Making the Most of Manure 



Farmers who live near enough to cities or villages to 

 warrant them in buying stable manure are often surprised 

 when they attempt this to find that the available supply 

 has been engaged by gardeners, nurserymen and seed- 

 men, and at higher prices than they can pay. Each of 

 these works land that is much richer than that usually 

 devoted to farm crops. They can afford to buy to make 

 rich soil still more rich, while the farmer whose land is 

 much poorer cannot afford to buy to bring it into condi- 

 tion for cultivation. This only shows that soil fertility 

 tends to increase, while the soil that is already poor, if 

 cultivated, almost inevitably grows still poorer. The use 

 of commercial fertilizers, with which a small amount 

 fertilizes a large surface, to some extent offsets this dis- 

 advantage of the poor farmer. It costs a great deal less 

 to drill with a grain crop three to four dollars' worth of 

 mineral fertilizer than to cover the surface with stable 

 manure. Besides, the commercial fertilizer can always be 

 furnished in quantities limited only by the ability of the 

 farmer to buy. The commercial fertilizer is easily ap- 

 plied, and for the single crop it produces results quite as 

 good as would the stable manure. Its defect is that it 

 does not add to soil fertility as the manure must do, and it 

 is on increase of productive power in the soil more than 

 on the gain from single crops that profit in farming must 

 depend. 



The man whose land is already rich is the one who can 

 best afford to buy commercial manures. If he buys them 

 he can only save himself from loss by putting a part of 



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