Manuring and Rotations 85 



compacting the manure to exclude air and by keeping it 

 moist. Many farmers haul manure to the field and leave 

 it standing for months in small piles. This practice 

 allows destructive organisms to work rapidly. More- 

 over, the leaching of the piles causes an irregular dis- 

 tribution of plant-food in the soil. The idea that the 

 manure should not be spread until the farmer is ready to 

 plow it under is erroneous. 



Manure must be stored during a part of the year if 

 no vacant land is available for spreading it. Storage may 

 be in special manure-pits, under sheds, or in the open 

 yard. Expensive pits probably do not pay, but simple 

 devices to assist in handling manure are doubtless good. 

 When an open yard is used, the neatest and most sani- 

 tary kind of pile, as well as the one allowing least loss, is 

 one with vertical sides and with edges slightly higher than 

 the middle. The manure that is produced each day 

 should be put on the pile and should be kept compact 

 and moist. A manure-spreader is a great time-saver 

 and makes possible a more even distribution than can be 

 made by hand. 



GREEN-MANURES 



The plowing under of growing plants to increase the 

 organic content of the soil has been practiced for gen- 

 erations. This practice has been found favorable, par- 

 ticularly in preparing new land for sugar-beets. The 

 decay of plants helps to make available the mineral foods 

 of the soil, and to correct physical defects. Plate VII. 



Legumes make the best green-manure crops, since they 

 increase the nitrogen supply by taking this element from 



