The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-12


 now going on in the agriculture press of the United States. many writers have pointed out how easy It Woulu be to add five bushels to the yield or each acre of corn in the country pS breeding and selecting the best va, rieties; and that such an increase Moula add from s20O, ,000, GOO to $300,o0O.0O0 to the value of the crop in these United States, II.
 True as this is and important as It is it Is surpassed in ma gnitude by the gain that would arise from saving manure which now goes to waste
 The value of different manures per ton is stated as follows;
 Kind of manure value per son, Sheep .................'' 70 'So So Hogs .-.-....-...'.'''' o'-s Cows ................ -'vs Horses ...-....... -'- ! Hens ..s...'.. .';' 'tV'
 Knowing the number of animals in the country as given by census reports and knowing, from many experiments about the average amount of manure exoreted by each animal, it is figured that the value of this manure reaches the stupondous total of $2.350.0oO,00O per annum.
 It is probably no exaggeration to say that of this amount. fully S5oO,- OOo 900 worth is lost. which could be saved by proper care.
 But whether we can estimate the money value closely or not we are satisfied that the loss arising from the mismanagement of manure Is one Of the greatest if not the greatest agricul- tural Joss in the country.
 People seem not to be awake to this frightful loss and treat the entire sub- ject with indifference. yet it is manure that will. in large measure. keep up the fertility of soils.
 It is passing strange that people will pay out money for commercial fertili- gers and let their own manure run of In the gullies and streams Not that commercial fertilizers are bad, but that manure should be used first. in most cases. and fertilizers added as sup plement,
 The study of manure is really study of asborbing interest We know that plants get their nitrogen. phesphoric acid, potash and lime from the soil. save the family Of legnmes (beans. peas clover, ets..) which get their nitrogen from the air. We know that in return ing the straw. stalks. etc. to the soil we are returning part of what was taken out, and we know that when we feed our work animals. nearly all of the plants foods which were in the feed are excreted in the manure. for the work animals, as rule, neither gains nor loses in weight and tissue is brok- en down in the body as fast as it is built up We know that in feeding dairy cows we can recover in their manure three fourths of the nitrogen. over half the phosphoric acid and practically all of the potash that was in the feed while with young and growing animals, somewhat less pre- centage is recovered. And when this excFement with it's accompaniment of bedding is put upon the land it wakes it to fresh activity and the plant, like the ship In Longfellow's poem, seems to feel the thrill of life along her keel What goes on within the soil we know only in part, but thousands Of | trained minds are delvlng deep into the problem year by year to make nature give up her secrets. What seemed to us dead earth Is really the theatre of incessant activity Bill lions of bacteria are at work there decomposirg the rough manure and preparing the food for the plants to l eat.
 And now it has been discovered that some of these soil bacteria gather nitrogen from the air I am not speak l ing of the bacteria on the roots oi clover and peas. but of other bacteria within the soil which appear to take their nitrogen directly from the air i independently of any plants that may happen to be growing in the soil, and we know that manure. in some way, stimulates these bacteria and helps them to gather more nitrogen, which means more fertility and bigger crops.
 There Is lack of Knowledge as to how to handle manure to preserve it's fertility, for people generally know not what plant foods are within the manure or in what way they are preserved or lost. If 1t is left in the open or under the caves of the barn II is drenched and leached of it's goodness like ashes from which lye is extracted. If 1t is piled in heaps under the sheds 1t flre- fangs and loses It's ammonia. which is but nitrogen with something added. and If 1t Is drawn out and forlSed over from time to time as gardners are wont to do. 1t becomes reduced to a fine quality of manure, but has lost half of its plant food or more in the operation. If 1t is kept in bulk at all 1t should be kept somewhat on the principle of the silo-packed as tight as a drum with not enough moisture to leech it. but with enough to prevent the access of air. But if Ii can be hauled out freshly as 1t is made and scattered thinly on the land 1t Is In condition to do the most good. for manure Is never so good as when 1t is fresh.
 One of the difficulties of applying Dy ndI0 lS IfldL II remains more or less fin Jumps from the size of a hickory nut to the size of the double first. which means that some of it's plantfood will escape before 1t can all be utilized: If 1t could be as fine as bran 1t would be so much the better for then there wound be a particle of manure with each particle of soil %
 It Is for this reason, principally that believe the manure spreader is an important machine in modern agricul- ture. It tears the manure to pieces better than can possibly he done by hand, and leaves an even coating over the field. Its labor saving feature Is good, but it's splendid work in render ing fine the manure is the best thing about it
 In manure using communities it is customary to apply from 12 to IS tons Der acre for corn. wheat or oats and in doing so men apply fully $25 worth of nitrogen. phosphorIc acid and pot ash, if we may assign accepted com Inerical value for these plants foods: yet the men who do this would baIk quickly at the idea of using $25 worth of commercial fertilizer per acre.
 l think it is better to use less ma nure per acre on farm crops and go over more acres
 With 12 to IS tons of manure per acre much of the nitrogen. at least. will be lost; but with light appIica- tion of one-half or one-third that 1t might ell be utilized.