22 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Jan. 
a start. * The manure is then spread in rows. A cloudy 
day is preferred, and a two-horse cultivator, well load¬ 
ed with stone, if not heavy enough, is passed over the 
land as fast as the manure is spread. This mixes it 
completely with the soil. The wheat is then sowed 
broadcast, at about two bushels to the acre, and har¬ 
rowed in in the same way. This done, a wagon or 
cart is passed over the ground and every stone of any 
size, worthy the name, is taken off; the ground fur¬ 
rowed both ways, if level, at an interval of 18 or 20 
fee£; a heavy roller is then passed over the whole and 
the crop is in. In my next I will give you the rota¬ 
tion still farther, (this is the first crop several years 
back,) and show how I think 50 bushels to the acre can 
be realized without much expense, as we now have the 
land prepared and in a fit state for farming purposes. 
Very respectfully yours, Gr. W. Durant 
Depth for Burying Manure. 
Men are divided as to the proper depth of burying 
manure. Some hold that it sinks in the soil, is washed 
downward by the leaching rains, and should therefore 
be applied near or at the surface. Others assert that 
its volatile and most valuable parts rise by fermentation, 
and that consequently it should be buried deep. Now 
it usually happens when doctors disagree that both are 
partly right and partly wrong ; but in the present in¬ 
stance, they are both a little in the right, and a great 
deal in the wrong. 
Manure usually stays very nearly where it is put. 
If buried near the surface, it remains near the surface ; 
if buried deep, there it remains ; if plowed under in 
large lumps, it has but little power to rise, sink, or in 
any other way to intermix itself, and hence the reason 
that thorough pulverization or harrowing before manure 
is turned under gives a result in large crops. ’• 
The power which clay has to absorb the fertilizing 
portions of manure, is very great. Soils which possess 
a medium amount of clay, or loam, with a medium de¬ 
gree of tenacity, will absorb all that is valuable in or¬ 
dinary yard manure, equal to nearly their own bulk. 
Forty loads of manure to the acre, form a heavy coat¬ 
ing ; yet this is only one load to four square rods, con¬ 
stituting a depth, when spread, of only one third of an 
inch. Consequently, when a coating of forty loads to 
the acre is plowed under, the volatile parts have only 
to pass one third of an inch or so, before they are all 
absorbed by the soil. Hence the error of supposing that 
•they can possibly, in ordinary soils, rise or sink to any 
practicable depth. And hence also, the great impor¬ 
tance of mixing manures very intimably through all 
parts of the soil, if plants are to get their full benefit, 
and not be over-fed at one part of their roots and starv¬ 
ed at another. 
There are many proofs of the correctness of the po¬ 
sition here taken. We have made large piles of com¬ 
post, consisting of one third rich stable manure, and 
two thirds of loam and turf, yet all the odor was com¬ 
pletely retained, and not the slightest portion passing ‘ 
off could be perceived by the smell. We have buried 
large dead animals with a coating of only six inches 
of loam ; not the faintest indication of the decomposi¬ 
tion below ever reached the surface. On the other 
hand, the soil which forms the bottom of manure yards, 
is not found even within a few inches of the surface to 
be at all enriched by . the piles of fertility which rest up¬ 
on it. 
The true rule for burying manure, is to place it just 
at such depth in the soil as the roots of the crop usually 
extend, which will vary with different plants. Some 
of the grasses, for instance, form a turf very near the 
surface, and hence an autumn top-dressing will soak in 
enough to benefit them essentially. Clover roots run 
deeper, and this crop is consequently but little benefited 
by top-dressing3 when of much size, except so far 
as they operate in keeping the surface moist. The 
roots of fruit trees are still deeper, and they derive but 
little advantage, except from manures well spaded or 
worked in. They however possess an important advan¬ 
tage over annuals and perennial rooted plants; by con¬ 
tinuing in growth for successive years, those roots 
which happen to run into the region of fertility, soon 
throw out numerous fibres, and secure an amount of 
nourishment, of which annual plants, in consequence of 
their more limited powers of extension, are not able to 
avail themselves. 
There are, however, not many crops which do not 
need the full depth afforded by ordinary plowing ; and 
hence the best practice for nearly all kinds of culture, 
is to spread the manure well, harrow it most thorough¬ 
ly, in order to break it as finely as possible, and at the 
same time to mix it intimately with the surface ; then 
turn it under by ordinary plowing, and the lower half 
of the inverted earth will furnish a thoroughly enriched 
bed for the roots to penetrate. If a greater depth of 
fertility is needed than ordinary plowing affords, the 
coat of harrowed manure may be thrown under ten or 
twelve inches by means of a. double mouldboard or Mich¬ 
igan plow ; and then another coat of manure spread, 
harrowed, and plowed under by a light or gang-plow. 
The young plants of the crop are thrown rapidly for¬ 
ward by the upper stratum of manure, and at a later 
stage of growth, are equally stimulated by the lower 
stratum. —— 
New-York State Ag. Society. 
WINTER MEET-IeNG. 
The annual meeting and Winter Exhibition of the 
New-York State Ag. Society, will be held in this city 
on the 7th, 8th and 9th days of February next. At 
this meeting a report is to be made by a committee, 
appointed at the last annual meeting, -to consider the 
propriety of locating the State Fairs at two or three 
places, and the erection of permanent fixtures for the 
show. This and other matters will render the ensuing 
meeting one of unusual interest, and we cannot but 
hope that all sections of the state will be properly re¬ 
presented on the occasion. 
The premiums to be awarded, are those on Farms, 
