The Cairo Bulletin

BENEFIT OF WINTER MANURE
Can Be Applied to the Soil Cheaper During Cold Months Than in Busy Days of Spring.
(By G. A. FORMOSA. Canada.)
I think manures can be applied cheaper in the winter, as most farmers are not very busy at this time of the year, consequently their time is not so valuable as it is in the spring when they should be rushing in their crops.
I think when the manure is applied in the winter it gives the spring rains a chance to soak the decomposed manure into the soil instead of washing it away, as some writers think, and also help rot the coarse manure that it is left, so by the time the land is ready to work it does not gather under the plowbeam or clog the cultivator teeth, as it does when applied in the spring.
I think and a large number of the best farmers think that the fresher manure is applied the more valuable it is, for when it is placed in a large heap to rot part of it will be almost useless by the time all of the heap is rotted.
The reason why some of it is spoiled is this, the large heap generates so much heat that the bottom and middle of the heap is burnt until there is very little fertilizing matter left in it.
Manure, properly applied, we all know, is very beneficial to the soil, inasmuch as it supplies much of its lost fertility, but manure can be applied as to be an injury instead of a benefit.
Always try to apply your coarse manure to clay soils as they need something to keep them porous, as well as to fertilize them. Do not apply coarse manure to loamy soil as it keeps it too open and will consequently dry out.
For two years we have applied as soon as possible after the ground froze, a light coat of manure to our winter wheat. It keeps the snow from being all blown off, leaving it exposed, and also protects it in the early spring, as well as fertilizing it.