VOL. LIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 24, 1904.
NO 39.
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HOW TO HANDLE MANURE PRODUCED ON
THE FARM.
Place Where Young Plants Can Get It.
lst Premium.—Manure, like every product of the farm, has a value, but if wo
put more labor in value, on this manure,
from the stable to the field than the manure will increase the value of the crop,
tho credit of the manure will be on the
wrong side of the ledger. Manure is
a very particular tiling to handle without
loss. If you pile it up so that it throws
the rain, it burns and away goes tlie
ammonia.    If   you	
put on the surface in this miaanier should
lio long enough to loach into the soil; that
is, the soluble part. Then turn under
what humus there is left. This plan of
hauling direct from the stable at all seasons of the year gives better results ou
clay soil or clay subsoil. On light sandy
soil or gravel subsoil, I would put the manure on just before planting. There is a
goat deal of rubbish about the farm that
should go into the manure, or to the feed
lot where it could be tramped down.
Now, I would use all this barnyard
manure to produce more manure, in the
form uf clever, the cheapest manure that
the fame" can use. We  can fill  our
it will decay rapidly, the same is true, i'.
left a year after tlie straw is well rotted.
The best way to handle a straw stack for
manure, if there is not stock on the farm
to consume it, is to throw tlie top open,
leave basin enough to catch the rains, and
the stack will rot surprisingly quick, and
then it should be hauled out and spread
over the land. Subscriber.
Illinois.
Makes Good Mulch.
3d Premium.—Togettliemost benefitfrom
the least amount of work is my way of
disposing of the manure, and at the same
time I get the best results.        I load the
spread it out thin
the better elements
nre washed away.
If you put it under
a shed and water
it and work it over,
from time to time,
you exhaust very
much of its value
by the time you
have substracted
the value of your
labor. You can
add nothing to its
value; you only retain what is in '.t,
and you may get
the manure into
a condition that the
crop will take more
of it up the first
year. Especially
if you use it on
garden products i'
should be well
broken down, or
rotted, as we generally call it.
Manure is like
food; it must have
moisture   before it	
can be assimilated by growing crops, so
that sometimes manure in a very dry season does more harm than good by keeping
thie soil dry. Sly experience and observation have taught me that we get the
most profitable results from manure spread
on the surface after the ground has been
bioken, either for corn or small grai>i:
It is in a condition, or rather position, to
bo carried to tho roots of the plants by
tlie rain, and if the rain fails to come it
nets as a mulch to some extent.
I would always spread manure from
lhe wagon as I hauled it. Nover leave
it in heaps to burn. Also if it stays
an., time you get too much where the heap
' 11 - s been. Another argument in favor
of putting manuro on the surface is that
it is in reach of the young plant when it
needs it the most. The young, vigorous
plant Makes the large crop. Your horse
and cow may travel to tho hay stack and
help themselves, hut your plants cannot
go after food any farther than tlio root
can reach out, and they may become exhausted before they reach it. Therefore,
we should get all manure in such' a position that plants can feed on it in early
life. This is more especially true with
wheat. Manures plowed under six or
eight inches, and the ground sown to
wheat, is o£ little benefit Before you
get that manure turned back, it has got
ck-wi* below your reach or the reach of
your plant.
Many farmers now haul tlieir manure
direct from the stable to the field, nnd
scatter it as they haul, and I prefer this
method to leaving it under the eaves of
the .stable to be leached out.        Manure
Weekly Crop Bulletin.
For the week ending Monday, September 19. With the dlaily mean temperature during the week ranged from 2 degrees to 10 degrees below the seasonal
avrage. On the morning of tlie  ICth
frost in low places in all sections, but too
light to Ik. harmful.
On the llth aud 13th showers were general and, for the most part, copious, except in some of the southern- counties
where druthy conditions continued.
Cutting corn is under way to somo
extent  in  all  s_etions.
Potatoes are yielding a fair, but
less than average crop.
 In some    places
winter apples are
plentiful on the
trees and promise
good fruit, but generally there is complaint that the
fruit is wormy or
otherwise defective
and falling. Seedling peaches are
plentiful in a few
ocalities. Grapes
are abundant an.1
of good quality.
