The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., January 29, 1910, Page 56, Image 4

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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VIII—HOW AND WHEN TO APPLY STABLE MANURE.
HE CROPS on which stable
manure gives the most mark
ed immediate returns are
those that have a strong root system
and that require comparatively large
amounts of nitrogen. Crops that
need especially large amounts of wa
ter during the summer season, when
it is likely to be hot and dry, are
also greatly benefited by the use of
plenty of stable manure. The corn
crop comes in both these classes and
is a favorite, and a decidedly good
place to use the farm’s supply of
stable manure.
But the effects of the judicious ap
plication of stable manure are so
generally beneficial that it is easier
to say where it should not be used
than where it should.
Where Not to Use Stable Manure.
It is poor economy, then, to apply
stable manure to leguminous crops,
because it is richest in nitrogen, the
element which it is the special mis
sion of these crops to get from the
air. An exception to this rule, may
be the case where on poor land sta
ble manure is of great service in
getting a start, especially of alfalfa;
but even here It is likely that in
most cases it would pay to inoculate
the soil and to use the stable ma
nure elsewhere.
Fresh stable manure should not
be applied to root crops—beets, car
rots, etc., or to potatoes. It tends to
make the root crops grow rough and
forked, and favors the grqwth of
scab upon the potatoes. The manur
ing of the land is an excellent prepa
ration for any of these crops, but
the manure should be put on several
months before they are planted—the
fall before is a good time.
For such vegetables as lettuce,
cauliflower, etc., where a very rapid
growth is desired, manure may be
used in connection with other fertil
izers, but it should always be well
rotted before it is applied and thor
oughly mixed with the soil. It prob
L ably pays to compost the manure
F with sods and sand for these crops
and for potted plants, greenhouse
beds, and so on; but aside from this,
composting is usually a waste of la
bor if it is possible to apply the ma
nure direct.
Manure Not a Perfect Ration for
Most Crops.
A heavy application of manure to
oats or wheat may cause too great
a growth of straw, if it is not supple
mented with other fertilizers con
taining phosphoric acid and potash.
Indeed, manure is for most crops and
on most soils a very badly balanced
ration, and needs to be evened up
with liberal supplies of the mineral
elements. On most soils, however,
the manure is of such great benefit
as a supplier of humus and as a pro
moter of bacterial activity that it
should be the main dependence as a
fertilizer, the commercial fertilizers
being used as needed to balance it
In the stock-raising sections stable
manure alone is often depended on
to keep up the soil fertility with the
result that the soil is gradually de
pleted of phosphoric acid. This is
incomparably better, however, than
the common Southern practice of de
pending upon commercial fertilizers
and exhausting the soil’s supply of
humus and nitrogen.
How to Apply Manure.
Manure should in most cases—in
practically all cases, it is safe to say
—be applied broadcast. The scatter
ing of small amounts in the drill or
row is a wasteful and unprofitable
practice. If enough is put in to
be of any marked value as a
• source of plant food, there is dan
ger, unless it is very fine, that it may
dry out and “fire” the crop if a
: drouth comes. If the manure Is
made fine and mixed with the soil,
: it will decay and aid greatly in the
| holding of moisture. This fining of
, manure is another point that needs
j emphasizing. A big lump of manure
I is of comparatively little use to the
plants, because the plant food in it
is held so that it cannot be dissolved
by the soil water. It is a mere clod,
and a plant can starve among the
richest sort of clods.
These, then, are the two great
points to be remembered in applying
manure:
(1) It should be made as fine as
possible, and (2) mixed thoroughly
and uniformly through the soil.
The manure spreader has made it
much easier to get the manure out
on the soil, and has enabled it to be
put there in much better shape than
was possible by hand. Manure should
never be piled in small heaps in the
field, as it is sure to lose much of its
nitrogen when left in this shape.
When taken to the field the proper
thing is to spread it on the land at
once.
Where Manure is Idkely to Give Rest
Returns.
As to where the manure should be
used, it is merely a question of the
best place, since it is needed nearly
everywhere and practically on all our
staple crops. The corn field is one
of the best places; the cotton field
will be greatly profited by It; it may
be spread thinly as a top-dressing in
the winter on grain and grass fields
and made to yield great returns; it
is needed in the orchard, in the gar
den, and on the lawn.
All soils seem to profit by It, too.
While its effects are most marked on
soils lacking in nitrogen and on those
of a tight clayey nature, It gives good
returns even on rich alluvial soils
• and on newly cleared forest lands.
Most Southern farmers will, how
ever, probably find it most profitable
to broadcast their manure for the
corn or cotton crop; and to use it in
the garden and on trucking crops.
When the soil is what is usually call
ed “rich,” it may produce too great
a growth of stalk and leaves if used
alone, but this can always be coun
teracted by the addition of phosphor
ic acid and, on soils needing it, pot
ash for grain crops or cotton, and by
phosphoric acid and potash for fruits,
potatoes and root crops.
No other fertilizer Is so much
needed by most Southern soils, and
not until stable manure, rather than
commercial fertilizers, is looked upon
as the great essential to the mainte
nance of a fertile soil, will It be pos
sible to economically build up the
waste lands of the South.
Next week’s article will treat of
commercial fertilizers, what they are
and what they contain.
Don’t feed poultry in filthy vessels
or on dirty ground. It is a certain
way to scatter disease. Keep every
thing sweet and clean.—Prof. T. C.
Karns.
SOME NOTES ON FEEDING.
I.—With Proper Feeding, Many Ills
of Poultry May lie Avoided.
