Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-03-22

A st. Adams farmer asks me whether
| il is better to plow stable manure under
or harrow it in? answers unhesitating-
ly that manure and fertilizers of all
kinds will do the most good if kept near
the surface where they can be acted on
! by the air so necessary for rendering
them active. 1t used to be recommend
ed to bury manure deeply for asparagus,
grape-vines and orchard trees and what
ever other plants send roots deeply
down into the soil, but farmers have
learned by experience that manure so
buried does not do the good that was
expected of it. Deep roots are needed
for many plants to get supply of water,
but believe that the feeding roots of
nearly all plants run comparatively near
the surface where the air and the heat of
the sun can aid in decomposing the crude
materials and rendering them in suit
able form for maintaining growth and
vigor. | once believed to the contrary
and that land could hardly be plowed or
manured too deeply. 1t was when deep
tiller plows were advocated and | bought
one for breaking up an old pasture that
had not been disturbed for generation
OF more.
On the second year of cultivation i
spread a liberal amount of manure aud
then plowed it under with plow that
would run eight or nine inches deep.
The result was very poor crop that
fall, but thought if the manure was down
below the corn roots it would be recover
ed by the grass after the land was seed
ed down, but it proved otherwise.
That deeply buried manure never did
the good that was expected of 1t. Ever
after kept the manure near the surface,
however deeply l may have stirred the
soil with Subsoil or other plOws. The
chemists tell us that potash and phos-
phoric acid when applied to the soil are
seized and held quite safely against be-
ing washed out by rains, so that it is
comparatively safe to apply these in en-
cess of the immediate needs OF crop.
The roots of growing plants will take
these fertilizing materials from the soil
as needed. Roots can pick up food that
water could not wash away. AS plant
roots are most active near the surface
this is where the plant food should be.
The nitrogenouS portions of manure
and commercial fertilizers are more
readily carried away from a soil by wash
ing, and for this reason especially
should they be kept near the surface
where the roots are most abundant. Nj
trateS can be found in drainage water
after heavy rains have washed drained
soil. To prevent such waste it is best
to apply such fertilizers as nitrate OF
soda little and often rather than in
nit stable
manure and some of the fertilizers like
tankage is not all readily soluble, SO it
may be applied freely with less danger
of waste by washing. Stable manures
think can be applied safely at almost
any time of year if not buried deeply in
the soil. have never had better re-
suits than when spread late in autumn
and narrowed in, or directly on the
snow in winter to be narrowed in when
spring opened and the ground got set
tied and tit to work. Manure does not
readily decompose during winter and no
nitrogen is lost through fermentation.
The manure is held inactive by the low
temperature 1t is really in cold stor-
age. Horse manure that ferments readi-
ly will lose much in value if allowed to
heat freely in barn cellars in winter.
Unless spread out thin and trodden
down hard to prevent heating it is safer
spread on frozen ground where it is
needed than in the cellar. There are
many things in regard 10 farm matters
that | am uncertain about but this
question as to plowing manure in deep
ly or narrowing it in to the depth of
from one to five inches is not one of
them. My experience has been too
conclusive for dOubtS.-A. W. Cheever
in New England Farmer.