42 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 196. 



least twice daily to concrete pits, watertight and roofed. There were 

 two pits. Manure was allowed to accumulate in the pits until the amount 

 was sufficient to supply the needed quantity for an entire plot. The 

 manure was then conveyed to the field, being weighed load by load as it 

 was moved. (In referring to the different plots, the north half will be 

 designated as "N," and the south half as "S." The arrangement and 

 previous history will be understood by reference to the plan, page 41.) 



The first load of manure was spread on plot N; the second load taken 

 out was dumped into the foundation of a heap to be built out of the 

 manure which was to be spread in the spring (this being located on 

 some part of plot S, differing from year to year). Alternating loads were 

 taken, respectively, to N and S, and either spread on N or added to the 

 heap on S. The total weight when removed from the pits to the field as 

 described was the same for both N and S. The annual appUcation was 

 at the rate of 20 tons per acre.^ In building the heap on S, it was the 

 practice to drive over what had previously been dumped as long as pos- 

 sible; and when all the manure had been taken out, the heap was squared 

 up and was usually about 4 or 5 feet in height, with sides nearly per- 

 pendicular. In other words, the manure was so piled as to expose it as 

 little as possible to danger of loss through washing and leaching. As 

 has been indicated, care was taken in successive years to place the heap 

 of manure on the different plots S on different parts of the plot, in order 

 to equahze as far as possible any effect due to leaching of material di- 

 rectly from the heap into the soil beneath and in its immediate vicinity. 

 Manure held in heaps from the time it M'as hauled out until spring was 

 in all cases allowed to stand in the heap, when a hoed crop was to follow, 

 until the soil could be worked. It was then spread on the plot on which 

 the heap stood as evenly as possible, and then the entire area, including 

 that to which manure had been apphed during the winter, was disked, thus 

 at once mixing the newly spread manure with the soil. AVhen the land 

 was in grass the time of handling the manure from the heap was practi- 

 cally the same as when the land was to be put into a hoed crop, and 

 after spreading the manure from the heap upon the mowing it was the 

 usual practice to go over the entire area, winter as well as spring ap- 

 plications, with a brush, for the purpose of fining and promoting a more 

 even distribution of the manure. The manure held in heaps on all plots 

 was almost invariably all spread in each year on the same day, or, if 

 conditions rendered this impossible, the work once begim was com- 

 pleted at the earliest possible moment. 



When the land was to be put into a hoed crop the following year, it 

 was either sown to a cover crop of rye the previous fall or plowed late in 

 the fall across the slope of the field. No attempt was made to vary the 

 date of appUcation according to variations in the field conditions as 

 regards covering with ice or snow or freedom therefrom, and any one 



' A cord of undecomposed, well-saved cow manure from animals moderately bedded with 

 planer shavings weighs about 3 tons. 



