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Preparation Of Manures

Preparation Of Manures image
Parent Issue
Day
14
Month
April
Year
1865
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We use most man u res in too coarse and crudo a condition. They are not in a state to be readily appropriated by the plants which they aro intended to sustain. It is oar ïuterest to hurry up the slow prooesses of Mother Nature, and by a littlo labor and a little art, briog all manuresinto a condition,-wbere ■they will be easily soluble, when the raius descend and nioisten the soil with which they are mingled. How can this lic done ? The pile is before us ín & .ueat and compact forni. . It is the middle of April. Warm Spring rains, and etill warmer suna have melted ita coverin" of snow, and extricated the frost, scTthat its bulk has inaterially dirninished. It now stands an unfermented mass of droppings from the stook, straw, hay, corn-butts and every refuse from the barn floor. The pile is 10 feet wide and 20 to 40 feet long, cleared up snugly about the edges, and is ready lor the workman. Let him commenpo at one end, throw it at a eonvenient distance from him, breaking it up with his fork as ho goes along. It should be loft as light as possible. When the heap has been gone through with, it ought to be lightly covered witb fine meado-w muok or soil, and sbarpened sticks, as large as a hoe-handle, thrust into it at a distanco of six or eight feet apsfrt, through its whole length. If the weathei is warm, and ehowers fall upon thé pile, fermentation will soon tako place. Tbis can be ascertained by drawing out the stakes and holding thetain the hand. If the weather is cool and, fermentation will be slow. The procesa inust bo watched, and when the stakes are quite warm, being a little hot to the hand, immediately overhaulas in the first place. The workman will now find the lumps less tenacious and more easily falling to pieces under the blows of his six or eight-tined iork. The manure will hare assumed a slight pasty feeling to the touch, and appear entiroly unliko what it was at the first overhauling. These operations will be likoly to extend into the early part of ■ May. This will answer for all late planting. If the dressing is wanted for oat, whoat or barloy sowing, then the operation must be cornmencod oarHer. ' The weather now will be warmer, and the procesa of fermentation will be more rapid. The stakes will be yonr thermometer, and a good one, too, for this purpose. Find tho warmest stake, and work in to where it stood ; if, upon taking up the manure and shaking it from the fork it falla into a light masa, then it is ready for the field, and should be applied ae quiokly as possible. If not sufficiontly fine, overhaul it again, leaving it loose and light. It requives som 3 judgmont to briog the pila into condition at tho right time, bo that formeutation shall not bo carried too far. Tho slowness or rapidity of the process will mainly depend upon the surroundjng temperature, and that w;.ll govern the opeaator. - N. Farmer. SS The last story told of Sidnoy Smitii is of his go'mg to the baths ai Brighton to roduco his size. A frieoc met him, and said : "You are certainly thinnor tlmn whon I saw you last." - "Yes," waft the reply, "I have only beer ten days hore, but they have sorapec onou"íi off of mü already to mnko a cu rate.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus