13S AgriniUural Chemistry. 



and leaves at the expense of fruit and grain. It is therefore 

 better for early garden truck, grasses and forage plants than for 

 cereals or fruits. Corn is usually benefited by liberal applica- 

 tions of fresh manure. In fact it may be said that when in doubt 

 as to where to appty the manure, ' ' use it on corn. " It is claimed 

 that fresh manure is injurious to sugar beets and tobacco, pro- 

 ducing a large beet of low sugar content and a coarse and un- 

 desirable tobacco leaf. It is a well known fact that raw manure 

 in large quantities is likely to cause lodging with the small grains, 

 such as barley, oats and wheat. In the case of sugar beets, ex- 

 periments with fresh manure at the New York State Experiment 

 Station have given beets of high sugar content and without rank 

 leaf growth, results at variance with those of European experi- 

 ments. Climate and soil are probably very important factors in 

 determining what will be the comparative results with the two 

 kinds of manure. 



Instead of using the manure directly on the small grains, it 

 , is good gractice. where corn is grown, to apply it liberally to that 

 crop and plant the field to the smaller grains the following year. 

 "When this is done the danger from rank growth is minimized. 



Rate of application. As to the rate at which manure should 

 V be applied, no fixed rule can be given. It will depend upon the 

 character of the soil, the quality of the manure, the nature of 

 the crop and the frequency of application. German authorities 

 consider 7 to 10 tons light, and 20 tons or more heavy, applica- 

 tions. Sir Henry Gilbert considered 14 tons per acre, annually, 

 excessive for wheat and barley. For ordinary farm crops it is 

 not customary to use more than 8 to 10 tons per acre. As a gen- 

 eral principle it may be stated that frequent light dressings pay 

 better than very large ones at long intervals. Too liberal appli- 

 cations are wasteful. The amount of manure produced on 1h 

 average farm is so small compared with the land to be fertilized 

 that it would be utterly impossible to spread it over all the farm 

 yearly. For this reason it is considered good practice to apply 

 tl "' manure to one crop in a rotation, thus covering only part of 



