432 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



I can always see a difference in the crops in 

 favor of the manure that has been thus cared 

 for. I will say, however, that manure kept 

 under cover, must be wet frequently to ensure 

 decomposition. For this purpose, as well as 

 for saving the liquids from the manure, I have 

 my outside yard, so arranged that the drainage 

 from them all settles to one point, and there I 

 have a liquid manure cistern, which receives it, 

 and from which it can be taken when needed 

 to apply to the manures under cover to decom- 

 pose and enrich them. It must be distinctly 

 understood that these under-cover piles can, 

 under no circumstances, be neglec'ed, as they 

 would surely become dry and fire-fanged, as 

 we call it ; by which at least one-half of their 

 value is lost. With these directions promptly 

 carried out, no repiling is necessary, and the 

 manure will be found by the first of Septem- 

 ber in a first rate condition f jr the land. Out- 

 side piles will generally decompose by the 

 rain that falls upon them ; still sometimes, 

 when not much rain falls, they must be wet or 

 handled over to keep them in good shape. 



Next comes the application of the manure. 

 And here I will say that in all my experiments, 

 I find that two loads applied on or near the sur- 

 face, after ploughing and harrowing or culti- 

 vating or gang ploughing, — which last is my 

 mode, — is worth and will give as much benefit 

 as at least three loads ploughed under, espe- 

 cially if it is an old sod. When I have a 

 clover sod and very coarse manure, I do some- 

 times, for corn or potatoes, plough it under, 

 but not very deep. Then by ploughing a little 

 deeper the next spring it brings the manure 

 just in the place where it is needed for the 

 wheat, barley or oat crop. 



I am surprised when I see, as I do in going 

 over the country, and as I did in my visit to 

 Boston, last spring, how many of our farmers 

 are holding on to the old mode of applying 

 manure by dumping it from carts or wagons 

 on the field in small heaps, where it lies some- 

 times for two or three weeks [you might have 

 said months — Ed. Farmer] and then send a 

 boy or a hired man to spread it on the land, 

 when the consequen'^e is tbat on the spots 

 where the heaps laid the gr.iin will lodge and 

 spoil, while on the outskirts it will be so poor 

 that it will need a dram and Gfii to get it to- 

 gether. I almost universally find that where 

 this mode is practiced, the p;opiietor takes no 

 agricultural paper, and will almo.st guarantee 

 to every sensible firmer that if he will sub- 

 scribe for the New England Farmer, or 

 some other good agricultural paper, and try 

 my mode of applying manure for one year, he 

 will never abandon it. • 



This last mode of applying manure used to 

 be the exclusive mode in this section of coun- 

 try, but ten years' experience and observation of 

 a different mode has brought farmers around, 

 and I do not know of an individual in my section 

 who does not now apply it on my plan, except 

 as before stated, or on light dry sand. 



My rule for applying manure is simply this : 

 After the field has been ploughed and dragged 

 down, the manure is loaded on wagons and 

 taken direct to the field and spread on the 

 land right from the wagons. In ploughing, 

 each land is laid off about twenty-one feet 

 wide. By driving the load in the middle of 

 the land, it can easily be spread from furrow 

 to furrow, and the men being on the wagon 

 can at once see when they get it all even. 

 With a new hand I always go out myself with 

 one load, and see that he starts right ; after 

 which there is generally no farther trouble. 



After the manuie is applied to the whole 

 field we put on the gang plough. And here 

 allow me to say, that, of all the implements I 

 have ever used for putting manure on the 

 land in its proper place, according to my idea, 

 this suits me the best. It has a wooden frame, 

 with three small ploughs attached. It has 

 handles like a plough; also, two wheels, one 

 on each end, which can be lowered or raised 

 by means of bolts and screws, and guaged to 

 run one, two, three or four inches deep. It 

 puts the manure under as effectually as a 

 plough. I generally set it to run about two 

 inches deep, which is about my idea of the 

 proper depth to cover manure. 



Now for the effects. A little experiment 

 just comes to my mind, which although it was 

 published several years ago, it may not be 

 amiss to give again at this time. It was simply 

 this : I purchased from a neighbor about forty 

 loads of manure and applied it to one portion 

 of a field, the whole of which was to be sowed 

 to rye ; the other portion of the field had no 

 manure. In other respects the treatment of 

 the whole field was precisely alike. Each 

 portion of the field required the same amount 

 of rye for seed. TLe manure cost me fifty 

 cents per load. When the crop was harvested 

 and .old, the manured part paid me $2.50 per 

 load, over the unmannred, the first year; the 

 second year it made $2.00 per load more, and 

 the third year $1.50; making $6.00 per load, 

 besides effecting a permanent improvement in 

 the land. 



Allow me also to say that instead of one 

 small barn holding the products of my land, 

 as formerly, I have been compelled, from 

 year to year, to add to my buildings — having 

 this summer added another barn 28 by -18 feet 

 until now I have capacity or building room 

 enough to store at least from 150 t.o to 200 

 tons cf hay and grain, and from present ap- 

 pearances I shall probably nearly fill them 

 all this year, and that from just about 100 

 acres of cleared land, less about twenty-five 

 acres in corn, potatoes, buckwheat and pas- 

 ture. Jurian Winne. 



Bethlehem Centre, N. Y., July 1, 1869. 



Warts on Cows' Teats may be removed, 

 says the American Rural, by painting them 

 with Tincture of Iodine. 



