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THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



were to grow, two furrows were turned so as to 

 leave a wide dead furrow. Into this the ma- 

 nure was thrown from the wagon, each forkful 

 touching the one just behind it, till the row was 

 completed. It was well covered by turning two 

 furrows together over it, which held it down 

 while ihe harrow was passing four times in suc- 

 cession, breaking, pulverizing, and mixing it 

 intimately with the soil. Again two furrows 

 were turned together over the row, and the har- 

 row passed twice more— in all, six times. By 

 this process the ground was reduced to a fine 

 tilth ; and if there were any better beets in the 

 county, I did not see ihem. 



To me, it was a most instructive experiment. 

 I have often seen manure applied to corn fields, 

 but never in any case where it was so complete- 

 ly incorporated with fine earth. Even in ihe 

 driest part of that season, the ground was always 

 moist and mellow. 



I am satisfied that we have been too saving 

 of our harrows. Thirty years ago, there was a 

 method ol ploughing in this country called ' cut 

 and cover.''' It was ploughing, not to the shares, 

 but the halves— Ihe \urtow slice covering the space 

 where a furrow ought lo have been. 1 am appre- 

 hensive that our ideas of harrowing were learned 

 in the same school. When grain is sown, is it 

 not the prevailing opinion that it is harrowed 

 enough when the seed is covered 1 1 had a nar- 

 row land harrowed sixteen times in one day, and 

 was satisfied that the labor was well applied. 



For beets, or corn, or potatoes, what would 

 be the effect of ploughing in a heavy dressing 

 of stable manure, harrowing twice, and repeal- 

 ing the operations of the ploughing and harrow- 

 inw lour times more, adding each time to the 

 de'pthof the soil 1 I have not yet perlormed the 

 experiment, but the nearer I have approached it 

 the finer has been the crop. Thorough culture 

 would seem to require that every little lump 

 should be broken, so that the roots could wan- 

 der freely in every direction, and that every 

 drop, of a summer shower, should be caught and 

 retained lor future use. Hard land and thin 

 soils have some resemblance to a dish bottom 

 upwards. 



An instrument for pulverizing the soil was 

 invented a tew years ago in Virginia, by Thomas 

 B. Gay, it is called the drag-roller, lor it ope- 

 rates just as a roller would that does not turn, 

 but drag. Take a hollow log, six or seven leet 

 lontr, split it in two, and one half would serve 

 for This instrument. The greater the diameter, 

 the easier it would run ; and be less liable to 

 clog by gathering clods belbre it. Three feet 

 would be better than two, though either would 

 answer, frame two pieces of scantling into it, 

 connecting them in front ; and to this fixture the 

 team is to be attached. 



Do you believe that clods as big as a man s 

 fist, or as big as his head, are more useful to 

 the crop than stones of the same size 1 I do not. 

 But if we can break them— grind them to dust— 

 and leave them on the land, they would do as 

 much good as other mellow earth ot the same 

 bulk. Now in warring against the clods, this 

 instrument is formidable; and most so belore 

 they become thoroughly dried. On the same 

 day therefore that the plough turns them up, let 

 the drag-roller grind them down ; and let me 



suggest that lumps of barn yard manure would 

 escape not much better. 



Stable manure, however, is often saved for the 

 wheat field ; and at any time during the sum- 

 mer, either belbre or after harvest, it is taken 

 out and thrown into heaps, where it lies wast- 

 ing until seed lime. It is then thrown round 

 into large lumps as belbre mentioned, the plough 

 covering some, while others too big lo cover 

 siickup'^over the field. If the wheat is harrow- 

 ed, perhaps some of these pyramids are upset 

 or demolished ; but ofien the harrow serves them 

 as the plough did— gives them a shove and pass- 

 es on. Now it seems very clear to me that ma- 

 nure applied in this way i's comparatively of little 

 value. 



There is another class of farmers who man- 

 age things difiierently. Soon after the warm 

 w"eather commences in spring, they collect all 

 Ihe manure of Ihe barn yard into large heaps; 

 and work it over, two or three times in the course 

 of the summer, so that the straw may moulder 

 and be more easily mixed with the soil. This 

 advantage— the only one that I can discover, is 

 indeed secured, but at a heavy expense. The 

 best part of the manure passes off" to visit their 

 neighbors, or roam at large through the atmo- 

 sphere, leaving the worst part, though still of some 

 value, for the owners. The praise of industry is 

 theirs, and the reward of working for nothing and 

 finding themselves. 



Another set of farmers, more interprising still, 

 make up all their barn yard manure into com- 

 post. This is done by successive layers ot ma- 

 nure, rich earth, and lime, together with any re- 

 luse stuff, animal or vegetable, that may be at 

 hand— to be turned and mixed several times in 

 the course of the season. Such manure is always 

 valuable ; but wiih a little more knowledge, iis 

 value might be much increased. 



Let us consider this subject. From a heap of 

 fermenting manure, a vapor continually rises, 

 very different from the exhalation of a pond, as 

 our noses might testify. Perhaps some niay 

 think that such thin diet as that would be of no 

 consequence to a plant ; but I can assure them 

 it is the best part ol the manure. Humphry 

 Davy filled a three-pint vessel with a bent neck, 

 from a fermenting heap of stable manure while 

 ii was hot, and turned the beak among the roots 

 of some grass. Nothing but vapor left the ves- 

 sel ; yet in less ihan a week the grass grew with 

 much more luxuriance than the grass in any other 

 pari of the garden.* 



The value ol this vapor is therefore evident; 

 but how shall we save it 7 In the first place, 

 the fermentation should be very gradual. Make 

 the heap in the shade, or on the north side ot a 

 building, and manage it just as you would man- 

 age a coal-kiln. The more the air is excluded 

 ihe slower and better will be the process. Now 

 covering it with earth will have this effect ; but 

 vapor will rise even when it ferments slowly, 

 and therefore marl may be freely scattered 

 through the heap as it is made ; but no quick- 

 lime. Lime, indeed, should form an outside 

 covering for the whole pile (when marl is not at 

 hand) ; but it should be carefully prevented from 

 coming in contact with stable manure, or any 



Davy's Agricultural Chemistry. 



