MY OWN ri.AN OF M.VNAi;lN<; MANIIIK. 93 



to run to waslc. llli. Tin.' iiiaiiiirr, if tunic I over in KcIhu.iiv or 

 Marcli, will III' ill capital orilcr for applyiui; to root rrojis ; or if 

 your hay auil straw contains we»il-.'>ccils, the niannre will be in 

 tfood contliliou lo spread us a top-drcssinij on gntss-laiul early in 

 the spriniT. This. 1 think, is heller than kecpin*,' it in the yards 

 ull suninuT, and then drawing it out (»n the gniss hiiul in Septem- 

 ber. You gain six months' or a yt ar's time. You gil a si)leudid 

 growtli of rich grass, anil tiie rel-nujt seeds will gtrminate next 

 Septenilwr just as well as if tne manure was dniwn out at that 

 time. If the manure is dniwn out early in the spring, and spread 

 out immediately, and then harrowe<l two or thri'c tim«'s willj a 

 Thomas' smoothing-harrow, there is no dan^'er of its imparling a 

 rank flavor to the grass. I know from repeateu trials tliat when 

 part of a pasture is top-dresseil, cows and sheep will keep it much 

 more closely cropped down than the part which has not been 

 manured. The idea to the <-ontrary ori.Lrinated from not spread- 

 ing the m mure evenly. 



"But wiiy fenncnt the manure :it all ? Why not draw it out 

 fn'sli from the yards? Does fermentation inena>e the amount of 

 plant-food in the manure':'" — No. But it renders the plant-food 

 in the manure mon.' immc Hatily available. It makes it more 

 soluble. We ferment manure for the sjime reason that wc de- 

 compose bone-du>t or minerd phosphates with sulphuric acid, and 

 convert them into superphosphate, or for the same reason that we 

 grind our corn and cook the meal. These processes add nothing 

 to the amount of plant- food in the bones or the nutriment in tlie 

 corn. They only increase its availability. So in fermenting 

 manure. When the liquid and solid e:;crcmcnts from well-fed 

 ani^nil-, witli tlie straw necessary to absnrli the lifiuid, are placed 

 in a ho jp, fermentation sets in and soon efTects very important 

 changes in the nature and composition of the materials. The in- 

 soluble woody fibre of the straw is decomposed and converted into 

 humic and ulmic acids. These are insoluble; and when manure 

 consists almost wholl}' of straw or corn .stalks, there would be 

 little gained by fermenting it. But when there is a good propor- 

 tion of manure from well fed animals in tb.e heap, carbonate of 

 ammonia is formed from the nitrogenous compounds in the 

 manure, and this ammonia unites with tiie humic and ulmic acids 

 and forms humale and ulmate of ammonia. Tiiese ammoniacal 

 salts are solubk> in water — as the brown color of tlie drainings of 

 a manure heap snfRtieniiy indicates. 



Properly fermented manure, therefore, of good quality, is a 

 much more active and immediately useful fertilizer tuan fresh, un- 



