The  Rural  New-Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
Vol.  T.XXV.  NEW  YORK.  JANUARY”  29.  1010.  N°. 
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Green  Manure  in  the  Rotation 
An  Answer  to  Mr.  Lee 
NOT IfER  VIEW. — I  have  read  and  re-read  the 
very  interesting  article.  “Hairy  Vetch  as  a 
Green  Manure  Crop,"  by  Ora  Lee  in  Thk  R.  N.-Y. 
of  Dec.  25  and  ns  Mr.  Lee  invites  a  discussion  of 
his  idea  by  "practical  farmers."  and  doesn't  care 
how  hard  they  "knock,"  T  would  like  to  show  him 
where  I  think  he  is  losing  part  of  his  ammunition. 
1  would  suggest  that  he  change  his  rotation. 
As  outlined,  his  rotation  is  hay.  potatoes,  beaus  and 
wheat.  This  rotation  for  me  would  he  almost  ideal, 
if  I  were  not  a  firm  believer  in  green  manure.  On 
my  farm  green  manure  has  proven  so  successful  I 
have  had  to  change  the  rotation,  in  order  to  realize 
the  greatest  returns  from  the  green  manure  crops. 
In  the  system  of  rotation,  one  should  work  along 
the  line  of  greatest  benefit  to  the  entire  crop  sys¬ 
tem.  and  this  probably  will  interfere  somewhat  with 
the  kind  of  crop  grown. 
A  FOUR-YEAR  ROTATION.— If  I  read  Mr.  Lee's 
article  correctly,  lie  seems  to  think  all  he  needs  is 
to  green  manure  the  field.  "L."  which  is  so  far  away 
it  gets  no  stable  manure.  lie  tells  what  green  ma¬ 
nure  did  on  this  field,  and  I  would  ask  him,  if  green 
without  plowing?  The  oats  will  he  as  good  a  place 
in  which  to  sow  clover  seed  as  the  wheat  would,  one 
year  with  another,  because  if  one  dues  not  plow 
the  potato  ground  for  oats,  the  oats  may  lie  sown 
very  early.  Oats  pay  here  about  the  same  as  wheat, 
and  are  far  more  certain.  This  rotation  would  give 
Mr,  Lee  a  green  manure  crop  every  year,  and  he 
would  not  have  to  plow  under  any  more  hay  crops 
in  order  to  secure  a  place  to  sow  the  rye  and  vetch. 
COST  OF  MANURING.- — Now.  for  the  figures,  as 
given  by  Mr.  Lee.  He  charges  the  potato  crops  with 
one-half  the  value  of  stable  and  green  manure  ap¬ 
plied,  balance  charged  to  future  crops.  This  is  ex¬ 
pecting  pay  for  these  manures  rather  Quickly.  T 
think  the  stable  manure  may  possibly  give  half  iis 
value  up  the  first  year,  hut  do  not  believe  green  ma¬ 
nure  crops  will  anywhere  near  do  it.  Some  years 
green  manures  do  not  decompose  very  much  the 
first  season,  not  enough  to  expect  them  to  lie  half 
exhausted,  A  more  conservative  estimate  would  he 
to  charge  one-third  of  the  green  manure  to  the  first 
crop,  and  this  is  rather  high,  some  seasons.  Mr. 
Lee’s  green  manure  cost  him  too  much,  even  for  "A- 
Xo.  1  goods.”  First,  there  is  a  charge  of  $HR>  for 
the  hay.  Then  there  is  a  charge  for  labor  in  plow¬ 
ing.  fitting  and  seeding  of  $62.54.  Taxes,  overhead. 
The  Problem  of  Handling  Poultry 
Manure 
XL  IKE  most  of  your  inquirers  who  have  asked 
how  to  handle  hen  manure  I  have  read  a  large 
number  of  articles  on  the  subject,  both  in  your  pa¬ 
per  and  by  other  authorities.  Your  latest  article 
(page  1511)  T  consider  the  most  practical  I  have  yet 
read  and  I  consider  them  all  as  suggestive  rather 
than  complete  in  their  treatment;  that  is.  they  do 
not  seem  to  he  concrete  examples  of  systems  of 
handling  lien  manure  on  plants  of  any  size,  say 
500  birds  or  more. 
To  take  up  the  points  of  your  article  as  we  have 
applied  them  to  our  plant  (which  is  in*  the  growing 
stage)  of  about  900  birds  in  connection  with  a  74- 
acre  fruit  and  general  farm,  advice  as  far  as  hand¬ 
ling  the  litter  and  manure  in  it  we  have  found  hv 
experience  to  lie  practical,  and  I  believe  to  be  the 
most  economical  and  convenient  way  to  handle  if. 
Rut  when  you  come  fo  the  manure  from  the  drop¬ 
ping  boards  you  have  touched  the  secret  of  the 
whole  proposition  when  you  say.  “provided  the  hen 
man  is  ready  to  do  the  work." 
For  three  years  we  have  decided  to  keep  this  lien 
manure  dry  until  Spring  and  use  it  as  fertilizer. 
