Manure and fertilizers.
There is no waste on the farm which is so wanton and inexcusable as the too common waste of stable and barnyard manure. It is true that it is neces sary to have well-drained yards, yet a side-hill barn yard may result in a great loss of the soluble ele ments of the manure un less provision is made for spreading the drainage from such yards over meadows or pastures. Also, in an open barnyard a liberal use of straw or other absorbents will often save in manure much more than the value of the bedding.
Probably the most eco nomical method of hand ling manure is to haul it directly to the fields as fast as it is made and spread it at once. This is practicable in the hand ling of stable manure, but not with manure in open yards and sheds. However, if barnyard ma nure is exposed in open yards, the sooner it can be removed to the fields after the winter's feeding the better. The manure from the stable should not be thrown out under the eaves of the barn to leach ; neither should is be thrown in large piles and allowed to fire, as is 30 often done. It is a good plan to feed cattle and other stock under sheds simply for the purpose of better preserving the manure.
The manure-spreader is a useful implement, and when the manure is handled regularly as made and spread in the fields, the spreader may be used very profitably on the farm that carries much live-stock. On the small farm, or on the farm in which the practice is to haul the manure out at intervals and turn all hands to the work for a time, the spreader cannot be used so advan tageously. There is little question, however, but that in the spreading of large quantities of manure each year a good spreader will soon pay for itself, not only in the saving of labor but in the more even spreading of the manure, thus giving more uniform results and making the manure cover more land. The manure should be put on the grass land when grass is used in the regular order of rotation, as described above. [For a discussion of the economy of the manure-spreader, see Vol. I, Chap. VI, page 215 ; also page 499.] Manure should be spread thinly, the purpose be ing to cover a large area of land with a relatively small quantity, rather than to give a very heavy dressing to a smaller area.
When the manure is spread thinly, over a large area, the crop on the land may get all the value of the ma nure and no harm be done ; but when spread thickly, especially when plowed un der, the crops may not make full use of the manure, and often there is danger, espe cially in dry seasons, that the crop may be injured or destroyed by "burning out" of the soil. This means that the heavy coat of manure breaks the capillary connec tion between the soil and the subsoil, cutting off the sup ply of water and in a period of drought the crop suffers.
The purpose and methods of green -manuring have al ready been discussed under crop management and rota tion on preceding pages.
Crop practices.
Details cannot be given here of the planting, culture, harvesting, storing and marketing of the several staple farm crops. In general, successful farming depends on doing everything at the right time and in the right way. After a crop has been grown it should not be lost or allowed to become damaged by a little carelessness in handling or storing, through the negligence of the farmer. The quality of wheat and other grain often is in jured seriously by harvesting too late, by leaving in the shock too long, by wetting or heating in the stack because of careless stacking, and by thresh ing and storing damp grain, resulting in bin-burn ing and other evils. Often wheat that might have graded No. 1 or No. 2, grades No. 3 and No. 4, or is rejected, simply because of the neglect in taking proper care of it. Much of the wheat sold grades low because of being mixed, or not pure in type. Farmers should grow well-bred, pure types of grains. Much of the corn which farmers sell grades as mixed because it is not pure in color. Pure white or pure yellow corn of the same quality as mixed corn will often sell for two or three cents more per bushel. The subject of crop breeding is now attracting great attention. It pays to breed and grow pure varieties of crops as well as of live stock.