THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
939 
Soil Fertility Problems 
Handling Horse Manure. 
I have a manure pit under a shed for 
my horse stable, which I have used for 
years, and a well-to-do farmer told me 
today he would not take the manure if 
I would give it to him ; that it was not 
worth anything, and that I should keep 
it wet all the time. Would it be better 
to run the water from the shed in the 
pit? Is he right or wrong? When the 
pit is full I send it to the farm and put 
it in heaps for Fall or Spring. I keep 
four horses in town all the time, and 
would like to get the most out of the 
manure. G. T. 
New York. 
While this farmer is hardly justified 
; n saying that such manure is not worth 
anything, it would be better to keep the 
pile moist and solid. When manure is 
left open and loose, and especially horse 
manure, the air works in, heat starts up, 
and rapid fermentation will take place. 
If this is continued we have the condi¬ 
tion known as “fire-fanging,” which you 
may have noticed in a manure pile. In 
this case it dries out rapidly, changes its 
color, and without question, loses a good 
share of the ammonia, which is driven 
oil through fermentation. The way to 
avoid this trouble is to keep the pile 
stamped down hard, and also to see that 
it is kept moist. It should not be kept 
too wet, but water enough should be 
added to keep it moist and not permit it 
to dry out as is the case with “fire-fang¬ 
ing.” Much of the value of manure is 
lost by the two extremes in holding it. 
When there is not moisture enough, as 
we see, the air works in, great heat is 
developed, and there is loss of ammonia. 
On the other hand, when too much water 
is used leaching goes on and much of the 
plant food may be washed out through 
the pile by this water. The proper way 
is to avoid using too much water, but 
just enough to keep the pile moist, and 
stamp the manure down hard as it is 
put into the pile, so as to prevent air 
from working into it too easily. In the 
old plan of keeping manure in the barn 
cellar farmers would throw the manure 
down below the horses or cattle and keep 
a small drove of hogs constantly working 
in the manure to keep it turned over. 
This produced a good quality of manure, 
but the plan is now largely given up, be¬ 
cause it was not a sanitary method either 
for the cattle and horses or for the hogs. 
Acid Phosphate and Lime. 
Living some distance from the rail¬ 
road station which makes it expensive to 
use lime, I would like to know if the 
continued use of acid phosphate is in¬ 
clined to destroy the lime in the soil. I 
have been using basic slag with very good 
results, but on account of the war it will 
be impossible to get the slag. j. L. w. 
Washington, Va. 
Acid phosphate will not “destroy” the 
lime in the soil but it will unite with 
lime to “satisfy” the acid. Lime taken 
up in this way by the acid phosphate is 
no longer in the proper form to do the 
work for which we use “lime.” The con¬ 
tinued use of the acid phosphate would 
after some years be felt in taking this 
lime out of use. On a soil naturally 
rich in lime this loss would hardly be 
felt but on a naturally sour soil such 
fertilizing would make the soil more acid 
unless extra lime was used. 
At.the close of a lecture on “Lime and 
its Uses,” a farmer asked how the lime 
contents of a soil, to which a ton of 
lime had been applied some years ago, 
became exhausted, and the reply of the 
lecturer seems to put the case very clear¬ 
ly. It is lost in many ways: 
1. It is soluble to some extent, and 
1 ence some is washed out and appears in 
the drainage water. 
2. In destroying the acids, and in put¬ 
ting injurious salts out of solution, it dis¬ 
appears from the soil, as lime, in consid- 
eiable quantities. 
3. It is used up when it causes soluble 
phosphates to revert and saves them 
from being washed out, as when it pre¬ 
cipitates phosphoric acid as a calcium 
phosphate. It disappears again when, on 
enriching the soil by releasing potash, it 
takes the place of the latter. 
4. Every time sulphate of ammonia is 
applied as a fertilizer the acid portion 
of the ammonium salt takes up lime, and 
this is another cause of the disappearance 
ot lime. 
The basic slag is different from the 
acid phosphate, as it is alkaline, and 
adds lime to the soil rather than remov¬ 
ing it. A good quality of good steamed 
bone gives a superior quality of phos¬ 
phoric acid, which will not remove lime. 
Growing Vetch. 
Can I grow vetch without inoculation? 
