Gunnison news-champion., 1915-04-16
sivH IL
mHE 81 n mu
The Maasse VssHs1 EscA iess
Would Ak~a Psy Fs..s
Taxes S.ys Eassss


here rs so much ~ agriculture thst
81 Do not under stand. end 80 much that
~ gnore. that we cannot afford to i9-
Hare that which we Do understand,
or instance il is only sstely that we
have come to appreciate what soil ss
made Of and hos grams and plants man
age to hive and grow. We know noe
sHat We must feed the roots Of growing
sraps just as we feed growing calves.
and with shout ss much care.
Without gong deeply into chemistry,
Of this food supply. we have learned
that the plant bill Of fare consists Of
three things. namely: nitrogen, phos-
phoric acid and potash. Where these
foods are available we have good crops;
where they are sbsent or locked w in
the dry, heavy earth, the plants starve.
Experisacs hes taught ~ that we con
set the tsbse, fpsa Which the plants
will get their substaase N twe ways
either BY byiaG s,ssir food BY the pound
or by saving fer them esr bsFnysrd
manure. Medsrn chsmistry hss proved
that for this puspase hall ton Il fresh
horse manuse cantaias five psaaas Of
nitrogen, tAsse sad . hslf psSUAs 0f
phosphoric Sid; saA . sinilas snaeant
of COW msnuse contains three psuads Of
nitrogen aad two ssA AsM possds Of
phosphosic scid. This iaclsAss both the
solid and liquid nensse, In feet. the
liquid is the mast iaAporsant II the two.
Great csse should be token that the
main part Of il may be saved.
The easier The fsFMet mskes it for
his growing plsnts to essAsr this food
supply the bsttes crops he con psssnise
himself. Ne fsttens his CROPS just -
surely ~ he fattens his steers. II IN
thus fatteninG HE corn fields the fsrmes
goes 10 ne store - buys Ritrates q
Is cssts per pound, ssd Phosphoric sciA
- psAssA beth 1t ceats pr ps0na,
- win iinA that TIE horse msaure in his
swa barnysrd o. this bssis if properly
csnserved, is worth e2.2l per ton; his
coo manure o.. 02 per ton; his pig ms-
nsse, q. - per ten.
This is, however, il il 10 saved right
anA used right 1t hos been estimated
that the way manure 10 handled by the
farmers in this country, that enough 10
vested each year to pay the taxes Of
ell the farms in the United States.
There are two main lesks or avenues
Of dissipation in connection with this
food supply Of plants first ct the stable
end second in the field. just - one can
ruin IN otherwise good hay crop by not
handling it right, SO one can damage q
good manure crop.
Manure is at its best when fresh and
10 subject to several demcralizing in
fluences. 1t cannot stand rain because
water beaches the best part of it away;
il cannot stand dryness because it fer
ments and the nitrogen evaporates; in
fact, it cannot stand at all. Fresh ma
nure should be spread fresh.
The manure found in the barnyard in
the spring or that found in little heaps
in the field is only half rs good for plant
food rs the same manure would have
been had it been pitched on spreader
from the stable and scattered over the
land as soon as the load was completed.
Next to spreading it fresh, the i'm
portant thing is TO spread it finely pull
verized and evenly. This must be done
with a mechanical pulverizer, because
the hand that wields the fork from the
wagon can do no more than scatter il
in chunks.
So important is the manner of spread
ing manure essential to its preservation
that the University of Wisconsin, in
Bulletin No. 221, claims that it is ad-
visable to apply the manure to field as
soon as made. Even winter spreading
is worth while.
1t is equally vehement in regard to
pulverization. Ito make itself worth
while manure must come in contact
with the growing plants. to do this il
must be thoroughly pulverized and even
ly spread. The practice of applying
the manure directly after plowing and
thoroughly Incorporating it with the
soil by the use of disk harrow or cul-
tivator is good one.
Everywhere it is acknowledged that
the spreader is a dividend-paying IN
vestment. and it would seem with
taxes to be paid and other expenses
coming along. that greater care would
be taken to preserve in its entirety the
full value of the barnyard refuse