230 BOARD OF AtiRICULTDRE. 



fall, and the seventh acre had six cords spread on the surface in the 

 spring. The yield was as follows :* 



Fifth acre plowed in in fall, 



Sixth acre on surface in fall, 



Seventh acre on surface in spring, 1,690 



The manure was in all respects the same, so far as it is possible 

 to get manure of lilce quality. 



If manure is to be stored and all applied at one time, either in the 

 spring or fall, it should be kept under cover, the heaps well leveled 

 down and hogs kept on it. In this way it is packed solid and the air 

 largely excluded. This prevents fermentation to a large extent, and 

 thus preserves the nitrogen. It is well known that sheep manure so 

 long as it lays in the pen is packed so solid that no fermentation 

 takes place, but as soon as thrown into a pile it quicklj' ''heats" and 

 gives off strong gases. This is caused by the access of air, and the 

 same is true of all manures. 



A liberal use of absorbents is always to be recommended and when 

 available there is nothing better than sawdust, not that the sawdust 

 in itself contains much that is useful, but it readily takes up the 

 liquids, and makes the manure easy to spread. Muck when well 

 dried is a valuable absorbent. Straw and meadow ha}' are much 

 used, but unless of very poor quality they can be put to better use. 



As a general rule manure should not be plowed in deep, more 

 manure is lost by burying too deeply than by exposure to the air, 

 and if it were possible to mix evenly the whole of the manure with 

 the first three inches of surface soil, it would be in the best possible 

 position for tiie ordinary crops. Every rain tends to carry the 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash down into the soil, and the 

 action of the air near the surface tends to render available the un- 

 available parts of the manure, but if deepl}' plowed in this decom- 

 position is slow and often unsatisfactory. 



FERTILIZERS OTHER THAN FARM YARD MANURES. 



But after all the manure is used there is in most cases a deficiency 

 to be made up. This deficiency is caused b}' the sale of farm pro- 

 ducts. The following table shows the nitrogen phosphoric acid and 



*These yields are only for three-fourths of an »cre. 



