THE GREAT QUESTION. 293 



raise the question whether he can afford to buy commercial 

 fertilizers. 



In the preparation of manures the question may arise in 

 the mind of the farmer, How much labor can I afford to spend 

 in pulverizing and decomposing manure, beyond what is abso- 

 lutely necessary to secure the best results from evaporation, 

 avoiding burning, &c. ? This is an important question, and 

 one difficult to answer, because it depends on a variety of cir- 

 cumstances, — location of land, kind of soil, amount of labor, 

 to what crops applied, how applied, &c. If the cellar be too 

 small to hold through the winter all the manure manufac- 

 tured, or if, with no cellar, it must be exposed to the drop- 

 pings of the eaves, let it be drawn on the land while snow is 

 on the ground, when the team is vigorous, when labor is not 

 pressing, unless the fields to be cultivated next year are so 

 steep, that the winter and spring rains will carry off the ma- 

 nure and a part of the soil. If the field be nearly level, the 

 elements soaked out will sink into the soil, and, if not placed 

 in large heaps, the spring ploughing and harrowing will so 

 distribute it, that it will not be objectionable ; but, if placed 

 in large heaps to be used in the hill, more manure may be 

 washed out and absorbed by the soil than is profitable for 

 the next crop. This may be remedied by running a scraper 

 through the bottom of the heap, carrying off the over-satu- 

 rated soil, and returning an equal quantity of fresh soil from 

 the immediate vicinity. If labor be scarce, if the grass-crop of 

 succeeding years forms a part of the desired increase of crops, 

 and also improvement of the soil, then manure from the barn 

 may be drawn from the yard, and left to be decomposed, by 

 the rays of the sun and the dews of heaven, in the laboratory 

 of Nature, where the process will be more effectually done, if 

 sufiicient time be allowed, than can be done by artificial 

 means. The sun, the rain, the wind, and time itself, can and 

 will do the work thoroughly and cheaply ; but if time, one 

 of the factors, is absent, and all the manure is needed to raise 

 the present crop, it must be reduced to such a state that it can 

 be taken immediately as plant-food ; or else some commercial 

 fertilizer must be used to start the crop, leaving to the decom- 

 posed manure to carry out the crop, thereby securing a full 

 one, and also having an amount of manure, equal to the 

 amount of fertilizer used, stored up for succeeding grass- 

 crops. 



