242 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



not claimed that by the process of fermentation it receives any 

 addition, but that these are changes in the forms and combina- 

 tions, that render the elements more available ; fresh manure 

 contains the elements of plant-food, but not the food itself. 



S. W. Johnson, says that fresh manure is not a fertilizer, 

 and cannot be appropriated to any extent. And Dr. Voelcker, 

 shows that the amount of ready formed ammonia in fresh 

 manure is very trifling, and that the proportion of soluble 

 matters, both organic and mineral, is very small. 



A vs^riter in one of the late agricultural periodicals in speak- 

 ing upon this very subject, says : " Tliis accounts for the com- 

 paratively slow action of such manure," " and shows the need of 

 such management as will best prepare the elements for the use 

 of plants. This preparation is due chiefly to fermentation and 

 decomposition." 



Admitting it to be a fact that this fermentation must take 

 place before manure becomes plant-food, and admitting it to be 

 a fact that this fermentation will take place in the soil when 

 applied in its green state, does it follow that the soil is the most 

 suitable laboratory for its decomposition ? Or, that when so 

 applied the greatest benefit is derived therefrom ? The slow 

 and comparatively slight action of fresh barnyard manure in 

 many cases, would seem to indicate that there was but little 

 fermentation in the soil. 



And may not this be one reason why we so often hear after a 

 heavy coat of green manure has been ploughed in rather deep, 

 that it produced little or no effect ? 



This is particularly the case in soils which are wet and cold. 

 For it is admitted by all that manure in the soil can decompose 

 only when the soil is favorable, neither too wet nor too dry. 

 Now, if manure is buried too deeply in a cold soil, it must 

 remain a long time inert, or, decomposition takes place so 

 slowly that the succeeding crop receives no benefit from it, nor 

 does it seem as if there was ever any perceptible advantage 

 derived from the manure. I heard a gentleman of very much 

 common sense, and candor, state not long since, that he 

 ploughed in a heavy coat of manure ten inches deep, and that 

 he believed that it was entirely lost to him. Now manure 

 buried so deep as that, would not be very apt to lose its ammo- 

 nia by evaporation, and as we do not believe in manures leach- 