Percherons imported by McLaughlin Bros., Columbus, O., 1004.
soil lull of humus and nitrogen with clover.
Guard .our manure pile well. See that
it neither escapes into space, nor starts
to the Gulf of Mexico by way of some
rivulet that meanders through your barn
lot. I. N. C.
Marion Co.
Make Manure Out of Straw Stacks.
2d Premium.- The manure produced on
tlie farm in winter and late fall should
not be a.lowed to accumulate after removal from the tain or wherever produced,
but shonld be hauled out and spread on
the land to be planted in corn or other
crops in the spring. Tine reasons are
evident. The manure spread on the
laud in the winter loses practically nothing b.v evaporation from beat. It mulches
the ground, said keeps it moist and mellow, so that it breaks in fine condition
for the coming crop. The advantage
may best bo seen by comparing the manured land, after breaking, with unmanureil
land adjoining, and notice the difference
in color and general condition of soil.
Manure should not be allowed to accumulate through the summer months, when it
can l>e hauled out and spread on the land
and plowed under soon. There is little
loss then by evaporation, and labor is saved
in handling. IC left spread over tlie
ground for months during the dry hot summer, however, a large por cent is lost by
evaporation. The eflect may best be
seen on a straw stack. If left standing
a few years, a large straw stack will dry
away until there is less than a wagon
load of manure left.
If the top of tlio stack is spread, so that
manure from the stable into the wagon,
and haul direct to the place I want to use,
and thereby save reloading. I also spread
as soon as I haul out, and get the most of
the strength at the first rain. It also
acts as a mulch to wheat or grass, and
holds moisture during ia dry period.
If you pile the manure, you get the
leach from it at one place, and then you
have to spread it before you plow. I
would rather have manure spread over tlie
ground after it is broken, and liMrrow in.
In the winter you can spread on any kind
of grass or grain crop, and it will not
freeze out as it will if not mulched with
manure. Also where you spread a coat
of ni.nure over wheat rye in winter, you
can get a better stand of grass witli
half the seed than where no manure is
put.
If you have rolling land, put the manure
on the highest and poorest parts. If
you linve no field to spread the manure in,
at any time, just throw it over in tho
truck patch and spread between the row*.
Fountain  Co. Subscriber.
Premiums of $1, 75 centi, CO cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each weet. Manuscript should be
sent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach tit one week before date of publication.
No. 447, Oct. 1.—If you wiere to build
a new hog houso, how would you build
it, and why?
No. 44S, Oct. 8—Tell how the meat
for the farmer's table should be butchered, cured and kept.
The correspondent of a London
paper makes the
amiable suggestion
to lay down about
half a cartload of
gravel across the
road so as to
bank. The horse
traffic would not
perceive it, and it
would not hurt motorists conforming
to regulation speed,
but the "scorcher"
 going faster would
break  his car's springs and  considerably
disturb the occupants of his car.
Gibson County Fair.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
On the 10th inst., closed the 50th flair
of the Gibson county liorticultural and
Agricultural Society. In many respects this was tlie greatest fair in tlie
history of the association-. In the first
place the weather was ideal. The attendance was the largest ever known; the
receipts wero greater and there were
moro horses, hogs and sheep on the
ground   than   ever  before. The   cattle
show  was  not so  great in  numbers    aa
last year, which was a record breaker.
In all, there were 229 head of hogs and
70 head of sheep.
During the panicy times when other
fairs were tailing, the management built
a half mile race track and purchased additional ground, which placed a debt of
$7,700 on the association. This debt is
entirely wiped out and in tlie near future
the association contemplates building a
modern grandstand, exposition hall, stoe'e
barns, etc. J. P. Key. '
Wili Spelt grow in tho fall a well as
in spring?     What is tlie time to sow?
A Subscriber.
Spelt is a hardy variety of inferior value,
and adapted to poorer soils that* required
for the better kinds of Wheat. It will
no doubt succeed as well sown in the fall,
as in spring.
Who lias Rudy seed wheat to sell.
Greensburg. C. K.
— Let any such advertise in our For
Sale column.