, 1908-01-04
THE USE OF
MANURES
INTERESTING ARTICLE ON SUB
JECT IN CURRENT NUMBER OF
STATION BULLETIN.
Lavish and Wasteful Methods En-
ployed on Some American Farms,
Taking from the Soil and Return
ing Nothing-Agronomist at Uni
versity Has Some Suggestions.


Wethy. the ~agronomist at the agricul-
tural college of the University of Wyo-
ming, has the following interesting
article in the current number of the
Ranchman,s Reminder, which has just
been mailed from the office Of the di-
rector of the experiment station:
Americans have been noted for their
lavish and wasteful methods. 1t is well
known that some of the best values in
our country have been expended in a way
that indicates every lack of economy.
This is particularly true in the manage
ment of Our forests and the extensive
use of farming lands in a way that has
reduced their fertility and producing
power to a serious extent. Many west
ern farms that once produced excellent
crops of thirty or forty bushels of wheat
per acre now yield an average OF only
ten or twelve bushels. The elimination
of waste and the utilization of by-pro-
ducts has been a source of success in
many a business of the present day.
Competition has developed an apprecia-
ton of every value to be secured and
the need of developing every department
that a profitable enterprise may be the
result. Nowhere should this be more
true than in the handling of farm lands
devoted to cultivated crops, for the OBJ
ject is to secure the best possible results
from the land and to make the farming
OF it a paying business proposition.
In growing crops there is removed
from the soil a certain amount of plant
food that goes into the composition of
the plant. As a usual condition, the more
of this plant food there is available in the
soil, the larger crop can be grown.
Where grain or root crops are grown
moved for sale, it frequently happens
that the quantity of available plant food
present becomes scarce and what is
called an ~infertile or unproductive soil is
the result.
Whatever line of farming a man may
be following, it is IN excellent plan to
recognize the soil and what it contains
as his working capital. 1t is said, "The
greatest legacy that can be given to an
a%griculturist is a productive soil" If in
his business there is removed from the
soil each year a certain very valuable
part of the plant food, it must be con-
sidered an important need that as much
as possible of this plant food be restored
to the soil and that the working fund of
essential elements is not reduced.
The practical application of this prin-
ciple is most in evidence in the spreading
of farm manures on the land. The work
OF chemists and the results Of practical
experience have led more and more to
an understanding of the value of this
product to the farm. Where it is care
fully saved and applied to the land, it
furnishes a good quantity of nitrogen,
the element most liable to be scarce in
soil also a quantity of phosphoric acid
and potash. If the value of manure is
calculated according to the commercial
value of these elements, a ton of manure
from farm animals is readily worth two
or three dollars.
Another important value of manure is
that it furnishes to the land a quantity
of organic matter which is not liable to
be present in many Wyoming soils in
sufficient quantities. Especially where
the manure is mixed with a quantity of
straw or other absorbent, it conveys to
the soil a quantity OF undecomposed ma
terial which, when plowed under, decays
and adds to a most important substance
in the soil, the humus. This decay of
vegetable matter in the soil assists in the
liberation of natural stores of plant food.
With these facts in mind, some COM
mon practices cannot be looked upon with
favor. The fertility of fields where crops
have been grown continuously is very
low, and yields are small even with good
care in other respects. Some find that
when applications of manure are made,
the succeeding crop will indicate to a line
where the manure was applied, the
growth and yield being much heavier on
the MANFRED land. Many instances indi-
cate an entire disregard of the value of
manure. Frequently, if drawn to the
land, it is more as a means of getting it
out of the way than of benefting the
land. Some deposit the manure in piles
about a field with the intention of spread
ing it at some future time. Here it too
often remains until the better part has
washed away into the soil and uniformity
of spreading rendered impossible.
The best modern practice uses every
reasonable care to preserve both the
liquid and solid excrement of animals,
and spread it on the land uniformly as
it is produced at the barn or feeding lot.
Immediate spreading has been found to
be the better practice.
AS to methods of handling manure,
economy and saving in labor are quite
essential. The old practice Of dumping
in piles for subsequent spreading is GER
tainly a violation of this principle. 1t is
believed that as good work can be done
by spreading directly from the wagon.