186 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



For the New England Farmer, 

 APPLICATION OF MANHEB. 



Many farmers have a prejudice against 

 spreading manure and exposing it for any 

 length of time on the surface of the ground. 

 They believe a large portion of the value of 

 barn manure is lost by evaporation if not cov- 

 ered by the soil. Others contend that little, 

 if anv, loss is sustained by the practice of 

 surface manuring. 



Several experiments made within a few years 

 have inclined me to favor top dressing and 

 surface manuring whenever circumstances seem 

 to require it, — as, for instance, when the ground 

 freezes up early in the fall, and you do not 

 have time to haul out and work in all your ma- 

 nure as you desired. If 1 were caught in that 

 way now, and had a lot of summer manure on 

 hand, I would keep carting and spreading just 

 as if the ground were not frozen. I would 

 not put it in heaps large or small, but would 

 spread it, all ready to be cultivated in at the 

 first seasonable moment. 



Last winter after the manure in the barn 

 cellar became somewhat in the way, I carted 

 out some dozen loads and spread it on about 

 four inches of snow over a part of a field that 

 was intended for potatoes. The remainder of 

 the field was manured in the spring with the 

 same kind of manure and as near as might be 

 with the same quantity. The field was all cul- 

 tivated and worked alike after the manure was 

 spread. At no time during the growth of the 

 potatoes could the least difference be noticed 

 between that part manured the day it was 

 worked into the soil, and the other part where 

 the manure lay exposed several months. 



I do not suppose the manure that was spread 

 in the winter if taken up again in the spring 

 and used to manure some other land would 

 have been as good as that drawn directly from 

 the yard. I suppose what it had lost the 

 ground had taken and kept till the growing 

 crops should call for it. 



The fall previous, I hauled out several loads 

 and left it in small heaps of about a quarter of 

 a load each, to be spread in the spring on land- 

 intended for grass. The result of that exper- 

 iment was that where the heaps lay all winter 

 the grass was very early and heavy, and needed 

 cutting many days before the rest of the lot, 

 making the field look very uneven. I had to 

 cut it when the early spots were grown or that 

 part would have lodged and rotted before the 

 other part would have been ready to cut. 



I think, of all modes of disposing of manure, 

 that of leaving it in heaps through the winter 

 is the worst. 



If manure can be left spread on the surface 

 of the fields where it is to be used, without 

 losing its strength only as the ground takes it, 

 it is worth knowing. And now is the time for 

 all who have manure on hand, that is in the 

 way, and have tolerably levtl land on which 

 to use it, to draw it out while the ground is 



frozen and the men and teams comparatively 

 little to do. To most farmers, a day's time in 

 April is worth two in January. 



For top dressing grass, 1 have found the 

 best time to be immediately after taking off 

 the hay. On land suitable to top dress at all, 

 the grass will usually grow up in a few days 

 and completely shade the manure, keeping it 

 moist so that every shower can carry down to 

 the grass roots some portion of the value of 

 the manure. A. W. Cheever. 



Sheldonville, Jan. 15, 1868. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 METEOROLOGICAL KECORD. 



These observations are taken for and under 

 the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 The dash after figures indicates below zero. 



October. — An exceedingly pleasant busi- 

 ness month. Weather in every respect re- 

 markably similar to that of same month last 

 year. 



The average temperature of October, 1866, 

 was 48°; do. midday 58. There were seven 

 stormy days with 3.30 inches of rain, one snow 

 squall, two clear days, and five days of total 

 cloudiness. 



November. — An early closing in of winter 

 especially distinguishes this autumn from the 

 last — the weather all through being decidedly 

 colder with but little rain. 



The average temperature of November, 

 1866, was 38°, do. midday 44°. There were 

 six stormy days, with 1 inch of snow and 1.15 

 inches of rain and melted snow ; no clear days, 

 and three days of total cloudiness and rain. 



December. — This was one of the coldest 

 months on record. Such a "spell" of zero 

 weather as occurred from the 8th to the 15th 

 has not been known since Dec, 1835. In the 

 latter part of the month the cold was moder- 

 ate. Little snow fell ; with almost no sleigh- 

 ing. This record contrasts remarkably with 

 that for same month last year. 



The average temperature of December, 

 1807, was 24°, do. at midday 30°. There 

 were no entirely clear days. Eleven stormy 

 days, with 19.00 inches of snow and 4.73 inches 