We are getting ready to sow our or¬ 
chards with rye and buckwheat, the buck¬ 
wheat to mellow and subdue some heavy 
tough soil. The rye is to make a Win¬ 
ter cover crop and plow under in the 
Spring. I would like to add vetch and 
Cow-horn turnips. j. e. b. 
Orange Co.. N. Y. 
It is doubtful whether you can make a 
success at growing vetch the first time 
without inoculating the seed. We have 
never been able to do it in our own case. 
After growing vetch one or two years it 
does much better, and the nodules finally 
appear upon the roots, but in most cases 
the inoculation is necessary in order to 
start the crop going. We would advise 
by all means to inoculate. While there 
have been some favorable reports from 
sowing vetch with buckwheat, the gen¬ 
eral conclusion seems to be that the buck¬ 
wheat makes too heavy and dense a 
growth to give the vetch a fair show¬ 
ing. This would be particularly true in 
a dry season, as the buckwheat would 
cover the ground so thoroughly that the 
vetch would not have a fair chance. Rye 
is a much better crop for seeding with 
the vetch, although if you intend the 
vetch for a fodder or hay crop next year, 
wheat would be better than rye, as the 
w heat makes a much better fodder. Cow- 
horn turnips may be seeded with the rye 
and buckwheat, so that they will make 
a fair growth, but you must remember 
that rye and buckwheat together, if fair 
quantities of the seed are used, will make 
a very thick, heavy crop, and if July and 
August chances to be hot and dry, this 
thick and rank crop will take about all 
the moisture out of the soil so that the 
vetch would suffer. In a wet season 
these combinations of seeds will work 
well, but where there is danger from 
drought one or more of the seeds will 
suffer. 
Combinations for Cover Crops. 
What is your opinion of sowing Al¬ 
falfa in corn for a cover crop? My ex¬ 
perience with Crimson clover is that I 
have always obtained a good catch but 
after the first hard freeze and thaw that 
is about the last of Crimson clover. I 
have done this year after year, and the 
result has been about the same. Last 
August we sowed Crimson clover, about 
eight quarts to the acre, and one bushel 
ol rye. Both came up as usual and 
looked well until the first hard freeze. 
That was the last of Crimson clover and 
if it had not been for the rye there would 
not have been anything to plow under 
this Spring. Some claim that Alfalfa 
will not do well if sown in corn at the 
last tending, or for a cover crop, and 
some I have talked to about the matter 
say that they are mowing Alfalfa that 
they sowed in corn seven years ago. An¬ 
other neighbor told me he sowed in corn 
last year, and it came up well but after 
a few weeks it gave up. j. l. h. 
Northern New Jersey. 
We doubt the wisdom of seeding Al¬ 
falfa in the corn as a cover crop. A 
number of our readers have evidently 
tried it, but the great majority of their 
reports indicate a failure, as the Alfal¬ 
fa is not as well suited to this kind of 
seeding as the clovers are. It might 
be well enough to experiment with Alfal¬ 
fa, but the chances are that you would 
be disappointed. It is true that in most 
sections north of Philadelphia Crimson 
clover is killed out during the later Win¬ 
ter or Spring about seven times out of 
10. That is about the proportion on 
our own farm. We feel, however, that 
even if it is killed, we get more than 
the cost of the seed and labor in the 
growth which the clover makes during 
the Fall. In a favorable season this 
clover makes a very rapid Fall growth, 
and it protects the soil and saves the ni¬ 
trates which are formed during the Fall, 
so that even if nothing is seen of it the 
next Spring we are still ahead. We find 
quite a number of Northern fruit grow¬ 
ers who sow' Crimson clover or oats and 
barley as a cover crop, for the very rea¬ 
son that they will not live over. The 
clover and grain both die through the 
Winter, and thus make it easier to plow 
and take care of the ground. In our 
own case we prefer to have something 
that will live in the Spring and give us 
a large living crop for plowing under. 
All things considered, probably a com¬ 
bination of rye, or rye and barley to¬ 
gether, Hairy vetch and Cow-horn tur¬ 
nip will be as good as any combination 
for Northern New Jersey. A half bushel 
each of rye and barley, two pounds of 
Cow-horn turnips, and about 15 pounds 
of Hairy vetch will make a good com¬ 
bination for an acre to be seeded in the 
corn. We have not been able to get the 
vetch started for the first time without 
inoculation, and it would pay to inocu¬ 
late the seed. 
