in the effects
on the soil of an occasional load hauled
direct to the field when freshly made, as
compared with that. exposed and hauled in
the summer or fall
To remedy this condition. shed twenty
four feet wide was added 10 the barn just
under the level of the caves. extending 104
feet on the side and forty feet on the end.
covering 3,446 square feet. Gates were hung
across from the posts, dividing the shed
into pens, if desired, but arranged
10 allow driving entirely through the build
ing TO deliver feed, etc. All cattle were dis
horned and fed from racks inside. Corn
fodder SHREDDED and unhusked corn made
gOodly part of the ration. A bunch of hogs
appropriated one corner for their sleeping
room, but spent their entire time otherwise
feeding on the waste from the cattle, and
fattened after the Western style. About
seventyfive Plymouth Rock hens deserted
their approved quarters and made their
nome IN this covered yarO, Nnefe they
scratched for their food and never were fed
directly, yet were prolific layers, and steal
ing their nests perpetuated their number
without any care a community of in
terest among the live stock in this COW
ereo yard was developed that would have
delighted the heart of James J. Hill.
The economy of feeding, however, is not
the main point of this article, but the adj
vantage to the soil in reducing the waste
of liquid and solid manures TO the minimum
and applying the manure at the time of its
maximum value. The "well-composted'
manure Of former agricultural writing is
delusiOn and a snare, if composted out
of doors, since the ammonia contained is an
/ unstable compound and forking over the
| manure heap releases this and in addition
/ impairS the character of the manure as a
] cOngenlal home for bacterial growth. There
! Is the power of manure to nitrify the SOIL
which is at least partially additional to
! the actual elements of fertility. Nitrifica-
! ton is seen in the character of the soil
where lumber pile, for example, has been
fertility was added by the lumber yet there
/ Is an improved condition of the soil, induced
/ by aHord1ng congeniality for the bacterial
/ growth The time to haul manure is in the
winter and early spring and the place a
| sod ground with the manure spread at
! time OF hauling. The moisture and warmth
! of spring make the ideal conditions for
bacterial growth, while the fertility ele-
ments or the manure in the beginning slim
ulate the grass, and the grass added TO
the covering manure makes what might be
! called the blanket of nitrification. Manure
! hauled and plowed under at once does not
nitrlty; neither does manure hauled on TO
plowed land or top dressing, nor do COM
mercial fertilizers.
The element of organic matter is also of
| Importance in, the soil. If a so-called
! WORKOUT field adjoining fertile field is
| watched, or the soil analysed, the difference
| Is round largely in that the wOrn-out field
| Will not absorb mOisture-perhaps has not
one-half the fertile fields absorbent power
ana, again radiation or evaporation is
in fho 1o,,l H.
question or destructive power of droughts
| and decreased rainfall, eliminating in a
demand for forestry growth. etc, is correct
only so tar as organic matter is provided in
| the soil. Immediate results can be obtained
/ generations in advance of forest growth by
careful attention TO soil enrichment by the
sclentlnc return of manureS TO the soil. A
crop or clover plowed under green manur-
| lng) Is not so valuable as the same crop al
/ lowed to cover the ground and make the
| blanket of nitrifcation during the earIv-
/ spring weather. Nature has Indicated i'm
the forest by the fall of the leaves and
on the prairie by the decay of the grass,
that the ground should be covered and for
the purpose pointed out. In agriculture the
nearest approach TO this is the return of
the manure in the winter or sprng and
upon such ground as will respond by making
a covering with grass, and that the land
should remain undisturbed sufficiently long
10 allow bacterial growth Sod ground ma
mureu Ior corn covers the demand made
Inc covered barnyard, which provides un-
leached manure, and which permits il TO he
taken TO the field at the proper time. allows
the fulfilling of these conditions at the max
imum. ~
Professor Chandler, of Lehgh University
DENIES nltrifcation as "a process bv which
the nitrogen of the atmosphere or organic
material in the soil or of ammonia com.
pounds, is turned into nitric acid Artificial
beds OF rich soil, manure, wood ashes AND
lime are watered with urine for the nro.
ductlon OF inter. A certain degree of heat
moisture and a base to take UP the acd
are necessary" The making of the ma.
nure beds under cover in the winter and
placing on the soil at the right time to Sc.
cure neat and moisture, and with the sol
peloW containing the bases. with the al.
loWance OF time for bacterial or microhe
growth the reader will note, conforms r.
the method described in securing the bIan.
ket OF nltrification. Since four-ffths of the
atmosphere is nitrogen, and water can dis.
solve nitrogen to some extent il is nroh.
able, but not entirely susceptible of proof
that the actual nitrogen for TRANSFORMATION
py the bacteria is increased by the rains
ana suspended in the manure blanket unit
transformed into nitric acid, and uniteC
with a base in the soil