It is generally a hard proposition
to impress upon the average farmer
poultryman the necessity of proper
feeding to obtain the best results
from a given ilock of fowls. Some
breeds are disposed to convert their
feed into ilesh rather than into
eggs, while other breeds are not so
easily made fat. The non-sitting
breeds, such as Leghorns, Miuorcas,
Anconas, etc., owing to their active
dispositions, do not take on fat as
readily as the larger breeds. In view
of this assertion it is well to bear
this matter in mind and use some
judgment in feeding, as it is an easy
matter to feed such breeds as Hocks.
Wyandottes and Orpingtons loo
much, and as the Leghorns are not so
large, they are not compelled to
eat such large quantities to produce
the number of eggs for which they
are so famous. In feeding the larger
breeds we should be careful to supply
plenty of bulky feed, such as green
feed, roots and vegetables to help add
to the gross amount of feed.
II.—Wrong Feeding and Iairk of
Eggs.
It is necessary to study the
habits and characteristics of each
breed if we wish to make a success
with them. In nine enses out of ton
where we hear this owrn-out ex
pression, “My hens are not laying,“ if
we will take the pains and look into
the matter, we will soon learn that
the trouble lies in improper feeding;
not in the amount fed, but in the
way of feeding. Fowls, like the
human race, need a variety of feed,
and this variety acts as a tonic and a
cure for many of their ills.
III.—Hnve a Hcgulur Time to Fred.
Another Important factor in the
production of eggs is the regularity
of feeding. If the fowls are accus
tomed to be fed at a regular time,
they are not slow to learn to be on
hand, and If this time Is changed,
they will be more than apt to be on
the lookout for the feed than to be
looking up bugs and worms which
they would have done, had they re
ceived the feed at the regular time.
IV.—A Good Hatton for Laying liens.
A good ration that has been uaed
in the South for some time in the way
of a grain ration, is composed of the
following mixture: 50 pounds corn,
50 pounds wheat. 25 pounds buck
wheat. This we feed as follows: To a
pen of 2 5 liens, we take two quarts
and scatter it well into the straw of
the scratch pens as we open them up
in the morning, at the same time we
supply about a half peck of green
feed chopped fine. Again in the mid
dle of the day wo repeat our grain
ration, cutting it somewhat if they
do not seem to be very anxious for It
At the evening feed we again feed
about two quart*. Thl* constitutes
the grain ration for a pen of 2 5 hen*,
but the hopper* are alway* kept filled
with the following mixture: 25
I pounds corn meal, 2 5 pound* ship
j stuff, 50 pounds bran. 10 pound* beef
n< rap and 2 pound* charcoal. To thl*
the fowl* have free acce*a at all
hours of the day.
V.—It I’ay* to l-red Green iWmr,
Just now we are feeding a goodly
amount of freshly cut green bone,
which we supply in place of the beef
scrap. With this mixture our S. C
brown Leghorn* are shelling out the
. egg*, when price* are the highest and
the mercury in the thermometer is
the lowest.
C. P. MILLER.
When sending egg* to market,
grade them up alike It doe* not
pay to mix large and small and tho»<'
of different color* together. T C
i Kama.
Get My Price
This Ad Saves You Dealer, Jobber,
Supply Men, Catalog-House
Profits. Not c 3y Can Beat It
Buy dire. t from the bi^jjest spreader factory in the world
—my price ha* made it. No *uch price as 1 make on this
bigh-Krade spreader has ever l*een made before in atl manure
spreader history. Here's the secret ami reason: | make
you a price on one based on a 30.000 quantity, and pay
Galloway the freight rs^lit to your station. You only nay for a. tual
i material, lalxir and one small profit, bated on this enor
mous quantity.
my Clin* her Propoultton (or 1910 with
lowest price ever mi<l<- on it fir t
Kprcu'ler. No. 5. complete* with •tf*#| true W». 70
bu. nUc: or Galloway Famout W«fon Hoi, 4
suet, (rora 50 to 60-bu.—with our agreement t«*
I*uv vou bark your money uftcr you try It twelve
month* 11 It's not n pttyiuu investment How *
that tor a proposition? If I .lid not bavo the
r>evt spreader. I would not dure m.ike «mh »n
oiler. 40.WX) larmi'ti huve stumix-1 their O. K.
Wm- Calloway Company, ol America.
on If. Thor »II frlml It 10 <U«-t fra*. ju*t like I
a»k you !<i try It —tl 1»A Yh I'KKK.
Drop tno a postal oik! lay -"••at!*>way. • etv 1
mo your Clint bor 1‘ropoaltlon artl lltif Sprra.lrr
ll-.ok. Fro*, with low prkca <llro» t ft. in f«. t ty
T F At tea, 4 Xaayu, Kane, ariteem* -•trfteo pull II
a III, tnjr email Una* 7 loan. |km *.«■! a -tk. Mae#
ueod the lalura. llalluaay murk ll.e leal It
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'TlK.uaan.la mure letter* Ilka tbeaa here *
»1» Galloway Mat lorn. Waterloo. Iowa
GALLOWAY —Frelabt°Prep«|^
„ „ , , H*r* Arr VmCtm You W*"" T« Know: The out %»r„4,r
M»n» M. Jol.naon. I'«rk.t..n Minn -| Im.,. ,, k, K1 h .... h
would not tr*do my Hall.,... iur any $tX> o..i» .»iv. *7? ' ?*U * 11 ■_"UiUlU
woAITtwo’f.V^'W- V*-‘ “,,U oTU, l*»fti that hr rah and
.rii. iwoofiLa Ian t in it with Uto lotitowa;,•• »**«r out In other
Eleven PHCC—the LOWPSt ^'^"thr
Patent* feara > un ol
ready hate.
The
ONLY
Vnd
Iras Apron
Force Fred
SprradrrIn
the World.
From 54 to 70 bu.
(aparllv, Willi
CompIrieStnl Truck
Sprradrr. only ISO.OO.