In the fall of iS88 two half acres of land were taken and 

 plowed at the same time. August 20 to one of these was ap- 

 plied, after plowing, 3^^ cords of manure, or 10 common cart 

 loads. The other was left until spring. May 20, 1889, and had 

 applied to it 3^ cords of manure. Each half acre received 

 the same treatment and seed, and they were harvested at the 

 same time, with the following results : 



Fall manured (spread on surface in Aug.), yield of ensilage per acre, 16.48 tons. 

 Spring " " " May), " " " 11.72 " 



Cuts Nos. 7 ^nd 13 show ten average stalks bunched from 

 each lot. No. 7 gives the fall manured, and No. 12 the spring 

 manured. 



Another pair of half-acre plots, where twice as many cords 

 of manure were used, namely, 7 cords or 20 cart loads, gave 

 the following results : 



Fall manured (plowed in), cut No. 6, yielded . 23.17 tons. 

 Spring " " 2, " . 24.50 " 



Here we have an experiment where the spring-applied ma- 

 nure gave best results. The plowing in of fall-applied manured 

 on sod land is not to be recominended, and the results above 

 recorded are no more than might have been expected, since it 

 gave no chance for frost and rain to pulverize and distribute 

 the manure. 



HOW SHALL WE APPLY MANURE.? 



There was a time when it was regarded as settled that the 

 losses from manure were through the air, that is, that the escape 

 of ammonia was the great thing to be guarded against, and, 

 indeed, under the then prevailing custom of allowing manures 

 to heat, — either in piles in the yard, or, worse still, in the large 

 heaps that were so often and are now occasionally seen where 

 the manure has been drawn from the barn to the field, to be 

 stored unprotected until the season for planting — this was true. 

 Here the most favorable conditions possible for fermentation, and 

 the attendant formation of ammonia compounds from the liquid 

 part of the manure, are to be found, and here it is that the ma- 

 nure is really wasted in the air ; but, aside from this inexcusable 



