348 Transactions of the American Institute. 



the soil needs it, than to spread directly on this surface. In the 

 spring, you will find a sight that will do you good to look at. Instead 

 of being frozen in heaps, the manure will soon thaw up, and the 

 ground under it will be dark, and soft, and mellow, and rich, of course. 

 Here you have something for a crop that will not fail. Your seed 

 — clover or grass — will be sure to catch, and be a success for years. 

 This, not because the manure is applied, but because it is applied 

 properly. Here is one great error, though we do not consider it so : 

 manure spread unevenly and in lumps — the usual way — will be of 

 little benefit. We have seen this in hundreds of cases ; we never 

 knew one that was successful. The air and the ground, in spots, get 

 the strength, while most of the land is without it. To get the benefit 

 of the manure, all of it, or nearly all, must be spread evenly over the 

 whole land, and closely to it. This may seem very unimportant — 

 it does to most farmers — but it is the secret of success. Manure 

 lumps are an abomination on a farm ; the same, pulverized, and spread 

 evenly and close to the land, acts at once. There is nothing new in 

 this letter, but the facts are of such great importance, and so generally 

 neglected, that it becomes necessary to repeat and enforce their 

 observance. Such waste as takes place constantly is not pleasant to 

 behold. The substance is not seen to go, therefore, it loses its force 

 upon the mind and is permitted to escape. Our land suffers in con- 

 sequence, when just this substance that escapes is what is wanted; it 

 is the best part, and often the essence of the manure. 



The Chairman — I like these views of our friend from Herkimer, 

 and I know of but one exception to the mode he urges. When I 

 have a rank, concentrated manure, as slaughter-house offal, to apply 

 to a crop, and want a lively, strong growth, as in cabbages or French 

 beets, or tobacco (but I don't plant tobacco), I am sure it is best to 

 harrow or plow in that manure. Perhaps the harrow is just as good 

 as the plow. But when a field gives off a rank odor, I am sure I am 

 losing virtue from that manure ; then, a light sprinkling of loam will 

 lock it up in the surface, and hold it till the crop eats it. 



Mr. A. Pratt, Prattsburgh, N. Y. — Mr. Grenwitz has the right idea 

 about keeping manures on the top of the field. Twenty years ago, 

 the opinion was that manure should be plowed under. This practice 

 was enjoined by agricidtural writers. They taught that manure would 

 otherwise waste. Influenced by their counsel, farmers used to care- 

 fully lodge their manure in snug heaps in their fields, and spread it 

 only as the plow was ready immediately to bury it. They were sure 

 its virtues would dry up and blow away should it lay exposed even 



