758 Notes on Manures for November. [Nov., 



and must therefore be diluted to this extent and then, further 

 diluted just as if it were liquid manure. It can be put on grass 

 land and on land intended for roots, but this should be done in 

 winter or in early spring to avoid any risk of possible harmful 

 effects on the young plants. 



Should Farmyard Manure be ploughed in at once or can it 

 be left on the Surface? — Several inquiries have been , made as 

 to whether farmyard manure should be ploughed in directly 

 it is applied to the land or whether it can be safely left exposed 

 on the surface after it has been spread. It is common in some 

 districts, e.g., east Suffolk, to spread farmyard manure on bare 

 fallows in June and plough it in at some later date; also to 

 spread the manure on clover stubble early in September and 

 leave it till the ground is soft enough for ploughing, which 

 might be several weeks. Unfortunately no exact information 

 is available, but from what is known it seems probable that the 

 best course is to plough in the manure directly it is spread, 

 and if necessary to delay spreading until ploughing is possible. 

 Naturally this recommendation must be tempered by the 

 necessity for distributing labour as evenly as possible over the 

 season, and it may in the end prove more economical to save 

 labour even at the expense of some wastage in manure. 



Spread Farmyard Manure Evenly. — The necessity for 

 spreading artificial manures evenly is well recognised, but 

 farmers are not always able to secure as even a distribution of 

 farmyard manure as is desirable. In the Lothians may be seen an 

 implement, the " Dumb Tarn " (so named, it is said, after its 

 inventor), which marks off the ground into squares of 18 ft. each 

 side, of which 134 constitute an acre all but 16 sq. yd. A heap of 

 2-2 J cwt. of farmyard manure is then deposited on each square 

 and can be spread evenly. 



Influence of Chalk or Limestone on Young Seeds. — The 

 following communication from a good arable farmer in 

 Bedfordshire affords interesting evidence as to the valuable 

 effect of chalk on the seeds mixture, the land being brown 

 stony clay overlying the chalk: " I dig deep drains 4 to 11 ft. 

 deep to get the spring water out and spread the chalk as 

 widely as possible each side of the drains and the effect is as 

 you say and have said. The ground is more tilthy, more dry 

 and more damp*; for instance, I have sown a variety of seeds 

 over these chalked places and the seeds are nearly all alive and 

 look comparatively well, but where there is no chalk seeds have 

 practically disappeared, so that if I could have chalked all the 



* i.e., more dry in wet weather and more damp in dry periods. 



