NECESSITY FOR LIBERAL MANURING. 33 



Q. In what manner do you apply it ? 



A. It should be sown broadcast after plowing, and then harrowed 

 in not plowed under but kept as near the top of the soil as pos- 

 sible. By this means I have received ten bushels of wheat per acre 

 more than by using horse manure put on at the rate of eight cords, 

 which is equal to twenty tons, to the acre. 



(Mr. H.) I would like to remark, just here, in regard to gas lime, 

 that it is useless and injurious to any crop until the noxious gases in 

 it have been expelled by long exposure to the air. As this is a matter 

 of years, it would be well for farmers to decline the very liberal offers 

 of gas companies, made for the purpose of getting rid of what is a 

 nuisance to them. 



Q. In my article on manures, Mr. Crozier, you took exception 

 and I think with some reason to my suggestions about using muck 

 by spreading it in layers in the open cattle or hog yard. Will you 

 state what has been your experience with dried muck or other simi- 

 lar absorbents ? 



A. My practice with such absorbents has been to use them for 

 bedding in the cow stables and box stalls in quantity sufficient to 

 absorb all the urine, which I consider to be more valuable than the 

 solid manure. I cart this mixed manure direct from the cow stables 

 and sheds to the compost heap in the field, which in the spring of the 

 year is thoroughly turned over and broken up fine and made ready 

 to be spread on the land after plowing, when, as I have before said, 

 it is harrowed and then plowed in lightly. So much am I impressed 

 with the necessity of heavy manuring, that, contrary to the usual prac- 

 tice of farmers in my neighborhood, I not only use all the straw and 

 hay my own farm produces, but buy besides an amount nearly equal 

 to what I produce. The result is, and I trust I may say so without 

 any feeling of egotism, that my crops pay me, acre for acre, much 

 better than any of my neighbors who do not follow this same practice. 



(Mr. H. ) I entirely agree with you in your opinion that farming 

 without sufficient manuring can never be made so profitable as when 

 manure is freely applied. I have had no experience whatever in farm- 

 ing, strictly speaking, but as is well known, I have had large experience 

 as a market gardener in the vicinity of New York, and I have found 

 that when any man was foolish enough to attempt to cultivate ten acres 

 with only a supply of manure enough for five, he rarely made money. 

 I have no doubt whatever that the same rule is equally applicable, 

 when the farmer attempts to cultivate 100 acres while only able to 

 procure fertilizers enough for fifty. 



(Mr. C. ) Many farmers think and believe they have not the means 

 to improve their lands or manure them liberally; but I say we nearly all 



