Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-04-15
IMPORTANCE OF MANURE.
CULTIVATION NOT A sUBsrITUTE.-BARN-
YARD MANURE THE MOST VALUABLE
FERTILIZER.

An old and very successful farmer anC
stock raiser in England, whose fame had
extended far beyond his county, gave
out the information that he had written
a book, to be sold after his death, which
contained the secret of his success. Ac
cordingly, after he had been gathered
unto his fathers, his executor put up the
book at a public auction to be sold to
the highest bidder. 1t was in sealed
wrapper. but the executor assured the
bidders that it was the identical book
the old farmer had spoken of in his life
time, and it was in his own handwriting,
and that he had never written any other
The bidding was spirited, and the sue,
cessful buyer carried away the prize al
the cost of 100 guineas. He hurried
home, locked himself in his room, broke
the seal, removed the wrapper, turned
over blank leaf after blank leaf, until he
found these words written in bold
hand with capital letters: manure!
Manure, Manurer' ''Only this, and
nothing more" Manure was the secret
of his success.
Another celebrated English farmer,
Jethro Tull, declared that tillage was
manure. OF course he knew better but
wanted to create sensation and get
farmers to buy the horse hoes, harrows
and grain drills he had invented, and
which were really valuable improve
ments for tillage. Sir j. b. Lawes prov
ed that good land, with excellent tillage,
would produce successive crops OF grain
for many years without showing much
sign of exhaustion. He sowed the same
field with wheat for forty years in sue
cession, and the fortieth year it produced
thirteen bushels to the acre. He further
proved that an application of manure to
this same land, added to good tillage,
made it produce thirty bushels to the
acre-more than doubling the crop.
Some farmers in America have got
il into their heads that clover, cowpeas
and good tillage are all that is required
to keep up the fertility of their farms.
They are probably mistaken. The his
tory of agriculture from the earliest
ages, and the experience of the best
farmers in every part of the world, prove
that the use of manure, both natural and
artificial, is necessary to successful farm
ing. THE constant exhaustion of the
SOIL" says an English writer, demands
a periodical nourishment. and this is
best done by means of keeping live
"Farmyard manure" says 1.-THE Lii
brary of Universal knowledge" sis the
most valuable manure the farmer uses.
Ii contains all the elements of plants,
and without it's use, in ordinary circum-
stances, the fertility of the land would
rapidly deteriorate."
Hale's Husbandry says: 1.-The world
has been sensible to the use of manure
at all times, and it is to the farmers
interest TO continue the use of them,
and not neglect them for any other
practice" The value of tillage and
was we'll understood in New
Testament times. The keeper of the
said in reference to the barren
igtree: Lord, let it alone this year also,
ill dig about and dung it." Green
has accomplished wonders
where the soil was only deficient in
numus, or lacked sufficient nitrogen.
The inhabitants of Flanders (now Bel
,ium) made very productive farms on a
sandy coast cast up by the sea by plough
nc under green crops, especially rape
md clover, as soon as they could make
t grow, and keeping all the cattle their
and would support. The land was full
If decayed shells, fishbones and other
'ertilizing ingredients, and mainly lacked
lumus, or vegetable soil, to retain
moisture.
Stable manure is greatly injured by
eaving it scattered about in the barn
,ard until the soluble and the richest
portions are washed out by the rains. 1t
becomes, as Mr.. j. S. Woodward says,
the corpse from which the spirit has
departed" On the other hand, it can
De about as badly injured by wheeling it
inder shed and leaving it there to
smoke and heat for want of water and
over.
A neighbor called my attention to
arge pile of manure under shed he had
ouilt for its preservation. Pitching off
some of the top showed that it was all
ire fanged (burned) until it was white
ind dry as powder house. There was
,othing left but the carbon. The nitro
.en had escaped into the air to be watt
ID about by the wind and, descending
With the rain or snow, to enrich some
,ther mans fields. / have often carried
water to moisten and forked over our
lung piles to stop the intensity of the
heat and render the fermentation slow
md safe. If it is likely to be neglected
inder shelter would rather have it out
IF doors, where it would be moistened
Dy the rains.
There are some natural or mineral
such as gypsum Gland plaster)
lime, mari, kainit, South Carolina rock,
,tc., which are valuable fertilizers and
are extensively used where found near
1t hand or can be obtained at reason
,onable price. These mineral fertilizers
and ground rock are the only fertilizers
DR.. Julius Hensel of Germany, would
have farmers use. The dung of animals,
ne declares, poisons the crops grown on
he land where it is applied. The
fertilizers, chiefly composed
IF ground bones, dried flesh, blood, fish
scraps, etc., are of great benefit to most
soils, but they are expensive, and their
profitable use can only be determined by
The trial of each farmer for himself on
his own farm.
Even where cattle are kept on the
,arm in large numbers, and the manure
is saved, and applied to the land in the
best manner possible, it may be neces-
,ary to buy back some of the fertility
that has gone from the farm in the
products sold. Not only is there loss
from the sales of products, but by the
sinking of liquid manure beyond the
reach of the plough or the deepest
rooted plants. Seaweeds, cast upon the
shores in storms, are extensively used on
the Channel Islands and other places to
increase the manure piles, but the sea
never gives up the thousandth part OF
the fertility carried down to it by the
rivers. In the deltas, as at the mouth OF
the Ganges, the Nile and the Mississippi,
there is richness enough to cover con.
tinent. The subject Of manure is OF
such vital Importance to farmers that Its
discussion is in order at any time, and
at the season when the stock
is in the stables and large quantity is
made that must be taken care of, and
taken good care of, or much Of its value
will be lost.-Tribune Farmer.
WANT TO GET BACK TO THE FARM.
The trolley companies, 1 am told, pre-
fer strong, bright young men brought
up in the country for motormen and
conductors. They are more reliable,