180 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June 
—important, profitable, and interesting subjects—to oc¬ 
cupy every faculty of the mind. The perceptive, the 
reasoning, the imaginative, and the executive powers, 
may have free scope in observing and analysing the 
varied relations and bearings of the wide range of 
facts ever challenging the attention, and in devising 
and carrying out plans for present and future opera¬ 
tions. Nor need the mind be confined to the narrow 
range of one’s own farm or neighborhood. While there 
are so many problems in Agriculture still unsolved, in 
which all nations are interested, is there not ample 
room for the exercise of the noblest ambition, as well 
as the deepest wisdom and the purest philantrophy 7 
Assuredly there is. 
One word in conclusion. Let us resolve to enter up¬ 
on the labors of our farms this spring, with a better 
understanding of our objects, and a determination to 
be more thorough in our methods than ever before- 
Should each one thus, with a deeper sense of the no¬ 
bleness of his calling, engage in the great work of im¬ 
provement,. what an aggregate of power would be ex¬ 
erted 7 How memorable the epoch which should inau¬ 
gurate such a spirit among us. 
-oo*- 
Spring Management of Manures. 
Eds. Country Gentlemen —So limited is the time 
in this latitude, in which the farmer is to go through 
all the labors of spring, that he is often at his wits end 
to contrive how to do the whole in season, or often 
what to do. first. 
For one, no branch of spring labor has been to me a 
more difficult problem, than the proper management of 
the accumulated masses of manures as they now are 
presentedin the straw-yard, a coating from one to 
two feet deep, of a mixture of cattle droppings and 
urine, rejected portions of coarse hay, with a large 
predominating amount of trodden straw, all frozen to¬ 
gether till near the first of May, and quite unferment¬ 
ed ; near the cow stable lies a large pile with less straw, 
so compact indeed that but little air enters it, hence it 
is very little fermented, yet the frost is nearly out of 
it as warm weather appears. The refuse of the horse 
stable lies steaming away, ready to be drawn, if it has 
not already been spread during the latter part of win¬ 
ter, as it should have been. 
In accordance with views expressed by several of 
your correspondents upon this subject, I believe all 
manures should be partially decomposed by fermenta¬ 
tion, before being applied as a top-dressing or turned 
under. The reasons are to my mind simple and con¬ 
clusive. The refuse vegetable and animal substances 
devoted as fertilizers, must evidently assume new 
forms, both mechanical and chemical, before they ean 
be presented as nutriment to the growing plant. The 
woody fibre of the straw must pass to the form of humic 
acid, or some of its allied types, nnd be reduced to a 
soluble state by being combined with the mineral por¬ 
tion of the straw, or better with ammonia formed from 
such animal matter as the manure may chance to 
contain. 
Now these changes are thoroughly effected only when 
the mass is brought in close contact, and aided by a 
degree of heat —neither of which are found in the soil. 
Neither of these conditions—contact and heat—are 
well secured except in properly constructed compost 
heaps. Hence to conform our practice to correct theory, 
it appears to me that all manures not piled when thrown 
from the stable, should be piled and fermented before 
being applied to the soil. 
But how is this to be done without too much ex¬ 
pense 7 
To answer this inquiry, I will give you the plan fol¬ 
lowed by me for the last two years, with the results of 
which I have been tolerably well satisfied. The horse 
manure, which should be hauled early to prevent over¬ 
heating and fire-fang, I spread upon ground plowed 
the fall before for oats and potatoes, evenly spreading 
it from the'wagon, by which the crop is irsyre uniform¬ 
ly fed than can possibly be done when the manure is 
first left in piles, and in the end costs less labor for 
spreading. The yard manure, and that from the cow 
stables, is reserved for corn, and as soon as the yard 
manure is thawed up, it is piled into heaps about five 
feet wide, four or five feet high, and as long as you 
please. Care should be taken to lay the sides of the 
pile perpendicular, and the top flat or a little dishing, 
so that the rains that fall upon it will soak in and aid 
in fermentation. The object is to induce a rapid and 
thorough fermentation, and to effect this it must be so 
piled as to admit air through the whole pile and keep 
it moist, and if the pile is not more than five feet 
broad at the bottom, it will admit air to the center, 
and if piled during the last week in April, it will be 
well fermented and rotten by the 20th of May, when 
piled as above directed. Last year my manure was 
piled April 23d and 24th, and hauled to the cornfield 
May 25th, when it was tender and well fermented. 
The corn land plowed in the meantime, the manure 
harrowed in thoroughly, and the corn planted and titled 
by flat culture. 
Two years ago I planted on sod manured in the far¬ 
row, except a strip which was left through the lot to 
drive on while drawing manure. This strip was ma¬ 
nured before being turned over, and the result was 
greatly in favor of that spread on the furrow and drag¬ 
ged in. This was specially apparent in the young corn, 
which came up stronger and kept ahead of the four 
rows where the manure was turned under, till harvest 
time ; and generally, as far as I have tried it, surface 
manuring has done the best. The extra labor of piling- 
yard manure, is compensated in several ways. First, 
the quality of the manure is greatly improved, the 
bulk is diminished by being concentrated, and the ex¬ 
cess of water evaporated by the heat of fermentation, 
so that the labor of drawing is greatly lessened; be¬ 
sides it is loaded from such piles nearly twice as fast 
as from the yard mass. But among the most impor¬ 
tant benefits of thus fermenting manure, is the de¬ 
struction of all such foul seeds as ara usually carried 
to the field from the barn-yard, for such as are near 
the center of the pile have their vitality destroyed by 
the heat, and those at or near the surface are sprout¬ 
ed, so that ruin overtakes them all. Gurdon Evans. 
~ -*—♦-©-— 
Apple-seed Washer.— Seeing an apple-seed wash¬ 
er described in your paper, I wish to know the full par¬ 
ticulars about it„ how it is made, and how much it will 
clean per hour, and what it will cost to erect one. 
Evans Pennington. Jennerville, Penn. [We are 
unable to give any further information than already 
published in relation to the washers. Will those who 
have used them please answer the above.} 
