HOW MANURE IS BEST APPLIED TO THE LAND. 193 



elements of fertility. This effect should be understood, lest 

 labor and manure, both, be wasted. 



If the manure be plowed under with a flat furrow, for in- 

 stance, it is buried out of reach of the influences ^of the air, 

 by which oxidation and conversion into plant food are ef- 

 fected. The seed sown upon land so prepared may germi^ 

 nate and put out roots, but the growth will be weak until 

 the manure is reached ; when there will still be w r eak and 

 slow growth because the manure has not become available 

 for plant food by decomposition. This is therefore a loss of 

 material and of time; the mechanical effect of the man- 

 ure upon the soil is missed; and the soil is neither made 

 more absorbent, nor more retentive of moisture. When the 

 manure is spread upon the land as a top dressing, the same 

 absence of useful results prevails; and there is no change in 

 the soil; although, if rains intervene, the soluble part of the 

 manure is carried into the soil and is made available for 

 the crops. 



When the manure is spread upon the soil, and is then 

 plowed under with lap furrows, which are laid over at an 

 angle of 45 degrees or thereabouts, there is an intimate mix- 

 ture of the manure with the soil. These are intermingled 

 in alternate layers set on edge. All the furrow slices of 5 

 or 6 inches in thickness have between them a layer of man- 

 ure, and the edges of all the layers are fully exposed to the 

 atmosphere and to the rain. Decomposition of the manure 

 and the chemical reaction of this process upon the mineral 

 particles of the soil, go on with rapidity and perfection. 

 The soil and the decaying organic matter are further inter- 

 mingled by the harrowing after the plowing, and if the har- 

 rowing is done in an effective manner the intermixture is 

 perfectly made. 



The result of this is a more or less altered physical condi- 

 tion of the soil in proportion to the quantity of manure 

 which has been used. It matters not so far as the mechan- 

 ical effect upon the soil is concerned, whether this mixture 

 is rich manure from the stables or consists of composted veg- 

 etable matter, swamp muck, green crops grown for the pur- 



