WHEN TO APPLY MANURE.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1207, 23 March 1880, Page 3

WHEN TO APPLY MANURE.

The common practice among farmers is to make a general clearance of the yards and barn cellars once a year, either in the spring or fall. Either practice makes a heavy draft upon the teams, and has its disadvantages. If this work is done in the spring, it is when the ground is soft, and when the work is exceedingly pressing. If the manure is drawn out in the fall, and dropped in heaps upon the field to be cultivated next season, there is more or less waste by leaching and by evaporation. There is a growing disposition among our intelligent fanners to apply manure directly to growing crops, or as near the time of planting and sowing as possible. It is felt that the sooner manure is put within the reach of the roots of plants, the better for the crops and their owner. Manure is so much capital invested, and bears interest only as it is consumed in the soil. The barn cellar may be so managed as to manufacture and turn out fertilizers every month in the year, so that the farmer may suit his convenience in applying them to the soil. When manure is not wanted for cultivated crops, it is always safe to apply it to the grass crop, either in pastures or upon meadows after mowing. Top-dressing is growing in favor with our intelligent farmers. Grass pays better than almost any farm crop in the older States, and the spreading of compost saves the necessity of frequent ploughing and seeding. By top-dressing at any convenient season of the year, fields may be kept profitably in grass for an indefinite time.