62 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. 



For the Genesee Farmer. 



Manures— Their Application. 



On the SLj!)jeL;tof Manures much lias been writ- 

 ten and much has been said ; still it is fertile and 

 full of interest. The subject cannot, in my opin- 

 ion, be too frequently agitated, or brought into 

 view, nor too strongly urged. 



Wheo we consider how much the productive- 

 ness of our farms depend on the manure heap, 

 and how much this matter is at times neglected, a 

 few remarks, I trutt, will not be unacceptable, 

 and although familiar to most of you, if they 

 stimulate one person to apply them, who has 

 hitherto neglected to do so, the object in making 

 ihem will be attained. 



The collection and application of manures I 

 consider to be the grand secret in good farming. 

 It gives us grass and grain. It is by a liberal 

 application of manure that extraordinary crops 

 have been obtained. It is consequently an ob- 

 ject of minute attention to collect a-s much as pos- 

 sible, and to apply it in the most advantageous 

 manner. Although there is little danger of ap- 

 plying too great a quantity to land, it may be 

 used to excess. Indian corn is a voracious feeder, 

 and will bear a copious dressing, but the crops of 

 small grain may be injured by manuring too 

 highly. 



Manuring the soil forms a grand item in farm- 

 ing, both on account of its expense and its need 

 to replenish the land; it is therefore very impor- 

 tant to know the art of managing this department 

 with the greatest economy, and preventing waste 

 in any possible shape. 



Very few farmers ever have a sufficiency of 

 animal manures for their purpose.s. Hence re- 

 course must be had to other means for augmen- 

 ting the manure heap. 



The great principle of all manures may be 

 understood from this fact, that wliatever animal 

 or vegetable substance dies, is converted into 

 manures for other plants in a living state by the 

 natural process of putreftiction. By this pro- 

 cess it is grarJually, but effectually decomposed ; 

 and the parts are fitted lor entering into new com- 

 binations, and for adding to the substance of the 

 living plants. Thus, instead of nuisances. Na- 

 ture furnishes manure, and no substance whatev- 

 er is lost. This is one of the beautiful and ad- 

 mired laws of Nature ; and though we cannot 

 investigate her very minute operations, we are 

 able, by observation, to learn much, and by in- 

 dustry to derive great advantages. 



A great deal has been said about the fertility 

 of plants. Pulverised earth, water as an excre- 

 ment, carbonaceous matter in a soluble state, and 

 various gaseous substances liavo been success- 

 ively in repute; some plants have been supposed 

 to draw part of their food from the atmosphere, 

 inalarger jtroportion than others; and it has been 

 thought that grain and green crops require to be 

 supported with food proper to each class ; and 



that one particular crop, on that account exhausts 

 the substance on which it feeds if too frequently 

 repeated. 



Practice has introduced more discoveries into 

 agriculture, assisted by observation, than science. 

 At the same time, though the man of science will 

 not presume to dictate to the skilful practical 

 farmer, he may not only improve but enlighten, 

 and even give dignity to agriculture as an art, by 

 rendering it in some degree a science also. 



The application of manure depends on the 

 natural state of the soil, and on the purposes for 

 which it is to be applied. Observation and ex» 

 perience determine how to act and what to ap- 

 ply ; also how and when the application should 

 be made. Yet it would be of important use to the 

 farmer, in remarkable cases, to call in the aid of 

 science. Many expensive trials have been made 

 in redeeming some soils, or turning them to use- 

 ful purposes in vain. 



The farmer knows, or ought to know, that 

 some soils want solidity, and others have too 

 much ; that some exceed in cohesion, others in 

 looseness, and that a moderate degree of these 

 properties is considered essential to fertility. 

 With this view, sand is applied to tenacious clay; 

 and clay on sand and gravel. But these appli- 

 cations are not made in the strict order of man- 

 ures ; they are mechanically wanted, in order to 

 give to the soils a proper consistence for admitting 

 plants to grow in them, and to push their small 

 roots witliout loosing hold, and at the same time 

 to feed in a regular manner, imbibing in just 

 proportion the moisture and nutriment it contains 

 without being either parched or burned. 



Putrid manures applied in proper quantities 

 furnish direct nutriment for plants ; and calcari- 

 ous manures probably do the same, in some de- 

 gree ; but they certainly furnish it indirectly, by 

 resolving organic substances contained in the soil 

 into a mucus assisted by moisture. At the same 

 time these manures are always productive of me- 

 chanical effect, in opening and deepening the 

 soils to which they are applied. 



From my own observation and experience," I 

 have come to the conclusion that manure arising 

 from animal and vegetable substances, should be 

 exposed as little as possible to the sun, the air, 

 and drenching rains, and when applied to the 

 soil, be immediately plowed in. It is my opin- 

 ion also, that manure, when plowed in, cannot 

 be kept too near the surface, provided it is well 

 mixed and covered that the essence will be dis- 

 solved by rain, and taken up by the roots of the 

 plants. So extremely minute are the mouths of 

 the plants, that the nourishing parts of manure 

 can enter there only in a state of solution by 

 water. 



My object and great aim is to make and get 

 manure ; ant) to carry this into effect, nothing 

 that would contribute in the least degree for in- 

 creasing the manure heap is thrown away. I 