This matter of the proper cover crop 
cannot be settled off hand in a general 
answer. It depends a good deal upon the 
soil, the condition of the weather, 
whether it is put into a crop or seeded 
by itself, and what you want the cover 
crop for. If it is to provide hay or grain 
fodder for next Spring, wheat is better 
than rye, since it gives a much better 
fodder. If you want a cover crop to 
die out through the Winter so as not 
to be obliged to plow under a heavy 
growth. Crimson clover, turnips and 
barley will answer. If you want a crop 
to live through the Winter and make 
a heavy growth for next Spring’s plow¬ 
ing, rye and Hairy vetch will probably 
be as satisfactory as anything for 
Northern seeding. In giving these com¬ 
binations of seeds it will be understood 
that we speak of the latitude for North¬ 
ern New Jersey, where our own farm is 
located. Other combinations would 
doubtless do better for localities either 
north or south of that point. 
Fodder Crop ; Fertilizer for Tomatoes. 
1. My corn crop is a half failure, and 
I have about three acres of ground lying 
idle. What would you advise me to sow 
to make feed for my cows and horses 
this Winter? Some tell me to sow mil¬ 
let and corn together. What would you 
advise me to do? 2. I would like to fer¬ 
tilize my tomato crop. Would you ad¬ 
vise me to put fertilizer on them or will 
it burn them? p G 
Mt. Holly, N. J. 
1. Cow peas would have made the best 
hay catch crop, but it is getting late for 
them now, therefore I would sow Hun¬ 
garian millet on that plot of idle ground, 
using about three pecks of seed to the 
acre. 
2. A 4-8-5 fertilizer used as a top- 
dressing should help your tomatoes, and 
if scattered around the hill six to 12 
inches away from the stem there should 
be no trouble from burning. Do not get 
the fertilizer right up against the stem. 
TRUCKER JR. 
Possibilities of Bat Manure. 
During each year we have at least 50 
questions from people who have found 
deposits of bat manure. They want to 
know how it can be handled to advan¬ 
tage. The Arizona Experiment Station 
has issued Circular No. 100 in which 
this matter of bat manure is discussed. 
Most of the large deposits are found in 
caves located in the South or Southwest. 
The substance consists of excrements and 
dead bodies of the bats mixed with the 
wings' of the insects upon which they 
feed. It seems that some of these insect 
wings are very hard and not available as 
plant food, the fertilizer manufactures 
frequently objecting to them. Analyses 
made at the Arizona Station show that 
this bat manure varied all the way from 
2% to nearly 15% of nitrogen, and from 
to 5% of phosphoric acid. There 
is very little potash in most of these 
samples. In some of the caves the ma¬ 
nure was deposited upon a limestone 
formation, and a chemical change was 
effected in the manure which made it of 
considerable value. Most of the bat ma¬ 
nure found in Arizona seems to be sold 
to the fertilizer manufacturers on the 
Pacific Coast, and is used by them for 
mixing with chemicals to make high- 
grade fertilizers. The manure is gener¬ 
ally sold by sample at a regular price 
per unit for nitrogen and phosphoric 
acid. Some samples of the bat manure 
actually bring over $40 a ton, while 
others are worth less than $10. 
Mention is made of one case where the 
owner of a bat cave has' put in a board 
floor under the place where the bats 
roost. This is cleaned off at intervals 
and the manure sold at a good profit, and 
this must rank as one of the most re¬ 
markable ways of making money out of a 
farm crop we have yet heard of. This 
cave yields its owner a regular and pro¬ 
fitable income which is provided by his 
friends, the bats. The Arizona Station 
does not advise the sale of this bat ma¬ 
nure to the fertilizer dealers, but on the 
other hand advises its use on the nearby 
farm either alone or mixed with chemi¬ 
cals. It is not likely that many of our 
leaders will fall heir to a bat roost, as 
they are mostly found in the Southwest. 
This record shows, however, that all over 
the country in every corner and locality 
farmers are recognizing the need of fer¬ 
tilizing material, and are investigating 
every possible source of plant food. 
Those who are interested in this subject 
ought to read this excellent little pamph¬ 
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333 West 30th Street, New York 
