222 SOILS 



manure on the land in the best form a high rate of inter- 

 est is paid on the original cost; for decreasing the ex- 

 pense of application a high rate of interest is paid on the 

 investment ; for having at hand at all times a vehicle for 

 handling manure as it accumulates a high rate of inter- 

 est is paid on the investment; for doing all these things 

 for helping the farmer with his work, for removing the 

 drudgery and disagreeableness of handling stable manure 

 the manure spreader is needed, and its initial expense 

 is met several times each season. 



When to apply manure. Manure should be applied as 

 fast as it is made, unless some good provision can be had 

 for its protection and preservation against loss by fer- 

 mentation or by leaching. The covered barnyard and the 

 manure pit have come into use and popularity with recent 

 years, doing much in the way of saving manure against 

 loss. These provisions are good only for certain seasons 

 of the year; when it is impracticable to get out on the 

 fields with the spreader so as to make direct application 

 of the manure to the land. 



Broadly speaking, the sooner the manure can be got 

 into the soil the better, for these reasons : the organic 

 matter is still intact and the plant food is preserved. The 

 rotting of manure means a waste of organic matter. 

 Such rotting should be allowed to take place within the 

 soil. As the manure rots, so will the soil rot ; so will the 

 compounds containing plant food rot and thereby furnish 

 available plant food. 



We want a lot of organic matter in the soil, for the 

 reason that organic matter is the basis of humus supply ; 

 and hence it regulates the water content of the soil and 

 the activity of bacteria, whose work is so intimately con- 

 nected with the growth of crops. 



That manure materially decreases in bulk and in plant- 



