238 agricultural report. 1 1473, 474, 475, 476 x 



fresh or rotted manure be the most efficaceous, and whether it be more profita- 

 ble to allow it to complete its fermentation in the pile, or to transfer it to the soil 

 as rapidly as possible ? 



In this general form the question is unanswerable, inasmuch as according to 

 circumstances, either the one or the other alternative may be advisable. 



473. If our arrangements are such as not to permit the escape of any useful 

 ingredients from the manure pile ; if we prevent the loss of either fluid drainings 

 or ammoniacal gases, by some of the means just described ; then, as a general 

 thing, it is well to dlow the decomposition to advance considerably, since we 

 can control the process better in the manure pile than in the field, where drouth, 

 excessive wet, or exposure on the surlace of the ground, may stop the progress of 

 decomposition entirely, thus preventing the ingredients from becoming rapidly 

 available as vegetable nourishmen . The manure pile ought to be kept moist, 

 but not excessively wet; it ought, therefore, if possible, to be sheltered partially 

 at least, from both the sun and the rain ; and similarly, when manure has once 

 been hauled to the field, it ought to be put underground as soon as practicable. 



474. In the fermentation of manure, a great deal both of its weight and bulk is 

 lost; it becomes more concentrated as it were, i e., its percentage amount of 

 mineral ingredients increases. If, therefore, we were to buy manure, it would 

 generally be preferable to buv the rotted rather than the fresh. When we make 

 it ourselves, the distance to which it must be hauled often requires to be taken 

 into consideration, and we may find it profitable to let decomposition advance 

 further than we should otherwise have chosen to do, in order to diminish its 

 weight and bulk and the consequent expense of hauling. So also, the kind of 

 crop for which it is intended, and the season of the year at which it is to be 

 applied, requires consideration. If intended for crops requiring, or able to bear, 

 the powerful stimulus of fermenting manure (as for instance, corn or pumpkins) 

 the immediate effect will not be as great, if we allow the fermentation to be 

 completed ; and the manure should, therefore, be used, if possible, in an early 

 stage of decomposition. Such manure, however, unless used with great care and 

 judgment, will often " burn up" cotton, as does cottonseed when applied in large 

 quantities, immediately to the roots of the young plant ; which ought, therefore, 

 to receive by preference, such manure in which the violence of fermentation has 

 subsided. 



G. METHOD OF CULTURE. 



475. In the preceding pages, the ways and means by which, in particular 

 cases, land may be rendered capable ol producing profitable crops, have been 

 discussed, with particular reference to the resources of this State. It remains, 

 before p ssing to the special description, to say a few words in regard to the 

 general plan of culture on which all special operations ought to be based — 

 modified more or less by local circumstances, yet still the same, essentially, all 

 the world over. 



476 1 Robbing the Soil. — Experience has shown, that we cannot, under any 

 circumstances, or under any system of rotation whatsoever, corrtinue to raise 

 useful crops on any land for a length of time, unless we return to it in the shape 

 of manure, a part at least of the ingredients which the crops have abstracted 

 from it. This is a truth so anciently, and apparently so well known, that it would 

 geem superfluous to re-iterate it. Yet in my travels through the State, I have 

 found many, and otherwise very intelligent persons, in whom the extraordinary 

 fertility of their soil had induced the conviction, that some soils, at least, were 

 inexhaustible ; and that by diligent search (usually by moving westward) they 

 might find a place on which they and their children might live without ever 

 troubling themselves about manure. I have met many who, when informed of 

 the general object of the Agricultural Survey, expected that such an examination 

 of their soils should reveal to them a talisman, or some mystic formula, by which. 



