The news & observer., 1904-12-25
Economy With Manure.

one of the chief values of the ma
nure spreader is that the farmer is
enabled to not only scatter the ma
nure more uniformly, but can make
it go over more ground than can be
spread in the ordinary way by hand.
If we are practicing a short rotation
and feeding all the forage grown, the
effort should be to cover the corn field
over annually with manure. But it
NAV be suggested 1--WE do not have
enough manure to do this Now the
fact is that if the manure was more
economically used and better spread
it would go a great deal further, and
in the long run, do more good than
i'm the common way of handling IT.
throwing big Jumps in one place and
none in another when the big lump,
properly fined, would answer for four
or five times as much land as it covers
as dump. Amon~ the most accurate
and painstaking experiments that have
been made in this country are those
described in the bulletin published by
Prof. King, of Wisconsin, on soils OF
very different character North and
South AS a final conclusion from these
experiments Prof. King makes the fol-
lowing suggestions: 'In general farm
ing, there can be no question but that
t is much better to follow the practice
Of giving frequent and light dressings
of manure to land rather than to apply
large amounts at long intervals. a
small increase of a few bushels of
grain potatoes or roots, or few hum
dredweight increase of grass or hay
per acre, steadily maintained over the
whole farm year after year. will bring
much larger returns than can be Sc
cured from high fertilization at long
intervals. or continuously on small
portions of the farm. while the bal
lnce receives little attention. One
hundred tons of manure carefully ap-
piled to 10 or 3 acres we'll cared for
will give larger returns, in general
farming, than when the same amount
is applied to or 5 acres. as is Often
the case. When too much manure is
applied wastefut oXidations occur
which destroy the organic matter at
once, returning it direct to the atmos-
phere; and this may happen by dis
tributing ii unevenly over the surface.
When manure is applied directly be-
meath the row, in the bottom of fur
row = not only may normal
luitrification be interfered With but
concentration of the plant roots within
a small volume of soil where the plant
| food has been made oVer-aDundant
Imay result in such deficiency of soil
moisture that for this reason alone
the manure becomes com oaratively
lunefiicient''
| Plants with wide spreading roots
| like corn and cotton. should have the
manure evenly scattered through the
soil, and not piled in the furrow to
| dry out the soil and interfere with the
| getting of a good stand. This cannot
| be as well done by hand as it can
! with a manure spreader. Prof. King
| has stated as the results of carefui
experiment. what we have been try
| ing to make plain for years. Prof.
| Kings book gives in minute detail the
results of experiments made when ne
| was connected with the Bureau OF
| Soils in the Department of Agriculture.
and which the Chief OF the Bureau re-
fused to nublish because these results
made his Bulletin q look still more
erroneous.-W Il. Massey. in Practi-
1 cal Farmer.