212 THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



ground,^ yet there was a marked difference in the distribution 

 of it, the upper three feet of the manured ground being de- 

 cidedly more moist than the unmanured. This may have been 

 due to one or more of four reasons : 



(i) The increased vegetable matter in the soil may cause 

 more of the rainfall to be absorbed and allow less to run off the 

 surface. 



(2) Less water may be evaporated from such a soil, as in- 

 dicated by laboratory experiments. 



(3) The water may drain off into subterranean channels less 

 rapidly. 



(4) More water may be brought up from below by capillary 

 attraction. 



It is not unlikely that all four of these causes operated to 

 produce the observed results. 



287. Application of Stable MaiAire. — The amount of stable 

 manure per acre may vary from ten to twenty tons. Where 

 feasible, an ideal method is to apply the stable manure to the 

 meadow in August and plow land late in the fall for the next 

 spring's planting. For practical reasons, however, the manure 

 is usually hauled in winter and Gpring arid the manured land is 

 then spring plowed. When hauling manure in the winter, care 

 should be taken not to haul when the land will be seriously 

 injured from puddling, and not to spread manure on top of a 

 considerable thickness of snow lest it should run off suddenly 

 and carry the manure with it. Well rotted manure will bring 

 the most immediate results and the largest yield per acre, but 

 hauling manure before much decay has taken place causes it 

 to go farther, since there is considerable loss through decay. In 

 regions or seasons of deficient rainfall the application of unrotted 

 manure may cause a reduction in yield. The moisture in the 

 soil being insufficient to cause decay, the undecayed organic 



1 After making si correction for water used in producing the increased yield of 

 maize upon the manured portion. 



