46 AGRICULTURAL ESSAYS. 



stances when applied as manure, especially such as straw, or 

 the remaining stalks of Indian corn, that they cause it to bo 

 deposited in the furrow by one who follows the plough, in such 

 manner that it is entirely covered by the succeeding- furrow, 

 and then construct the- harrow by placing an additional frame 

 on the tpp, so that the teeth are prevented from running so 

 deep as to disturb the manure ; and it is believed that a strict 

 regard to economy would justify such a measure, unless other 

 means equally operative can effect the object. The pioper 

 application, as well as the providing a supply of nutritious 

 aliment for the plant, are equally essential in a good system of 

 husbandry. 



The great mass of our practical farmers are not learned in 

 chemical science, and generally attend more to the most prac- 

 ticable and convenient modes of applying manure, than to what 

 may prove to be the most efficacious results of their particular 

 modes of applying it. Although many of them are easily made 

 to believe that compost manure cannot be expected to afford 

 food for plants, until it is covered in the earth, and goes into a 

 state of entire decomposition, and the nutritive qualities dis- 

 solved, or converted into a liquid state ; yet, notwithstanding, 

 they are in the practice of carrying it into the field in its un- 

 decomposed state, and after the process of ploughing and har- 

 rowing is finished, to leave a large portion of it uncovered, 

 and the rest of it not located in a manner from which they can 

 have reason to expect any immediate benefit. After the pro- 

 cess of seeding is finished, the strawy, or other coarse fibrous 

 substances, are often to be seen scattered on the surface, which 

 are either pulled out of the ground with the harrow, or which 

 have never been covered with the plough. While persisting 

 in this erroneous practice, derived from tradition, they seem to 

 indulge in the hope that if they once spread upon the land, 

 straw half rotted, or other similar ingredients of manure, it 

 will somehow get mixed with the soil, and become efficacious 

 for some future crop, if not for the present season. 



There is much diversity of opinion respecting the location of 

 manure, whether it should be above or below the seed. It is 

 very certain that it must be placed near the space which the 

 root will probably occupy. What that distance should be to 

 render it most efficacious to different plants, must be determin- 

 ed by observation and experience. Tap rooted plants, like the 

 carrot, parsnip, beet, &lc. which extend downward as they pro- 

 gress to maturity, require the ground to be mellowed, and tho 

 manure buried deeper, than roots which are bulbous, as the 

 potato, onion, turnip, &c. or than wheat, barley, oats, &c. 



