VOL. LXVI
INDIANAPOLIS * EC. 9, 1911.
NO. 49
EXPERIENCE PRIZE ARTICLES
BARN-YARD MANURE.
HOW    AND    WHEN TO    HANDLE IT
EOR GREATEST PROFIT.
l[We have two articles from good farmers that are equally good for the flrst
prize, and so publish them, and the
other two are excellent also.—Editor.
Spread Manure When Fresh
lst Prize.—There are just  	
three ways to solve the manure problem. Hauling it
out and spreading as fast
as it is made; preserving it
in bulk until you have a
considerable amount to
haul out, and until there is
a favorable time to do it;
and the happy-go-lucky way
of hauling out a load or two
whenever you feel like doing it.
Use of the Manure Spreader.
I think there is no longer
a question as to the manner of applying the manure
to the land. AU are agreed
in thiit the manure spreader
furnishes the only means
of getting all of the fertility out of manure. It can be
spread with a spreader so
that the growing plants may
get all of the available plant
food that is in it. I also
think that there is very little difference in the good
that manure will do when
plowed under and when
spread on top of the ground.
Of course it will pay to plow   	
the manure under on very rough
ground whenever you break it, but
this kind of ground ought not to be
plowed very often. So you will have
to spread manure even on this kind of
ground on top. But you will not lose
any appreciable portion of it by being
washed away.
Time to Spread the Manure.
As to the time, I should think that
any time would do except when the
ground is very soft, or when you are
very busy in harvesting a crop or doing any such urgent work. So you can
spread your manure any time and have
very little, if any, loss. Manure loses
almost nothing by evaporation and almost everything by leaching. The
leaching process carries the fertility
down into the ground where you want
it.
Manner of Handling It.
As to the manner of handling manure, I should say that there are many
ways to do it. Some people dump the
manure into the spreader box every
day until it is full, then they haul it
out. This is not a good thing to do. It
is hard on the box, and often causes
the spreader to get out of order. It
may be too stormy and bad to haul the
load out when ready, or the ground
may be soft; you many be busy in harvest or threshing or you may be busy
at work without horses so that it would
be too much trouble to get a team
ready for one load. I .believe that the
best and more practicable way .is to
store the manure in somewhat large
quantities and then haul out whenever
you can. It is very little trouble to
store manure away so that it will keep
perfectly. You can even keep flies a-
way from it by covering it over with a
light coat of dust and litter which you
can easily scrape up under a shed at
any time.
« IP '
*-.-■
ilue of the Manure.
The &._     vrtment of Agriculture tells
us tha 5J r* n  one-third  to  one-half  of
**. r.
the val__ of all manure is lost through
bad management. They tell us also
that the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash contained in the manure made
by a horse in one year-is worth $25.00
by a cow $20.00 by a hog $8.00 and by
a sheep $2.00. Now to apply this let
us presume that the average farmer
owns four horses, five head of cattle,
five head of hogs and teh head of sheep.
These would produce on an average
$260.00 worth of manure each year; so
if we loose from one-third to one-half
by keeping the manure pile flat and
wlell packed. We have seen manure
kept in cone like piles which when put
on the fields made about as much impression on the crops as the same
amount of saw dust or cinders, while
manure kept in flat piles came out
moist and you could tell in the ripened
grain just where it was applied. Both
fermentation and leaching may be
prevented by leaving the manure in
the stables until it is put on the fields,
but we have always objected to this
method on account of the untidy appearance it gives the stables and also
because it is very injurious to horses'
     and catties' feet.
The Manure Spreader at Work in the Field During Winter.'
Keep It Under Shelter.
You should keep manure under shelter because, when there is too much
water in it you lose loads of fertility in
the leaching process. It should be
stirred occasionally, especially around
the edges, to prevent heating. I will
just add that it might be a good thing
to do to combine the two methods;
that is, haul it out as fast as it is made.
This is the surer way to get all of the
fertility, or store it away when you cannot do the other advantageously. And
storing manure away is about the best
one can do who has no spreader but
who can hire one for a day or so when
he gets considerable manure on hands.
Ephraim Gregory.
SAVING  BARN-YARD  MANURE.
Of Great Value On The Farm.
lst Prize.—If We are conservative in
the use of our barnyard and stable manure we may often change the results
of farming from loss to profit.
Our experience has been to spread all
manure while it is fresh, for if applied
to the land while it is still fresh it contains nearly as much plant food as it
did before it was fed. Thus we see
that if we feed nearly all our produce,
especially our roughage, and apply the
manure properly, we can, with the help
of a little commercial fertilizer, keep
our land rich enough to make farming
pay.
we must sustain a loss of from eighty-
seven to one hundred and thirty dollars
as a penalty for keeping our manure in
our barnyard when it should be in the
field, and then too, we must replace this
wasted fertility with commercial fertilizers at from twenty-five to thirty dollars per ton. Of course this gives rise
to the question what is bad management cf manure. The principle ways
in which manure is wasted are leaching, fermenting, or burning as we call
it here, and poor spreading; although
this may be classed under leaching.
Spread the Manure When Fresh.
The remedy for leaching is evident.
If possible put the manure on the fields
as fast as it is made but if this is not
practicable, and at certain seasons it
is not, a cheap shed with a cement
floor will pay for itself many times
over. At least vte need not pile our
manure under the eaves. We may increase the quantity and quality of our
manure if we use enough litter as bedding to absorb and retain all the excreta. If we want a practical illustration of the effect of leaching on manure
we need only to see the crops which
receive the seepage from our barnyard.
loss By Fermentation.
The next great loss is by fermentation or firing. In this process the
amonia which contains nitrogen is lost
and nitrogen is the most expensive ingredient in fertilizers. Fermentation
may be prevented in nearly every case
Spread It Even on the Fields
How careful we are to
spread our commercial fertilizers even and thin yet
many of us rake our manure
off in piles, let nearly all the
substance leach into the
soil under the pile, then
scatter it and plow it under
eight inches deep. It furnishes a little humus to the
soil but that is about all.
There never has been a good
reason for burying manure.
Others of us spread it from
a wagon so thick that the
crop over fed in nitrogen but
weak in phosphoric acid and
potash, springs up a rank
growth but goes down without developing the grain or
having strength to hold it
up if it had filled; while the
greater part of our field
starves for the plant food
wasted on the part we covered. Yes, it wastes when
it is applied too thick for it
leaches away before the
plants can absorb it. How
much better to apply it to
all the ground, evenly and in just the
right quantity with a manure spreader. In this way we may put all our
manure on top and for wheat and corn
work it in the soil with a harrow just
where the plants can absorb it readily.
We have found the results of this
method pleasantly surprising. For
several years v.o have tried covering
our wheat during the winter at about
the rate of seven loads per acre; this
has given excellent results as you
could see the exact limits of the land
thus treated in the ripened grain. It
prevented freezing out in the spring
and the clover was three to four inches
taller there the next year.
On The Corn Fields After Planting.
We have also experimented with
covering our corn fields with manure
from a spreader just after planting and
working it in with the cultivator after
the corn was up. This has increased
our yield about one-fourth over the
parts not treated in this way, other
things being equal. It is also very
beneficial in a dry season as the manure forms a mulch over the ground
holds moisture and brings the corn up
several days earlier than it would come
otherwise and by the way, the holding
of moisture in the soil is no small item
in the value of manure.
Many of our most successful farmers
are giving their meadows a light coat
of manure in the winter and it seems
to  be as good an investment  here as