Manuring and Rotations 85 
compacting the manure to exclude air and by keeping it 
moist. Many farmers haul manure to the field and leave 
it standing for months in small piles. This practice 
allows destructive organisms to work rapidly. More- 
over, the leaching of the piles causes an irregular dis- 
tribution of plant-food in the soil. The idea that the 
manure should not be spread until the farmer is ready to 
plow it under is erroneous. 
Manure must be stored during a part of the year if 
no vacant land is available for spreading it. Storage may 
be in special manure-pits, under sheds, or in the open 
yard. Expensive pits probably do not pay, but simple 
devices to assist in handling manure are doubtless good. 
When an open yard is used, the neatest and most sani- 
tary kind of pile, as well as the one allowing least loss, is 
one with vertical sides and with edges slightly higher than 
the middle. The manure that is produced each day 
should be put on the pile and should be kept compact 
and moist. A manure-spreader is a great time-saver 
and makes possible a more even distribution than can be 
made by hand. 
GREEN-MANURES 
The plowing under of growing plants to increase the 
organic content of the soil has been practiced for gen- 
erations. This practice has been found favorable, par- 
ticularly in preparing new land for sugar-beets. The 
decay of plants helps to make available the mineral foods 
of the soil, and to correct physical defects. Plate VII. 
Legumes make the best green-manure crops, since they 
increase the nitrogen supply by taking this element from 
