No. 4.] BARNYARD MANURE. 313 



IV. — How TO USE Barnyard Manure. 



We have now reached the difficult part of the matter. The 

 most economical use of barnyard manure is seldom made, 

 largely because of our ignorance of the exact needs of the 

 plant in the particular soil used ; some general rules, how- 

 ever, may be laid down. 



The farmer should strive to place the manure at the dispo- 

 sition of the growing crop just at that moment when the 

 most nitrate has been formed and before any has been de- 

 stroyed. The most favorable conditions are obtained when 

 fresh manure is packed as tightly as possible away from the 

 air, kept in that condition until half-rotted, and then plowed 

 under just before planting or sowing. Under these circum- 

 stances, although the third class of bacteria have in the 

 rotting of the litter made soluble food of one kind for the 

 " nitrate destroyers," the latter have been deprived of their 

 necessary food, the nitrates, for none could be formed in the 

 tightly packed mass, and they have remained harmless. But 

 the heap has become half rotted, even without them. After 

 the manure is plowed in, the " nitrogen formers," now having 

 plenty of air, rapidly produce nitrates which are beyond the 

 reach of the destroyers ; for by this time all their soluble 

 non-nitrogenous food has been decomposed and has gone into 

 the air, leaving them to die. The growing plants in the 

 meantime absorb the nitrates. 



If fresh manure is plowed in directly before seeding, a 

 poor result is obtained, for the nitrates are not formed until 

 after the plants have passed their growing period, and they 

 consequently starve. As might be supposed, winter crops 

 fare better with this procedure than spring crops. By plow- 

 ins^ in fresh manure several months before seeding: a much 

 better result is obtained, because the nitrates are on hand 

 and are being formed at the growing period of the crops. 

 Experience has abundantly proven that it is better to plow 

 manure into the soil and allow it to lie there rather than in 

 the pile. Whether it is better to leave manure spread on the 

 surface of the land rather than to plow it in or leave in pile, 

 depends chiefly on the amount of loss caused by surface 

 drainage. This may be small, but, if the ground is frozen. 



