DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. 3OI 



increased yields brought about by a top dressing of manure 

 the previous year were brought to my attention several times. 

 Many authorities believe that it is better practice to apply 

 manure to the hay land rather than to apply it directly to the 

 corn land. The increase in the hay crop is worth while and 

 there is considerably more organic matter to plow under later. 

 Certainly no mistake will be made by applying manure to our 

 hay fields, and this is especially true of fields that are kept in 

 grass for several years. Manure is many times left around the 

 barnyard when there is some field which would be benefited by 

 its application. 



Heavy applications of fresh manure applied directly to the 

 potato crop are likely to make conditions favorable to potato 

 scab. Potato land, then, should be manured lightly the fall 

 before the crop is planted. Even if we are growing potatoes, 

 however, there are other crops in the rotation which would be 

 greatly benefited by the manure. 



There is one point concerning the application of manure 

 which should be brought out. In all cases, manure should be 

 spread broadcast over the land. There is no justification of 

 the practice of putting it in small piles in the field and spread- 

 ing them. The piles leach into the ground and unevenly fer- 

 tilize the field, there is danger of loss by heating and extra 

 labor is involved. This practice developed when there was 

 belief that manure lost its strength by being spread on the land 

 for considerable time before plowing under. Now that we 

 know this is not true, we have no longer any reason for leaving 

 manure in piles. 



The question of the advisability of using rotted rather than 

 fresh manure might be brought up. Garden crops and potatoes 

 do better with rotted manure, as it makes a more evenly bal- 

 anced fertilizer. The compost heap is advisable for gardeners; 

 for general farm crops the use of fresh manure is preferable 

 as there is less loss of plant food and the cost of applying the 

 manure is less. Sometimes grain crops are injured by the 

 application of manure, but the remedy in this case is to use 

 the manure on some other crop of the rotation. On very light 

 soils there is sometimes injury from heavy applications of ma- 

 nure in the spring as the manure dries the soil so that the crop 

 sufTers. In such soils as these only light applications should be 



