THE USE OF MANURE 59 



moisture. Corn can hardly be termed a dry-land crop, as it 

 must have a reasonable supply of moisture to succeed, but it 

 can be carried over periods of drouth of considerable length 

 by persistent cultivation to check evaporation. The soil, 

 however, must have contained a good supply of moisture 

 before the beginning of the drouth. The only reason corn 

 can stand dry weather better than the grain crops is because 

 cultivation is possible during its growth, lessening the evapo- 

 ration from the soil. 



64. The Application of Manure. As corn is a gross- 

 feeding plant and is able to make good use of such sources 

 of plant food as manure, it is the general practice to apply 

 barnyard manure to the corn crop, usually before the land is 

 plowed. Since the greater part of the manure is produced 

 during the winter, plowing is generally deferred until spring 

 so that all the manure may be put on the land. Plowing 

 under coarse stable manure, whether on sod or stubble 

 land, is objectionable from the standpoint of moisture con- 

 trol and probably also in the matter of getting the best use 

 of the manure. The coarse manure lying between the sub- 

 soil and the furrow slice quite effectively separates these two 

 portions of the soil and retards the movement of moisture 

 between them. Much better results can be obtained if the 

 land thus manured is thoroughly disked and the manure 

 incorporated in the top soil before the plowing is done, for 

 this aids in getting the furrow slice firmly settled against the 

 subsoil. 



65. Applying Manure to Grass Land. A better practice 

 than the one just mentioned is to apply manure to the grass 

 land a year or more before the land is to be plowed for corn. 

 Manure applied to pasture land greatly stimulates the growth 

 of grass. By trampling and by natural decomposition, it 

 becomes somewhat mixed with the surface soil and incor- 



