1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



307 



a million times its weight of water, infects the whole 

 mass with a putrid odor, so strong as to be ofFen- 

 sive at several yards distance ; and this not once, 

 but several times a day, if the water be changed so 

 often. 



For tlie New England Fanner. 



MANURES. 



As the time has come to commence spring work, 

 and as the manure heap is among the first work of 

 spring, it may be well to have the subject of ma- 

 nures, and the best modes of applying them, dis- 

 cussed. The opinions of farmers and their modes 

 of applying manure is a subject worthy of attention, 

 and in order to bring out those opinions and prac- 

 tices, I send you this communication. 



Every farmer should know from his own expe- 

 rience whether manures are most valuable used 

 green or well rotted down ; whether on the surface, 

 or buried deep in the ground. And to know this 

 he must try the experiment himself, cost and all, 

 not once or twice, but six or eight times. 



I am one of those farmers who do not believe in 

 any loss to manures by evaporation, or the escape 

 of ammonia, but the manure may lose half its good- 

 ness in a single season by leaching. My belief is 

 that the moment you put the manure so deep in 

 the ground that it is out of the influence of the sun 

 and air, that moment it is lost until you bring it up 

 within that influence again. I have come to this 

 conclusion from experiments for twenty-five years. 

 I ask no man to take my belief on trust and prac- 

 tice on it, but try the experiment as I have done. 



Take a piece of land that you are going to sow 

 down or plant this spring, and plow in your man- 

 ure, a part deep, a part not so deep, and a part put 

 on the top and watch the efl"ect through this season 

 and for years, and see what the result is; see which 

 does the best, and if there is no difference, then do 

 it the easiest way, but do not be satisfied with one 

 trial or two. Facts are worth knowing, and to 

 know, you mu^t prove by experiment. 



I have found in all my experiments that the 

 nearer I kept the manure to the top of the ground 

 the more good I got from it. I spread at the rate 

 of from 30 to 40 loads of manure to the acre on 

 one field (on the grass ;) I then put the plow in 

 from 9 to 12 inches deep. It was an old-fashioned 

 plow, and turned it over very flat and smooth. The 

 rest of the piece I plowed about 8 inches deep. I 

 treated the piece all alike after that, till I laid it 

 down. I was careful not to plow deep enough to 

 bring up the manure that I had plowed under. I 

 meant to put it where the ammonia would not es- 

 cape, I watched the field for six or seven years, and 

 I could not see any diff"erence in the crops, where 

 this extra manure was put, till I took up the piece 

 again, and then I purposely put the plow down 

 so as to bring up my lost manure to the light and 

 heat, and it told the story for the next seven years 

 where it was. 



But I will not trouble you with experiments; let 

 every one try them for himself. I spend very lit- 

 tle time in composting manure. For spreading on 

 plowed land, the greener the better. Here 1 am 

 again, against the most approved, the most scien- 

 tific modes of using manures. My reasons are that 

 nearly half the goodness is leached out of manure 

 in com})Osting in the usual way. If it can be com- 

 posted under cover where it will not be drenched 



with rains, I have nothing to say, we only lose the 

 use of the manure for the time, a year or so. 



If you wish to know what manure loses by leach- 

 ing, tip up a load on any place and let it lay a year, 

 (the greener the better,) then scrape it all up clean 

 any carry it off", (don't take any of the earth, for 

 you did not put it there,) and spread it on 4 square 

 rods of ground, then go back and take as much of 

 the soil under where your nanure has lain, and 

 spread it on 4 rods by the side of the first. If the 

 manure does better than the soil, it had not lost 

 half its strength. One thing is not usually consid- 

 ered in experiments of green and rotten manure ; 

 which is, that it takes two loads of green manure to 

 make one load of well-rotted manure ; that is, if 

 you put on 20 loads of rotten marure, you should 

 put 40 loads of green manure to get the same value. 

 Manure to put in the hill for corn, I like to have 

 part rotten, say^to a heap of 6 loads barn-yard ma- 

 nure got out in the fall, add 2 loads strong hog 

 and 2 loads horse manure in the spring, and pitch 

 it over and mix it up as early as you can, I 

 find this the best compost I have ever made for 

 corn. 



Manure to spread on grass land I want fine 

 enough so that it will not trouble the scythe the 

 next year in hay-time, but I do not always get it. 

 People who make their manure-beds by the side 

 of the road lose from one-fourth to one-half their 

 manure besides injuring the road and often making 

 it dangerous for travel. What I compost I always 

 do on my own land and on the poorest part of the 

 field, so as to save all I can. x. 



Remarks. — If nearly half the strength of the 

 manure is leached into the ground, from a heap of 

 manure lying out through the winter, why not 

 place a bed of loam or muck under it, to absorb 

 the salts, and mix it well together in the spring, 

 before spreading it, and thus save the whole ? 



A barn-cellnr in which to make compost, is the 

 truest economy. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FARMING MATTERS. 



Friend Brown: — When I read the JVew Eng- 

 land Farmer, I seldom fail to receive pleasure and 

 profit. In your agricultural discussions the past 

 winter the farmer has had many good and practical 

 hints. 



Now his spring-time has come. He feels that 

 the rough edges of winter have been softened by 

 longer and more sunny days. The robin's music 

 cheers his earlf morning; he watches anxiously 

 the sv\eli;ng buds; bloom and fruit fill his heart's 

 desire ; his maples have yielded their sugar ; his 

 wheat and rye fields begin to look green and vig- 

 orous ; he waits the promised harvest. How is his 



WOOD-PILE 

 large or small, and is it undercover? Are his ox- 

 en fat and sleek and free from vermin ? and his 

 cows, ';oo, that look up and snuS" the warm south 

 breeze, with fond recollections of the old "green 

 pastures beside the still waters," do they not "re- 

 joice in their beautiful green ?" His winter days 

 and evenings — have they been spent in putting the 

 farm machinery in order? this is the basis of every 

 machine constructed by human genius. His crops 



