262 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



kingdom, they would be in worse condition than 

 they are, though bad enough. A good crop ol 

 corn makes a good stubble; and a good stubble 

 is the equallest enriching that can be given." 

 (The Country Man's Rudiments, p. 23.) On 

 which Sinclair remarks, ''Such sentiments are 

 now condemned by the practical liarmer, whose 

 object it is to cut and lo bring home the whole, 

 or nearly the whole straw ; under an impres-ion 

 that, unless it be brought into a putrefied state in 

 the fold yard, little advantage, as a manure, can be 

 obtained from it. ' (General Report, &c., ol 

 Scotland, vol. ii. p. 51(J._) 



VI. Top-dressing xoith putrescent manures, and 

 especially on clover. 



After allowing all merit due to the improvement 

 to be made by collecting, and to the greatest pos- 

 sible extent, more vegetable materials for larm- 

 yard and stable manure — and also for the greater 

 benefit of applying such manures on lands ro.arled 

 or limed, there would still remain a powerlul ob- 

 stacle to the extension of manuring, in the enor- 

 mous amount of labor required, on Taylor's pro- 

 posed plan, to carry out the manure m the spring, 

 and plough under tor corn belore planting — to say 

 nothing of the difficulty of tillage, and of danger to 

 the young plants in dry weather, by the presence 

 of 50 large ox cart loads (4 oxen lor each,) peracre, 

 the quantity of which he speaks. In so short a 

 time, and in a busy part of the year, it is impos- 

 sible, with the ordinary force of the farm, to carry 

 out, spread, and turn under in proper manner, all 

 the manure that could be made Irora all the offal 

 of a grain larm — independent of the leaves and 

 other materials which ought to be used, ll] to 

 lessen these difficulties, the manure be earlier 

 heaped and fermented, then indeed it is made 

 more manageable and more speedily operative ; 

 and the time lor applying it is extended. But, 

 on the other hand, the whole labor is increased, 

 and the manure loses much of its fertilizing prin- 

 ciples by liermentation. A third choice remams, 

 which is to leave in the larm-yard, without heap- 

 ing, and undisturbed, either all the manure, or all 

 that cannot be conveniently carried out before 

 planting the corn land intended to be so manured. 

 The balance, or the whole so left, rots slowly 

 through the summer, and may be carried out in 

 September on the clover land, to be ploughed 

 immediately lor wheat; or otherwise kept until 

 the next spring, to be ploughed under lor the 

 corn crop. In the first case, there is lost the use 

 of the manure for six months, and in the second 

 for a whole year ; and in both, during the delay, 

 the manure must lose much of the gaseous pro- 

 ducts of decomposition, which there is nothing 

 growing to receive and secure. 1 have tried and 

 suffered loss by all these three courses ; and was 

 fully sensible that in all, either the waste of ma- 

 nure, or the loss of its use by delay was very con- 

 siderable. 



The plan of top-dressing is an admirable means 

 of overcoming most of these difficulties — and in- 

 deed all the important difficulties, if there be no 

 greater waste of' the fertilizing principles of ma- 

 nure spread on the surface of the soil, and no 

 less benefit to the growing crop, than if the ma- 

 nure had been buried by the plough. Both 

 these points are disputed, and there have been 

 DO careful or conclusive experiments made to 



decide the question. But from my general ex- 

 perience and observation, and now general prac- 

 tice for 12 years, I am satisfied that the evil of 

 the greater waste of manure or of its eflects, if 

 indeed there be any greater, is not to be com- 

 pared to the great saving of expense, found in 

 applying the manure as top-dressing on clover, 

 in March and April, or even somewhat later. 

 When thus applied, and spread evenly and im- 

 mediately, as it should be, the first rain carries 

 into the earth all the soluble and active pans, 

 and they are absorbed immediately by the roots 

 of the clover, the growth of which will show the 

 benefit in a lew days. The coarse parts of the 

 manure, are soon covered over and kept shaded 

 and moist, by the growth of the clover, and there- 

 by the rotting is both hastened, the products pre- 

 served better Irom waste ; and every rain car- 

 ries to the roots, and puts them to immediate use, 

 as Ibod for the growing plants. Thus, a good 

 growth of clover is made even on inferior land, 

 and perhaps by food that might have mostly 

 gone to waste, it the manure had been fermented 

 and made hot in the heap — or more slowly, by 

 lying spread during all summer over the cattle 

 yard. And this clover manure, being more than 

 half derived fi-om the atmosphere, would be worth 

 to the succeeding crop of wheat or corn, more 

 than double the prepared manure it fed upon and 

 consumed. The saving of labor also is great. 

 The mode of application permits the manure to 

 be carried out in any state, from the time of the 

 earliest beginning of the spring's growth of clo- 

 ver, to the firdt of May; and, if not before so 

 used, even if put out at any time in summer, 

 would do as well, except that the benefit of help- 

 ing the earlier growth would have been missed. 

 But as to summer-made stable manure, which is 

 so generally injured by fire-langing, if bulked, or 

 wasted, it spread open in the stable yard, it is de- 

 cidedly better to spread it on clovefj during all 

 summer. 



The best application of top-dressing is to clo- 

 ver, because every portion of the manure so used 

 by the clover, is converted to (probably) double 

 tfie value of the manure in clover, ready to be again 

 used by the wheat the same year. But though 

 clover, as a broad-leaved leguminous plant, (or of 

 the pea tribe,) draws more of its nourishment 

 from ihe atmosphere, and gives more of manure 

 to the next crop, than any other grass, still, if clo- 

 ver were not at hand, the top-dressing should be 

 given to any grass or any weeds that stood thick 

 enough soon to cover and shade the manure, and 

 to increase the growth ol which would be benefi- 

 cial to the land, and to the succeeding crops. 



But there is another material for top-dressing to 

 which there can be no objection on the score of 

 supposed waste, or because any thing better or 

 more economical could be done with it, and which 

 application is highly beneficial. This is leaves 

 raked up in wood-land, and laid on young clover, 

 in winter or spring. Valuable as is this material, 

 on account of its abundant quantity, and usual 

 cheapness of supply, it is very poor in quality 

 compared to straw ; and would perhaps not be 

 worth the labor of double hauling and twice hand- 

 ling, required to carry it through the farm-yard to 

 prepare it for manure. And dry or unrotted 

 leaves would be very troublesome to plough un- 

 der, and if thick might do more harm than good. 



