86 



Campbell's 1902 Soil Culture Manual. 



time a much larger per cent, of these manures are either thrown into a 

 draw or burned up. This is all wrong. There is no section of country 

 where the soil would respond more liberally and for a longer period of 

 years after the application of manure than here. The difficulty lies in the 

 manner of applying. The dryness of our atmosphere and the frequent long 

 periods without rain is not conducive to nutrication or decomposition, 

 consequently in our early exijeriences in applying it to our fields, more or 

 less straw and coarse matter in almost a perfect state of preservation had 

 to be used. With our light, loose, loamy soil there is not sufficient weight 

 to press this coarse matter down solid when jjlowed under, consequently 

 the open jjorous condition underneath, the detrimental effect of which is 

 not well known, resulted in burning the crop and producing weeds. We 

 have met with the best results by spreading the manures on the surface, 

 evenly as possible, then with a sharp disc double-disc the surface, mixing 

 it to a considerable extent with the top three inches of soil, then plowing 

 six or seven inches deep, using a rod on the beam to turn everything under, 

 following the plow with the sub-surface packer, which would result in 

 compacting the soil and manures firmly in the bottom. With slight 

 moisture under these conditions decomposition quickly takes place. In 

 early experience in Brown County, South Dakota, in the year 1882, we 

 applied a liberal coating of barn yard manure, plowed it under, and worked 

 it down as best we could after the manner usually practiced in old Ver- 

 mont. The rainfall during that season was quite liberal and timely. The 

 piece, about five acres, was planted to corn and well cultivated, with such 

 good results, that we decided to treat the manure question with the same 

 care and economy as we were wont to do in the east. The same plan was 

 followed out in '83, with a total loss of all the crops which were planted on 

 that ground. A small attempt was made again in '84, with the same poor 

 results. For several years after this we followed the usual plan of the 

 western farmer, of hauling it out and using any possible method to get rid 

 of it. But the remarkable results each and every year from the field 

 where the manure was applied in '82, was too convincing of its value. For 

 ten consecutive years this entire quarter section was put into wheat. 

 Every year in the early stages of the growth of the wheat the shape of 

 this five-acre field, w^hich was in one corner of the 160 acres, was perceptible 

 both in the color of the wheat and the development of the stools, and almost 

 invariably at harvest time the grain on this little piece would be from 

 four to eight and ten inches higher than the balance of the field, and 

 yielded invariably from 50 to 150 per cent. more. With much study along 

 these lines, and several experiments, to find out why such remarkable 

 results were obtained from this field and why we could not succeed in later at- 

 tempts, we were finally able to solve the problem fully. It is simply a ques- 

 tion of mixing the manures into the soil as much as possible, and then firm- 

 ing the under portion of the furrow slice, thoroughly compacting manure 