The  Old  Mare  and  Her  Descendants  on  a  Pennsylvania  Farm.  Fig.  44.  See  page  150. 
manure  was  a  good  thing  on  this  unmanuved  field, 
why  would  it  not  he  a  great  thing  on  the  manured 
fields,  and  then  why  not  get  a  rotation  that  will 
make  possible  a  green  manure  crop  every  year,  so 
that  each  field  is  benefited  thereny  once  every  four 
years?  In  Mr.  Lee’s  rotation,  hay  is  followed  by 
potatoes,  then  beans,  and  lastly,  wheat  Of  course 
Mr.  Lee  is  far  removed  from  us  here  in  Southern 
Michigan,  and  perhaps  my  suggestions  will  not  apply 
to  his  locality.  However,  in  the  main,  I  think  they 
will. 
DIFFERING  CROPS.— Potatoes,  (and  I  under¬ 
stand  he  means  late  ones),  are  in  most  years  har¬ 
vested  so  late,  rye,  vetch,  or  wheat  do  not  get  a  very 
good  start,  while  with  beans  one  can  get  them  har¬ 
vested  early  enough  to  sow  wheat,  or  any  other  Fall 
crop,  and  he  reasonably  sure  of  a  good  start  before 
Winter  sets  in.  This  evidently  is  Mr.  Lee's  idea,  be¬ 
cause  lie  sows  the  beau  ground  to  wheat,  f  lake 
it  he  has  no  cover  crop  on  his  potato  ground  from 
the  time  he  harvests  them  until  he  plows  for  beans. 
MANURE  OX  SOD. — As  for  manure  on  the  sod 
for  potatoes,  it  is  a  good  tiling;  so  is  manure  on 
the  sod  for  beans.  The  above  being  true,  why  not 
have  the  rotation  hay.  beans,  bean  ground  sowed 
to  rye  and  vetch  to  tie  plowed  under  for  potatoes, 
then  follow  the  potatoes  with  oats  in  the  Spring 
etc.,  of  ijM7.Nl  which,  with  the  cost  of  seed  made  the 
green  manure  cost  over  P2(\  per  acre. 
OVERHEAD  CHARGES.— In  the  rotation  I  have 
suggested  above,  the  overhead  tax  of  the  land,  the 
plowing,  and  most  of  the  fitting,  and  the  price  of 
the  hay  crop  would  not  he  figured  in  against  the 
green  manure,  and  of  course  the  hay  would  not  be 
plowed  under.  However,  if  the  hay  was  cut.  and  fed 
on  the  farm,  and  manure  properly  cared  for.  its 
ma nu rial  value  would  he  as  great  in  one  case  as  in 
the  other,  hut  the  $100  would  he  charged  to  the 
feed  for  stock,  instead  of  potatoes.  The  stable  ma¬ 
nure  would  probably  give  better  satisfaction  to  the 
potato  crop  if  it  were  plowed  under  for  beans  the 
year  before,  and  this  manure  in  the  bean  ground 
would  certainly  he  ideal  to  hustle  up  the  rye  and 
\  etch. 
CHANGING  THE  ROTATION.— In  conclusion,  it 
is  some  time  yet  before  1917.  and  in  the  meantime 
Mr.  Lee  can  do  a  lot  of  figuring.  However,  if  a 
rotation  of  hay,  beaus,  bean  ground  sown  to  rye  and 
vetch,  some  to  he  plowed  under  for  potatoes  the 
next,  or  third  year,  potato  ground  to  lie  sown  to 
oats,  without  plowing,  and  the  oats  seeded  to  clover, 
finds  favor  with  him,  no  need  to  wait  until  1917  to 
begin  the  change.  l.  w.  meeks. 
Hillsdale  Co..  Mich. 
hut  we  were  not  ready  to  do  the  work.  First  we 
bought  barrels,  which  cost  us  10  cents  each  (at 
some  places  they  cost  25  cents  each).  Those  barrels 
full  of  lien  manure  we  commenced  storing  in  places 
such  as  tool  shed,  wagon-house,  also  built  a  little 
shed  at  end  of  henhouse.  But  we  did  not  have  dry 
stuff  enough  in  the  manure  to  keep  it  dry,  although 
we  used  the  sifted  ashes  from  over  15  tons  of  coal 
that  Winter  (had  200  hens  at  that  time).  The  odor 
was  so  foul  that  we  couldn't  keep  the  manure  in 
buildings  that  we  had  to  go  near,  also  there  was 
moisture  enough  in  manure  so  that  all  the  bottoms 
were  warped  out  of  the  barrels,  which  could  not  be 
used  again. 
Of  course  the  man  who  gives  the  advice  about 
handling  the  manure  is  not  to  blame  for  all  this 
trouble.  These  are  just  the  natural  snags  the  poul- 
tryman  runs  into  if  he  isn't  “ready  to  do  the  work.” 
Later,  as  we  kept  more  hens,  we  purchased  U>% 
acid  phosphate  in  two-ton  lot>  at  a  little  less  than 
$12  a  ton  at  our  station  (purchased  through 
Grange).  But  this  did  not  last  long,  and  we  had 
the  problem  of  storing  the  phosphate,  and  still  the 
problem  of  storing  the  manure. 
It  is  plain  to  us  now  that  we  must  have  a  system, 
storage  and  equipment  for  handling  this  manure. 
If  hen  manure  is  to  he  handled  as  a  fertilizer  and 
